Agreed. Looks like micronutrients are in order, Trojan. This is a pretty common sight here in our neck of the woods (Orange County, San Diego County, Calif.) due to our long, chilly and wet winter and spring. Many of my citrus looked this way. I spoke with Vince Lazaneo, the Home Horticultural Advisor for the San Diego Master Gardeners about a couple of my citrus, and he also suspected micronutrient deficiency. I use Grow More Citrus Growers Blend, which is an excellent product that provides micronutrients in the correct percentages and concentrations for citrus. I have applied it twice, now to my affected citrus. First time as a foliar spray, and then about 4 weeks later, to the soil, diluted in 2 gallons of water, and then followed up with an additional 2 gallons of acidified water (I use plain old white vinegar, and acidify to 4.5-5.0, use a pH meter, they can be found at any better garden center, and they're cheap insurane). The acidified water will help the tree take up and absorb the micronutrients. And, for your new trees, you will want to fertilize twice a month during the growing season (for us that's about April through November) with a good citrus fertilizer that has micronutrients. Vigoro Citrus & Avocado fertilizer with micronutrients is decent. You really want to find one with a high sulfur micronutrient content, as this will help to acidify our somewhat alkaline soils. You can also use soil sulfur once or twice a year as a top dressing to help out our pH issue. If we we a lot of cold weather, and a lot of rain, that, along with our somewhat alkaline soils will cause a locking out of micronutrients, and your citrus will look like what you're seeing right now. And, as far as amending your soil - I don't recommend that. You're going to create this yummy "hole" that your citrus roots are not going to want to leave. You're better off just digging a hole twice as large as your root ball and backfilling with your native soil. Loosen up the soil, and make sure you don't create slick sides in the hole from your shovel. Fill that hole up with water. Wait 24 hours. If the hole has not drained by then, you have a drainage issue, and in that case, you WILL want to amend with some gypsum. Otherwise, you're good to plant. Backfill with native soil, taking care to water in well to remove any air pockets. Keep the rootball at soil level (unless you're in clay, and then elevate the top of the rootball a few inches). Create a nice large well that extends to at least the drip line (tree canopy). You'll want to extend this well as your canopy grows. Set your drips to drip in the drip line of your well. Then, fill with about 1 to 2" of worm castings, another layer of compost, then top with bark mulch. Be sure to keep all clear of the trunk by a few inches all the way around. Water in well. Then, sprinkle your fertilizer around the well ring at the drip line, and water than in. Paint your trunk and exposed branches with indoor water soluble flat latex house paint diluted in half with water to protect the trunk and branches from sunscald. That's how to plant a fruit tree here in S. California :-) Deep water during the hot summer months 2 times a week, then cut back to once a week in the winter, or no watering at all if we're getting rains. Top dress with soil sulfur once or twice a year. I usually will top dress at the beginning of the growing season in April, when I start fertilizing, and then again, around June or so, when our weather starts to heat up. Remember, NEVER fertilize or apply sulfur to dry trees. Okay, probably more than you wanted to know, but certainly I hope will help your little kumquat green up :-) Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: UC Davis: The California Backyard Orchard: Citrus

Hello, I agree with greyim, they do look like black wood wattles, not a fav of mine personally, they could also be an acacia commonly known as golden wattle, which are found around the victorian goldfields region and dont seem to grow very large, but then again your plants dont look quite as "sticky/straggly" in their habit, their are so many Acacia sp, that unless you know exactly where the plant originated from you could be guessing for quite a while. They can make lovely shrubs, but remember they dont live a long time and often they will sucker everywhere you dont want them, not to mention they strike very easily from seed. I hope they bring you lots of joy and attract plently of native birds, enjoy them while you can.

Thank you both! Very cool to have added something this beautiful to my collection. I'm very happy.

Not disagreeing with you, but this small-stature tree is less apt to tumble in the wind than a giant maple or oak. I don't have the numeric answer as to which of the two root system anomalies the two of us cite here are the most prevalent. They're both terrible. Around these parts, private landscapers all too often seem utterly oblivious to the "new" tree care. You know-the stuff that has come out since 1980! Too-deep planting, not unraveling the junk tied around root balls, not finding the root flare, using the top of the ball as a depth guide, using soil amendments in the backfill, not even attempting to make corrections to containerized root systems....it is almost as if these folks are willfully ignorant. There's a lot of "we've always done it this way" going on. Then there's the profit motive as excuse folks. "We can't make a profit if we plant that way".....Well, my answer to that, always at the ready, is that tree planting is a long-term project. The life of the tree should, if at all successful, be measured in decades, if not longer. Hence, another couple minutes taken to plant it correctly vanishes into insignificance over this timespan. Yes, preaching to the choir here this morning! +oM