Apply compost and mulch, as much as possible. Organic growing is much more than replacing fertilizers and such with versions that have the 'organic' stamp on them, although there are plenty of organic fertilizers that work well. About the fertilizer recommendations, there may be a range for the 'best' amount of fertilizer to apply rather than a single value. For example, suppose you gave (in addition to natural soil and rainfall conditions) the avocado tree: 1 pound of fertilizer and got 10 more pounds of avocados); 2 pounds of fertilizer and 20 more pounds of avocados (compared to no fertilizer); 3 pounds of fertilizer and 25 more pounds of avocados (compared to no fertilizer); 4 pounds of fertilizer and 28 more pounds of avocados (compared to no fertilizer); 5 pounds of fertilizer and 30 more pounds of avocados (compared to no fertilizer). At some point too much fertilizer will 'burn' the tree, let's say 7 pounds of fertilizer. As you can see there is a diminishing return - the first pound of fertilizer applied gives a 10 pound increase in yield and the fifth pound of fertilizer gives an additional 2 pounds of avocados. I just made these numbers up for demonstration, this is not from any actual data although I'm sure these tests have been done many times in many fields. If priority is given to yield per tree or yield per area with less concern for fertilizer cost then the recommendation might be to use 6 or 7 pounds of fertilizer. If priority is given to getting the most yield out of each pound of fertilizer applied with less concern for number of trees or space then the recommendation might be to use 1 or 2 pounds of fertilizer. In the real world, a combination of factors might be considered to come up with a cost effective fertilizer application recommendation. There's more to consider. The plants will do better and the fertilizer will work better if the soil is improved (see compost and mulch), and applying the fertilizer certain ways will work better (smaller amounts more frequently, watered into the soil) than others (scattering a large amount all at once). If you continue to follow this approach of: get a soil test, find out what is low, find that in a bag or package and spread it on the field, repeat - you are in a way using the land until it 'runs out.' If you think a little differently however and make use of compost, mulch, cover crops, rock dusts, you will be building and improving the soil, going in the 'other direction' if you will. Orchard Mulching and Cover Crop Trials Page 22 shows that they recorded the lowest yield using glyphosate and that any mulch type resulted in a larger yield. Alfalfa appeared to be one of the best for the trees but it didn't necessarily suppress weeds that well compared to the others. Wood chips were recommended.

There isn't a schedule for fertilizing :-) Fertilizing should not necessarily be considered a routine garden chore. Typically the recommendation is not to fertilize unless or until there is a need. Determining the need is best done by having a professional soil test or closely monitoring the appearance and growth of your plants. Then, supply only those nutrients that may be lacking - no more, no less. The concept that a productive, healthy garden requires routine and frequent fertilization is a marketing myth perpetuated by the fertilizer manufacturers. Established landscape plants - trees, shrubs, perennials, groundcovers - are typically able to get all the nutrients they need from existing soil conditions. Not from a box or hose-end sprayer :-) Often, gardeners who routinely mulch their planting areas with a good quality organic mulch like compost, composted manures or wood chips find that there is no need to provide any additional fertilization - the mulch supplies all needed nutrients. The exception to the fertilizing program is anything grown in a container (as opposed to in the ground) - these will need repeated fertilization throughout the growing season - or harvested edible annual crops, which both require as well as pull high quantities of available nutrients from the soil.

I have two Makok sapodillas I wanted to try keeping in a pot... neither liked it, and like yours they dropped flowers. I put them in the ground and they started blooming and keeping fruit the next season. So for my efforts I lost a growth season, and a fruit season. If you have to keep them in a pot I would give them a large one. Also while mine will not mind a dry spell they certainly don't mind watering when the soil drys out. The bigger of my trees is smaller than 6' (2 meters) and is full of large fruit. BTW... I L-O-V-E sapodilla / nispero !!! PS I use a fertilizer formulated by a local nursery specifically for tropical fruit trees. Dunno the ingredients.

Well, I tried the sprayer. I loved being able to put enough FP in the container and not have to worry about refilling the watering can, especially for the large Eureka container. I used the sprayer for all of my trees, not just the citrus. The nozzle had three settings: flat spray, bullet spray, and gentle shower. The first setting, the flat spray is definitely not to be used for my (our) purpose; it is meant for lawn fertilization to cover a very large area. The second setting, bullet spray was waay too strong and when I aimed the stream into a container, the mix would just fly everywhere because it was essentially that, a bullet spray. Finally, the third setting, the gentle spray was my favorite, but the radius circle of water that was dispensed from the nozzle was very wide and there wasn't an option to make it smaller. I have a tiny mango in a 12 inch pot and the spray from the gentle shower setting was much too wide for such a small pot- it was at least twice as wide as the little pot. I do have a few more trees in slightly bigger pots, a mango and and two avocados. The water shower was still too wide for even these slightly larger container sizes. If it was just water alone, then I don't think I would have noticed (or cared) that much, but because it was a FP/water mixture, I noticed how much FP water was just being wasted because the shower setting water circle coming out of the nozzle was just too large! So, I think that I will browse and search the market for a really good hose end sprayer. I hope to get lucky and find one with several spray settings to choose from. My container sizes vary too much; I have little ones and I have an avocado and the eureka that are in pots that are just too big. The water coverage area for the shower setting on the sprayer ended up wasting too much FP water mix, in my opinion. I don't mind using the watering can and I will use it until (if) I can find a better sprayer. I do like the convenience of the sprayer, but I will give up the convenience if it means that I am wasting $ on FP water that is not being fed to my trees.