I have 2 navel orange, 2 satsuma, 2 meyer lemon- all 3 year old trees. This is my 2nd home- had 2 satsuma at the last house that were planted as 3 year old trees. I couldn't keep the ones at my old house alive after 2 years. At my new house, I have one lemon and one navel orange that caught some kind of disease and lost all leaves back in August. All of these have been planted for about 1.5 years so they are 4.5-5 years old and are pretty small.

I love citrus but I'm having a tough time getting these to grow size. Even tried cutting off 90% of the fruit this year so it could focus on growth of the tree to no avail.

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Posted by leveedogs

Levee

Member since Jan 2016

276 posts

Posted on 1/6/17 at 7:01 am to VanRIch

quote:
Also want to plant limes. Forgot about that. Any specific variety?

We planted Persian limes at our old house in New Orleans. Tree is 4-5 yrs old and producing a decent crop. Enough to use for margaritas and gin/tonics. My parents have a small Key lime and make some great pies with it. Key limes are not great for use in alcoholic bevarages though IMO. Trying to substitute Key for Persian never quite worked out.

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Posted by leveedogs

Levee

Member since Jan 2016

276 posts

Posted on 1/6/17 at 7:12 am to TigerTatorTots

quote:
Even tried cutting off 90% of the fruit this year so it could focus on growth of the tree to no avail.

Try adding 1-2 inches of peat moss mixed with the topsoil under the tree. You might have alkaline soil and the peat moss will add acidity. Also, it's pretty hard to over-fertilize citrus during growing season so I would cover the ground under the tree with a cheap balanced fertilizer every 2 months except dead of winter.

Probably just need more time for the root system to grow. 1.5 yrs is the ground is not long enough to extract the water / nutrients needed for a bumper crop or good disease resistance.

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