Thanks Patty for the Clausens recommendation! I literally could spend hours walking around the nursery. This mandarin has replaced my dying orange tree that I tried to graft and failed. You can see the old orange tree trunk sections in the background.
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Tree looks nice brown. Did you pour that concrete curbing there? When I build my new house I plan to put in curbs everywhere like that. Swooped fluidly to make mowing easy on a lawn tractor.
Thanks, when we had our back patio poured, we asked the concrete guys to add a little to the corner of the yard, which they did very easily. We didn’t build the forms for the half circle but it looked really easy to do.
Very nice, Donny! The guys at Clausen’s and wonderful. And yes, their trees are really nice. Great little tree, I know you’ll enjoy it very much.
Better get that trunk painted.
I was wondering about that. I’ve never seen a painted citrus trunk in this area.
Well, we don’t have really blazing hot sun here. It may not be necessary, I haven’t painted any of mine, but most of my citrus trees have some coverage. I haven’t noticed any splitting from sunscald. But, if you’re worried, you can always paint with flat white latex paint cut in half with water just to be safe.
All right my two options for paint I found in the garage are White Primer/Sealer (water based) and Matte Interior Latex paint that looks to be light gray. Will either do?
The matte interior grey paint will work fine as long as it is very light grey.
All right, I’ve got about 4"-6" of new growth on the tree. Can I start fertilizing or should I wait? I really want to get a lot of growth on it as soon as possible.
I want to give it weak doses of either Foliage Pro (liquid) or Jack’s Acid Special (water soluble) during the weekly watering.
Thanks!
Fertilize! I would select a good quality citrus fertilizer. Foliage Pro is fine, no need to"acidify" - citrus are not acid-loving plants like camellias and azaleas (this myth will not die a quiet death). I happen to like Gro Power Citrus & Avocado Food, but any fertilizer formulated for citrus, with a higher N component and the full set of micros is fine. Donny, for us here in S. California, you can fertilize through about October. Then, start back up in end of Jan/beginning of February.
Thanks, I’ll start with the FP and other fertilizers I have until I can get my hands on the Gro Power.
Just a little update, a little less than 1 year later, the tree seems to be doing really well. It is on its second growth flush and is now flowering.
I’ve been making a conscious effort to not water too often and have been using Foliage Pro and Gro-Power Citrus fertilizer.
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Just an update, another year later. For about 10 months there was zero growth and the leaves were all curled. I think it was thrip damage. Also discovered a gopher tunnel near the roots and took care of it. The past two months it has been reinvigorated and not only put on a lot of growth but is now flowering profusely.
Bug ID?
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Everyone’s citrus here in S.California are just full of blossoms. Must have been all our rain. My citrus trees are just covered in blossoms, too.
Patty S.
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Just an update, here is what it looks like now. Had my first good crop 2 years ago but the fruit was terrible, really insipid, flavorless. Last year, had no fruit, which was probably my fault in letting it fruit too much the year before.
I know it is early for GN, but one “fell” off the tree yesterday and it was so much better tasting than the last fruit I had from the tree.
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I could use some help w/my Golden Nugget. I am in 9b, my GN has been in-ground for 4 years, and it’s my first fruit. I’ve had issues with light-green leaves since the beginning, which I’ve never really solved.
My local gardener told me to fertilize more and water less, so two years ago I fertilized monthly using EB Stone Organics for a total of 4.5oz of nitrogen for the year, and cut the watering to twice weekly during summer for a total of 32g. This started helping until the fruit came, now the leaves are worse than ever.
I was thinking (hoping?) that it was the fruit making the green go away, but I see the pictures above and I’m wondering if
- I need to alter my fertilizer / water combo
- I have to get rid of gophers
Yes, I have gophers in my lawn (at least I did up until a year ago, haven’t seen mounds in a while)… thoughts? I could REALLY use some help.
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Right now, all my citrus look cholorotic due to cold temps. I suggest in spring, you fertilize with a citrus specific fertilizer with trace elements. I have yet to see organic options that meet this criteria although I could be wrong. Another option is to apply a foliage spray specifically for citrus. Soil quality also affects citrus dramatically but with all those wood chips, it should be ok.
I have been told that Nitrogen is the main nutrient that citrus need. I don’t think you are giving them enough. I have no knowledge on gophers. This link is for the LSU Citrus guide that has a recommended fertilizing schedule you can check out.
Hey Gene, unfortunately, citrus has been hit and miss for me. But I think you do have cooler weather than I do. I think the soil ph can really impact the health of the tree if you can rule out not overwatering and using enough fertilizer. If the ph is not right, I think the trees have a hard time taking up the nutrient needed out of the soil/fertilizer.
My Gold Nugget is doing great but I had a Pixie mandarin about 20 feet away that looked like your tree, eventually it dropped most of its yellow leaves and I moved it off of a retaining wall, literally about 5 feet away and now the leaves are dark green and the tree has put on a ton of growth. I have not been able to really pinpoint why certain parts of my yard aren’t great for citrus while other parts they seems to thrive.
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