HQ I know you can help me with this question. My latest ‘Moro’ orange arrived yesterday from a company called ‘Four Winds’. I purchased my ‘Key Lime’ from them and their trees have been very good. During the summer I have given my four citrus trees ‘citrus food spikes’; since living in the NE, growing any citrus is uncommon unless you have a greenhouse (I do not) and good fertilizers are hard to come by. I must say, the trees (about three to five feet tall) all loved the spikes and are producing limes and lemons. I have researched ‘slow-release’ fertilizers which seem to be better than what I am using. My basic question is, for ‘indoor’ growing for 6 months or a bit more is the spike better than slow release? I will also give all of them a very good spray with triaz. and sticker before then come indoors. They are all as healthy as can be. Your thoughts please.
MrsG, I’m not Patty, but I do grow citrus in containers and have to lug them in and out.
The spikes aren’t generally recommended for container grown citrus. What I use is the Osmocote Plus controlled release along with DynaGro’s Foliage-Pro.
The Osmocote Plus has the micronutrients they need and the Foliage Pro (a liquid that you mix) provides the NPK ratio that citrus do best in. If you don’t have them locally available, both are sold on Amazon. Also, you can use either one on other houseplants.
Thanks Muddy. I can buy Osmocote Plus here (is there a special Os. for citrus?) I would prefer that one. Also will buy DynaGro’s Foliage Pro. Thanks so much!
Nope. It’s not special for citrus. Just make sure that you get the “Plus”. That’s the one that contains almost all the micronutrients they need. What’s missing in the latest formulation is calcium. But that might be for the better if including it would tie up and make any of the others unavailable for the plants.
I use this for my lemon and kumquat too. Works well for me
Exactly what Muddy said. Combination of both Osmocote Plus (MUST be the “Plus” formulation to provide the best NPK ratio and all the micros), and use Foliage Pro with every watering. There is only 1 Osmocote Plus formulation. Dyna Gro has the calcium, and for most folks, there is plenty of calcium in your water (if you have hard water, you’ve got calcium in your water.) Full strength Foliage Pro during the growing season, 1/2 strength during the winter, when your citrus may slow down a bit. You may find Meyer lemons and any lemon in general may need more fertilizing.
Thanks, HQ. Sounds great, I’ll be on board with both Plus and Dyna.