One of my trees has started dropping new very small blossom. I know some drop is expected but I think this could be linked to watering/overpotting. The leaves are showing the first signs of drooping.

The soil at the bottom of the 30 cm diameter pot is damp but at the top it is almost dry. The tree is 2 - 3ft high. The tree could be over potted.

So is it possible that the soil around the root ball is dry and the tree needs watering (but not by flushing through the pot with water) as the root ball may not be filling the whole pot. Is it lack of water that is this causing the blossom to drop instead of natural and expected drop.

But if I water is the bottom of the pot going to be too wet and cause overwatering or root rot/damage.

Thanks

its normal for many of the blossoms to drop, I dont think it plays much of a part with the watering ammount. I know my meyer has dropped 90% of its blossoms. Its normal for blossom and fruit drop

they say to water when the top 2-3 inches is dry. when you say the 30cm at the bottom is wet, how wet? what type of soil medium do you use?

if you are worried about over potting, maybe you should look into a smaller pot. If the root ball is quite small to the pot... go down a size or two. your plant will thank you.

The tree is in the same pot and soil as when I bought it last July from a Citrus nursery. The soil is at least 30% bark and the rest is free draining soil.

At the bottom of the pot the soil is I'd say only slightly wet, it's more damp. It's certainly far from soaking wet. The top is almost completely dry to about 3 inches and the soil is loose and dry if you run it through yourt fingers, feels more cold than wet.

The lime tree is 2 - 3ft tall with the longest branches about 1.5 - 2ft. It looks as though it has been well pruned back at the nursery it came from, so if it had been left alone it may have been up to 5ft. Do you think even with this the pot is too big.

Would it damage it to re-pot it to something smaller.

Thanks

I think the pot size is ok. If the bottom is only damp, then I wouldn't worry.

Does the pot have good drainage holes?

If the top 3 inches are dry... definatly water. citrus do like to get a bit on the dry'ish side between waterings.

Its all about learning. The good thing is, even if we do something wrong with our citrus, they do come back. pretty strong plants


as for it looking likeit had been pruned... odds are the nursery took a ton of cuttings from the tree to root and creat more trees. I know my meyers have a ton of branches taken for cuttings.

citrus branches tend to root really easily, its one way most nurseries use to replenish their supplies

It has about 6 holes on the bottom edge (if you see what I mean) of the plastic pot. I can just about squeeze my little finger just far enough into the holes to see how wet the soil is. The pot is then on 2 blocks of 6 x 4 cm (2 x 6 inch) wood, so should be good amount of air around the bottom. You can see water drain through the holes when you water.

I think, based on what you are saying, I will water but cut down to approx half/three quarters on the amount I would normally use so the top of the pot gets plenty of water and the bottom hopefully doesn't get too soaked. Usually give it 2 gallons of water and then leave the soil to almost completely dry out again so will cut down to half/three quarters of this.

It's got some small bare branches at the bottom of the tree that I was planning on cutting back a little to encourage leaf growth at the bottom of the tree. Would you leave this for a bit so not to stress the tree or wouldn't it matter.

Thanks

Nick

2 gallons sounds like a lot of water to be giving the tree. are you sure its gallons and not litres? I guess you ae really getting it flushed out with that much water.

go ahead, trim the branches, I dont see anything wrong with it

It is 2 gallons, that's what I was told to do by a Citrus Nursery. In other words really flush water through it and then let it almost completely dry out.

There are only 2 Citrus Nurseries in the south of the UK. 1 says the above and the other backs it up by saying give trees almost that much. They both say don't let the pot stand in water though.

But when you speak to people growing Citrus as a hobby a lot say not to use that much. But a few still say flush water right through it.

It's really confusing here with a lot of contradictions going on as to how to treat Citrus.

I guess these nurseries are growing on a large scale and can create the natural conditions required, whereas the rest of us are trying to grow citrus in our gardens and small greenhouses.

Maybe I should cut down on water for each watering as my Garden only really gets a lot of Sun and light in June, July and August.

Thanks

Nick

Don't know all the answers on the watering question, but I personally, let the soil get dry to about 2 inches or so, then water it until it pours out the drain freely. I've had pretty good luck with that... Of course I live in Central Texas, and it has already hit 100 F. I do water it a bit less during the winter months, and bring inside the ones in pots, and cover the ones outside.

Thanks anoltroll and Citrus_canuck for all the help on this.

Doesn't look like I'm doing too much wrong apart from have to battle against British Winter and climate. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

60 degrees and cloudy where I am and that's about the best it's been since last summer! Not that I'm jealous of course?!

Thanks

Nick

nick,

I'm in canada... our weather is probably pretty similiar. we had 2 days of 70 degree weather... just about starting to melt the last of our snow. I've yet to move my trees outdoors. I'm too scared. worried about additional watering, pests and the like... plus we have risk of frost still.

give it a couple of weeks and I'll attempt to move one at a time outside. I'm going to put up several bird feeders. That way if I get the birds in this area... they'll eat more of the icky bugs we get (and being right on a big river, we get a lot) I'll save my citrus from being eaten as much. Hopefully my reasoning works. It doesn't usually, but this seems to make sense!

betty

I'm going to put up several bird feeders. That way if I get the birds in this area... they'll eat more of the icky bugs we get

That's a good idea, I will have to try this in the future!

Betty,

I'm holding off putting trees outside for another month as we can still get frosts. Don't think we get winter temperatures as cold as you do, but do get a lot of overnight frosts and sub zero temperatures.

Have you tried spraying the leaves with a soapy solution. In a book I've got it says to cover the soil and spray the trees. It is supposed to block the breathing tubes of the pests and make them drop off (without them going back into the soil). This did refer to Citrus pests but may be worth a go.

I was also told the solution should be washing up liquid (for dishes) and to use a product called Ecover. I was told this hasn't got any harmful chemicals in it and the it is 'natural' and 'organic' (!) I don't know if you can get it where you are but maybe worth a look or for something similar.

I got some 2 years ago and it says it contains 5 - 15% plant based anionic and non-ionic-tensio-active surfactants + water, milk, whey, citric acid, salt.

I put a small squirt of this in 700ml spay can two years ago and used it as a precaution in case of an insect or bug problems with no bad affects to the trees , but then I haven't had any citrus bug problems (yet ?!). I have plenty of bugs in the garden that eat all my other plants but seem to have left the citrus alone so far!

So maybe try on one tree as a test.

I'll try and remember or find exactly where I was told about this

Nick