Indoor container grown citrus

14 years ago

I am getting ready to try citrus for the third time. I have on two separate occasions managed to kill three beautiful citrus plants from Four Winds.

I have searched and read and contemplated and believe that I have figured out what I must do:

1) Smaller pots. I used 16" pots last time, and the photos I see of successful citrus growing use smaller pots.

2) Terra cotta pots. Last time I used plastic, and while there was drainage, I think the soil didn't dry out quickly enough.

3) More light. Even in a south-facing window, at the 44th parallel, I don't think the 6 hours of daylight we get in December and January are enough.

4) Greater care in placing plants outside during the summer. It rains, the wind blows, and I get a waterlogged tree with all the leaves blown off.

I would welcome any advice or suggestions particularly from people in northern areas who have done this successfully.

Comments (4)

denninmi
14 years ago
They really aren't that hard to grow. They do, however, need good light at you point out, they are susceptible to spider mites and to a lesser extent scale, mealy bugs, and sometimes aphids on soft new growth, and the main reason they die you already know, which is overpotting/heavy soil/overwatering which leads to root rot. I've found mine do best in a soilless mix with a generous portion of coarse sand added.
flora_uk
14 years ago
I don't have your climate but I do have a dwarf Meyer lemon which has lived with me for over a decade and which comes in every winter. Citrus are not winter hardy in the UK. It is in a terracotta pot with a soil based mix (John Innes n03.) It is indoors from mid November to mid-March in a greenhouse attached to the house. We can have very gloomy weather in winter with about 7 - 8 hours daylight in mid winter and often little actual sunshine. The tree can take temps down to just above freezing if it has to and I think it is probably not a good idea to keep citrus too warm in winter. They should just be ticking over. It gets scale indoors but I remove this with babywipes and outdoors in the summer it doesn't happen . In summer it lives on a balcony but we don't get the heat you do. I give it a summer citrus feed when I remember.
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why would too much moisture make the leaves wilty? Going out on a limb here and others will hopefully jump in to correct me. My understanding is that the excess water in the media squeezes out the oxygen that is necessary for roots to live. Initially the smaller hair like roots die which are the ones that do most of the water/nutrient uptake which is eventually delivered to the leaves. Over-watering stops this process and the leaves wilt from lack of water. There is another physio-chemical process that is interrupted from overwatering that I don't fully understand so I just copied the following from a study...... "Wilting is caused by the inhibition of respiration and loss of ATP synthesis in the roots, which blocks the ion transport systems that normally create the gradient in water potential across the root endodermis. Lack of oxygen thus effectively blocks ATP synthesis in the mitochondria." Al (talpa) more efficiently described what is happening from overwatering but I cannot find it because I have copied a million quotes from his posts and now it's hard to find some of his great gems of knowledge.
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Thanks meyermike_1micha for the tip!!! I too waiting for my Wife to retire to move to Flordia!!! The Growing possibilites are endless in Flordia. One thing i have learned is do not use Vermerculite, i killed a Orange - Amber Sweet, Root Rot, holds to much moisture. Using Perlite now better airation.
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Does any know the diff. between these two type grown citrus?
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The differences will be less for indoor, container-grown trees, certainly. Yet there are still reasons you might want a rootstock: 1. All of the common scion varieties of oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, and some mandarins, are highly susceptible to phytophthora root rot in the soil. If your soil doesn't contain the organism, you're fine. But if it does, a resistant rootstock could help. Certainly, correct watering and a good, well-drained soil, will help. 2. A potted plant on 'Flying Dragon' roots will be slower-growing than a cutting-grown plant, which may be desirable for a pot-grown situation. Other rootstocks won't give noticeable dwarfing in a container. 3. Some types (particularly grapefruit) develop markedly better flavor, if grown on certain rootstocks (sour orange, Swingle, Poncirus), than if grown own-root. On the other hand, oranges and mandarins tend to make high-quality fruit on their own roots. Otherwise, it probably doesn't make much difference for containerized plants. Malcolm M. Manners, Ph.D. John and Ruth Tyndall Professor of Citrus Science Florida Southern College Lakeland
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Wow thanks everyone! Ashleysf, $22 is GREAT! I figured potted trees would range from 50 to 100 for me. Well, I'll start looking into Lowes and HD to see what they have. What is OSH? Variegated pink lemon and Buhhda's hand citron? I've never heard of these types before, they sound wonderful! Should I wait until Spirng to buy one? tsmith, you've given me hope that I'll find my beloved blood orange tree at a local store. Mike, I think that citrus can be shipped here but the plants can't have any bugs or anything harmful to TX. I'm still a little confused on how this works. Do companies that sell citrus trees look out for things like this and make it easy to ship? Or is my best bet to buy from a local store? Oh goodness, global warming is on no ones side! Haha! :) Iceage fault line in Missouri? Wha? John, thanks for the help. I'll probably buy a grafted one to make things earsier on me but I will eventually try from seed for the gradification of growing my own citrus tree ;) Know of any other tree that might be good for indoors? Grapefruit, lime, etc...? Thanks a bunch! Ashley
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milehighgirl
14 years ago
There is a lot of good information on Meyer lemons on the citrus forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus Forum
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years ago
As I read your problems with your container grown citrus, except for the need for more light, all your problems could be solved by the proper planting mix. A container overly large is only a problem because your mix does not drain and the moisture can only be removed by the transpiration of the plant. Not possible with a small plant and a large pot. My suggestion is for you to check out container recommended mixes on the 'container growing' forum. Al

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Indoor container grown citrus

Comments (4)

denninmi

flora_uk

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milehighgirl

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9

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