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Arizona Gardening

Dwarf Citrus from Four Wind Growers

11 years ago

I have limited backyard space here in Tempe, Az. So I planted five citrus dwarf trees from four winds. I am concerned though that they might not thrive in our Akaline soil though dut to thier acid loving cuban shaddock rootstock though. If I apply granular sulfur, iron sulfate, and Epsom salt three times a year will that help? If so, should I do those applications the first year and how much per dwarf?

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Comments (12)

azbolt
11 years ago
This is my go to chart for fertilizing citrus:
http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/MC91.pdf

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilizing Citrus
GoldenBerry
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Kevin,

Does anybody have any luck growing dwarf citrus trees in our alkaline soils? I am beginning to think I should of got standards on sour orange stock and prune them to control their potential size.
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Recieved my order from four Winds Citrus today!
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Comments (3)
I've always been impressed with their packaging. Yellow band? Possibly prolonged moisture from the bark and bleaching from lack of light to that area. Maybe planted a little too deep. I noticed mine the other day were quite moist and that the shaved bark was like a sponge. Both have so far weathered the transplant without any noticeable distress. In fact the limbs on the oro are sprouting new leaves. Good luck! Rob
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First Time Citrus Grower - Four Winds Growers- Worth It?
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Comments (16)
Hi folks! Since you're on the east coast, another vendor that I have used and gotten very respectable trees is McKenzie Farms. This is my second year with citrus and I decided to buy some from here due to positive reviews on the citrus growers f o r u m. Shipping was very reasonable, well packaged and the trees were very nice. I got a 1 Gallon Meyer Lemon, Eureka Lemon, Key Lime, Kaffir Lime and a 3 gallon Moro. The 1G trees were about 12" tall. The 3G Moro was fantastic, about 4-5 feet tall and still had 4 small green oranges on it. The 1G trees were $20 and the 3G was $40. I repotted all into a 511 mix. I had used CHC+Peat last year, but decided that it dried out too fast inside over winter. I'll post a picture when I get home. Here is a link that might be useful: McKenzie Farms
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What's up with Four Winds Citrus Growers?
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Comments (14)
Pip is correct. They will cater to their wholesale customers first. It is a known amount and is probably cheaper to ship to them than single customers. They can contract with large shipping carriers for a bulk price for delivery. In California they deliver on their own trucks. And they deliver hundreds of thousands of wholesale trees each year. For a single mail order customer they need to pick out one tree and prep it for shipping individually, and they probably pay a higher rate for shipping it, even if a few dozen are going to one customer's state. Unfortunately that's just how it is. Tim, pip is right there too. Four Winds can ship bare-root all year because the trees never are dormant like other fruit trees, and all they do is take a tree that has soil around it and wash off the soil, then pack it and mail it.
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Four Winds Grower
Q
Comments (19)
In a month or two the fruit from Flying Dragon (FD) trees should be mature and seed should be plentiful, as the fruit are quite seedy. Know however, that only about 50 - 60% of FD seed are nucellar and will come true. Flying Dragon as a cultivar always has zig-zag stems, STRONGLY curved thorns, and smaller leaves than non-nucellar seedlings. Its an easy way (without a DNA match) of selecting predominately true clonal FD seedlings. While discarding those which are obviously and definitely genetically different. The straighter stemmed and straight thorn seedlings are not FD and will not have the true dwarfing growth.
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azbolt
11 years ago
I have a couple of dwarf citrus trees, I don't really treat them any different than my non dwarf varieties. You can put coffee grounds around the tree, pine needles as well to help acidify the ground around them if you are concerned about the alkalinity. You can also use Miracle Gro Azalea, Camellia, Rhododendron Plant Food instead of your regular fertilizer as this helps acidify the soil as well.

Kevin
AJBB
11 years ago
The only dwarf citrus rootstock that does well in Arizona is Flying Dragon. Cuban Shaddock is a pretty poor choice for high pH environments and you will be endlessly fighting chlorosis and poor growth. You should apply sulfur and chelated iron every four months to the drip line, following the directions on the packages for application. I usually apply epsom salts at roughly a tablespoon per gallon every six months. Another option is monthly foliar feeding.
GoldenBerry
Original Author
11 years ago
Bolt do you know if your dwarf trees are on cuban shaddock rootstock? The funny thing is I bought my first dwarf trees from Greenfielf Citrus in Mesa and they had Four wind grower tags on them. I was told that greenfield only sold trees good for our soils.
GoldenBerry
Original Author
11 years ago
Bolt do you know if your dwarf trees are on cuban shaddock rootstock? The funny thing is I bought my first dwarf trees from Greenfielf Citrus in Mesa and they had Four wind grower tags on them. I was told that greenfield only sold trees good for our soils.
azbolt
11 years ago
I think mine have flying dragon, but I wouldn't bet my life on it, I've lost the tags for both...neither suffer from alkine soil issues.

Kevin
GoldenBerry
Original Author
11 years ago
Kevin, Do you remember where you bought your dwarf trees?
AJBB
11 years ago
Greenfield sells some Four Winds Stuff, usually kumquats, on Flying Dragon for those people looking for dwarf plants or for varieties of citrus incompatible with Sour Orange as a rootstock.
GoldenBerry
Original Author
11 years ago
I called Greenfield and they said their Four wind grower dwarf trees were not on flying dragon.
AJBB
11 years ago
I would recommend you avoid anything on Cuban Shaddock unless you want to baby the tree. If Four Winds is moving away from Flying Dragon, that would suck.
Heather Leigh
11 years ago
Just remember to water low and slow. Make sure you water 3 feet down. I only use chicken manure, coffee and tea grounds, some epsom salt and sometimes I bury kitchen waste and paper near the canopy line. My citrus have been pretty happy, and many of them are dwarfs.

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