Kumquat hasn't fruited in 3 years with yellowing leaves.

12 years ago

I have a planted nagami kumquat tree which in the past 3 years has not born fruit.

I'm in the sf/bay area and i water it deeply with a drip line once a week.

I looked in the forums and the many responses could be over watering or lack of mico nutrients.

But not all of the leaves are yellow, only on the outside branches. Inside and around the tree, the leaves

are quite green. I've been using vigoro fertilizer about 3 times a year starting in feb. Besides the kumquat is a dwarf lemon tree planted in the ground that is doing quite well (flowering, green leaves, and bearing fruit).

do you think a treatment of pro foliage, would help? Would thinning out the leaves and branches for sunlight help?

as a side note, could the jujube tree growing 6 ft away be suffocating it by the extensive suckering?

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Comments (9)

johnmerr
12 years ago
I would guess you are just under feeding it; a tree that size needs a lot of ferlizer; and the fertilizer should be applied at the drip line of the tree... same for the water. If you are putting the fertilizer and water only around the base of the tree, the growing and fruiting leaves are not getting food; it would explain why the newer and outer leaves are yellow.
jimithing78
12 years ago
I'm certainly no expert so wait for someone with more experience to chime in but it looks those close ups of the leaves look like Magnesium deficiency to me. Does your fertilizer have Magnesium in it?
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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
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hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
12 years ago
That's Manganese deficiency most likely, Jim. Not Magnesium. This is the most common chlorosis we have here in S. California due to our soils being a little low in Manganese, in combination with our pH being just a little bit high (usually around 7.5 to 7.8 or so here in S. Calif, depending upon where you live) and our cold wet winters. A good fertilizing at the drip line, as John mentioned with a citrus fertilizer that contains micronutrients as well as an additional application of micronutrients is always a good idea in the spring, as our soils start to warm up. We have had a lot of late rains this winter and spring, and we've been on the cooler side, so we're really having a lot of issues with chlorosis here this year.

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coworkerbob
Original Author
12 years ago
Yes, there have been a few rain storms in the past few weeks hoosierquilt. I will take John's advice and try fertilizing at the drip line with some pro foliage.

jimithing78, i use vigoro citrus and alvocado fertilizer, i think its a 6-4-6 mix.

I just read on the forums the pruning can cause the tree to not fruit so will hold off on pruning the tree.

Thanks everyone!
blazeaglory
12 years ago
Do kumquats need alot of heat to hold the fruit? I know citrus drop or dont perform well if you dont get many high temps. Does it get hot enough in your area? How well does citrus do in the bay area?
coworkerbob
Original Author
12 years ago
Blaze,

I don't know about kumquats needing alot of heat, but there is quite alot of citrus trees in my neighborhood. In the past, this tree bore alot of fruit. It gets enough heat here where my chilis do well. Hope that helps.
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
12 years ago
Citrus fruit at the ends of their branches. So, if you've been pruning the ends of the branches, you're pruning off all your fruit :-) I would keep the tree height down - no problem there, but citrus for the most part don't really need a lot of pruning. Kumquats and Calamondins usually flower and fruit prolifically, so I imagine this may be due to over-pruning. And blaze, no, they don't need a lot of heat to hold fruit, not related to fruiting at all. In fact, kumquats are one of the most cold-tolerant of all citrus trees. Your fertilizer is fine, I would fertilize every 2 to 3 months, from February through Oct/Nov.

Patty S.
coworkerbob
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks Patty,

Yep, guilty as charged...I pruned it over the winter when i pruned the asian pear as i had a codling moth and whitefly issue. (still trying to control them). I am going to buy new drip irrigation hose and adjust all my fruit trees to the drip line. I fertilized and watered like John mentioned and I'm waiting to see if it does better. I read the instructions on the back of my fertilizer and I've been under fertilizing as well, I haven't adjusted for the height in last few years. Habit I guess. I'm going to wait until it gets back to being green and producing fruit before I take your advice to trim the height. :) Thanks again Patty. Great Advice.

ps, what other fruit trees are you growing Patty? I have fuyu persimmon, asian pear, and jujube trees.
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
12 years ago
Well, I've got about 100+ fruiting trees, bushes and vines here. Many different stone fruits, several different apples, about 17 different pears, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, grapes, 8 different pomegranates, guavas, pineapple guavas, trying out bush cherries & lingonberries, will be planting jujubes and I'm going to try a Surinam Cherry. And both Coddling Moth and White Fly are some of our major issues here. I just found White Fly in my yard for the first time ever. Very upset about that, but will try to control them best I can. I unfortunately have about 50 hibiscus, so it may mean the demise of my hibiscus to get them out of the yard.

Patty S.

Kumquat hasn't fruited in 3 years with yellowing leaves.

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Kumquat hasn't fruited in 3 years with yellowing leaves.

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