Owari.
They receive 16 hours of light a day and half time the relative humidity is around 50%, the other half about 15.

This post was edited by norwoodn on Tue, Apr 1, 14 at 23:48

Congrats on the bloom! Happy looking citrus.
Sorry for the haze over the pic. These are (L to R) 'Shasta Gold' mandarin, 'Tango' mandarin, and 'Rio Red' grapefruit. They are grown outdoors all year and given minimal protection. This is not a recent picture. The 'Tango' is now in full bloom, and the 'Rio Red' and 'Shasta' are loaded with flower buds. 'Shasta Gold' has two fairly large fruits. Wondering when they should be sweet in my climate. Northern Ca- coastal valley. Any ideas?
Not pictured are 'Fukushu' kumquat and variegated pink 'Eureka' lemon{{gwi:569318}}

Thanks mate, your potted citrus look magnificent.
To your question, I am not sure when the Shasta mandarin should be sweet for you, but I know there is plenty of info out there on the web. Have you heard of the citrus pages? It's a collaborative website with photos and info all about citrus! Search "citrus pages".

I am actually interested in fukushu, could you provide some info about yours?

Sorry to say I haven't had my 'Fukushu's for very long. The reason I got two (I don't usually have duplicates) is that the ones that I have tried are very sweet, really good flavor, with no seeds. I'm not even a kumquat person, but these I could munch on. So the only info I have is flavor-wise, but I doubt their culture is much different than any other citrus.
I have heard of the citrus pages, but I always assumed the ripening dates were for So. Cal., a much different climate. Everything seems to ripen at a different time here in Nor. Cal.
Thank you for the compliment. I won't say it's easy to grow citrus here, but I will say it is a lot less challenging than growing them indoors. Kudos to you!
I forgot a potted lime! I'll have to get a picture tomorrow. And I'll post Filoli's potted citrus, which puts mine to shame.

This is my key lime. I just got it saturday from fedex from fast growing trees.com. I put it in a ceramic pot. This is my first tree ever so my goal is to atleast keep it alive. Lol

Okay looks great, just know that lemons/limes are the least cold-hardy citrus, so keep her warm and humid! Also feed her well with nitrogen. And well draining soil but you already know this!

Ok thanks for the tips. Ill do my best

Here are the citrus at Filoli Estate Gardens in Woodside:
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L to R: Grapefruit, lemon, and Moro blood orange {{gwi:569320}}
Washington Navel Orange{{gwi:569321}}
Seville Sour Orange, lemon, and calamondin {{gwi:569322}}
Lemon {{gwi:569323}}
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The Bearss lime I forgot (crummy photo)
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With the pot, it is about six feet tall. Dug up from my old garden about four years ago. In the pot ever since.
Looks like you're doing good with the lime. Do you have a greenhouse for the winter?

Okay, two more pics from Filoli (when it wasn't pouring. The sun was shining!):
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Last two from Filoli, promise. :)

Northbay beautiful pictures. Your shasta looks fantastic . Shasta's are beautiful but dangerously thorny.

Norwood nice lemon tree congrats.

Brian

Thanks orangelime. I haven't had it for very long (since october), though I can't say it's very thorny. I see small thorns, but they are not as vicious as my Meyer lemon or my Moro blood orange. I usually just snip the thorns off. I started doing that after getting cut up while harvesting. Now when I see them, I just cut them flush with the branch.

wow quite the landscape Filoli's got going on! thanks for sharing that.

Here's mister Grapefruit from seed, foliage shiny enough for you? (:
That upper right branch has grown a foot in a month lol.
so it's FINALLY taller than it has been foreverr!

Here's a shot of the Meyer, without the overexposure.

Wonderful pics everyone and nice stories...Thanks for sharing..

Mike

Northbay sometimes the thorns you don't see are the worst. My Shasta is full of small but very sharp thorns but beautiful tree. Your right about Blood and Meyer huge thorns but at least we know to be careful when sticking are hands in there. Key lime trees are another tree full of small thorns , I always forget they are there when I put my hand in to pull out a fruit. I just hope my Shasta turns out like yours , you have a real beauty there.

Brian

I was just outside and noticed that some of my rio red grapefruits had grown to almost the size of a 50 cent piece. Thought I would snap a pic with my phone and share with everyone even though it's not potted but an in ground grapefruit.

Northbay 12. I was wondering what kind of potting medium they are using for those washington navel trees in those clay pots at the woodside estates?

Joncha,
If you use their recipe, don't use a fine-grained sand. Always use a sand specifically intended for horticultural purposes, or avoid sand altogether. Sand is very mobile, and will end up clogging the drain hole.

Here is a link that might be useful: Filoli PDF

Would anyone recommend removing the flower buds on my Meyer, because it has little foliage? Best way to make it veg without harm?
Leave like three buds to see if one sets?

Also those photos of the potted citrus at Filoli, are those all grafts? Those stems look nice and trunky.

This post was edited by norwoodn on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 0:06

Norwoodn,

I've read that if you remove the buds then the tree will just make more flowers. Leave the buds on, let them bloom, and then remove any fruits when they are pea sized if your tree cannot support them.

It sounds like you need more expert advice on getting your tree happy again. I'm sure someone will come along and give you more info on what your Meyer needs.

I think they were all grafted. They were huge, and are very pampered, not only because of Woodside's mild climate, but the legion of gardeners working there. 16 gardeners on 16 acres and countless interns, apprentices, and volunteers.
I had the same question for some of my in-ground citrus. Many have a lot of buds where I wish they would have growth, including my Meyer. I hope someone more knowledgeable than I am can answer.

Meyer lemon about to initiate blooming.
Taken with my iPod through my 45x jeweler's loupe.

You can see about four or five colas covered in blooms (:

Sheesh..It NICE to see that trees can do just fine that big in such small pots! Maybe I should rethink my transplanting times...

They are all nice

My page mandarin, 1 year in that pot :) I feel like a proud dad

Here is my Kishu, moved it to my new apartment and forgot to water for a bit and it dropped about 75% of it's little fruits :/ it gets more sun in this spot so I think it needs some time to adjust

Mine are outside with some place in ground permanently.

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Meiwa kumquat tree in bottomless 12 inch deep, 18 inch square pot.

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Meyer lemon tree in bottomless 12 inch deep, 18 inch square pot.

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Sweetlee tangerine tree from seed move from 5 G bucket

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Seed grown sweetlee's in 5 gallon pails.

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seed grown. sweetlee bush.

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14 month old nagami kumquat trees.

LAST AND MY BEST
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Hardy chicago kumquat from rooted cutting is loaded with 72 kumquats along the stems of every branch

wow Steve that fig cutting looks great! Have you ever seen an elder fig in the ground? some can get pretty huge, with large canopies, i love em!
your seed grown trees look great! i don't know how you can do it though, the kumquats roots ROT so easily!

aslan89, those mandarins look nice! hope they stay that way for you!

I'll post a pic of the family when I get home, it's been nice out.
Fukushu kumquat, Owari Satsuma, Meyer Lemon and a Key Lime Seedling...

Here is my fukushu kumquat. I have recently been moving all mine to my new place. I'll get more photos soon. Its about 4 years old now. Pot is a ten gallon I think. Might be 15.
Mike

Wow Steve like I have said in the past you are the king at growing figs. You must have been a master gardener growing figs in Italy in your past life. Here is a picture of my fig sort of a sleep in the basement and the exercise stuff I never use.

Brian

Hey Mike that's a nice looking kumquat. What's your experience with it? Any tips particular to this plant?

Norwood. Thanks. This is one very easy going. I feed it once a week with the others. I have repotted it ever year and that's about it. It stays green, flowers profusely and gives me plenty to eat. For sure a keeper.
Mike

Thanks; norwoodn & Brian for the kind words.

The biggest cause of damage or death for my potted plants is drought. I have always worried so much about root rot that I end up under watering them.

My fig tree is in a 55 gallon drum half. the drum half is 2 feet diameter and 18 inches deep. The hardy chicago fig does better than most fig tree varieties in tolerating wet soils and low light level.

While the pot seems large at 150 Pounds, by using a special sled I can move it from my roof to the bedroom for fall and winter, then down to ground level for protective shade to acclimate the leaves to full sun. I then run the tree and sled up to the 3 floor roof. I'll be using all 13 of my 55 gallon barrels for my trees.

Steve

Steve if I were you I would start practicing T-budding and get that kumquat onto that poncirus trifoliata ASAP. But that's just me.

Anyways Mike that fukushu kumquat' s trunk looks pretty thick, I like it. I want mine to get rid of all the green color, it's getting closer the older is becomes though!

I'll take some quality pics when the sun's shining. I don't want to bother with these crummy photos.

here are a few more out in the fruit orchard
fukushu, washington naval, meyer, armstrong satsuma and key lime. I also have a bearrs lime up by the house.
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armstrong
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the next 2 are my oldest meyer and key lime. I actually just gave these to my mother since i had 2 of each. she loves them both.
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mike

Lovely collection Mike, what kinda of weather are your citrus exposed to? Could you list your extreme temps?

Here is my family photo, lol.

Owari, Meyer, and Fukushu. Owari is one year and the rest are about three.
Oh and little baby key lime seedling very bottom.

I put them in plastic pots cause terra cotta was too cold for them here, now they're at good temps. I saw the new BONE WHITE roots developing in the gritty mix. Now they're all starting to grow more rapidly.

I brought my citrus outside to enjoy the warmer weather and for some maintenance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Citrus update video

Hey I watched your video, nice collection, sorry to hear about your pest issues as well.
Reminds me that I just found little flower buds hiding on my fukushu kumquat! Spring is here yay, still need some more cooler weather for the cold season crops, but that's off topic.
Yummy yummy yummy.

Northbay12,

I'm curious about your trees. They have large trunks. We're they always in a container? Or we're they in the ground and you dug them up and cut them back?
Thanks in advance.

CitrusWeekendWarrior,
I believe the trees you are referring to are my pictures from Filoli Estate Gardens in Woodside, CA. I wish they were my trees. I don't believe they were ever planted in the ground, I think they're just very old and very pampered. Filoli has hoards of gardeners to take care of their plants, don't be jealous :)
-Max

Norwood.

Here in Oklahoma they see it all. However in winter they never get to below 55 in the greenhouse. during the summer it can get as hot as 110 in july and august.

Mike

Mike, I love that Kumquat tree...How would you describe the taste? Is it sweet?
I think my mother just may want one..lol
Very nice looking trees....

Mike

I keep passing up on interesting varieties of citrus as I am a little short of planing space.

Today, I took care of that problem! Well, for a while, anyway :)

Here is a three year old semi dwarf midnight valencia in a redwood box. Tree looks healthy but hasn't produced any fruit at all for whatever reason. Maybe this year will be different.

Sweetlee tangerine #2 just went into a 55 gallon half barrel. This time I cut the bottom out of the bucket and slit the sides most of the way up. I placed the plant into the drum, spread the slits and lifted the bucket up and over the tree. All my citrus/fortunella are in their places for the summer.

Steve

Meyer Lemon
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Fukushu Kumquat
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My buds are turning black and falling off, not sure what I am doing wrong, the leaves are yellowish. Also have small black dots on back of leaves