Some Citrus Photos on a Lovely S. California Fall Day

hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA

10 years ago

Okay, I promised MeyerMike I'd post up some photos of my kumquats, and I also thought I'd share my 3 new container citrus trees I finally all got potted up in 1/2 wine barrels, as well as dripped. Which makes it infinitely easier for me, as I don't have to rely on hand-watering them, which for me, can spell the demise of any of my container plants (with the exception of my succulents, lol!) Okay, so, the first few are of my kumquats I inherited when I purchased the house. They were not in good shape, so I dripped them, pruned them way back (they appeared dead for all intents and purposes), and they are now lovely little things. I did have to replace one, so I now have two Meiwa's and two Nagami's, which is fun.

These first four photos are the Nagami's, the fifth is the Meiwa:

Okay, so now, here is a lovely Bloomsweet grapefruit that is just getting too big for both the spot and for the pot:

And, as evidenced by when I pulled the pot over to the hand truck, to take it over to my parterre garden, where I am going to plant it in a very large 1/2 wine barrel. Mike, remember when I told you my sour oranges hand grown feeder roots out the pot hole? Oh my gosh! I'm so glad I decided to pot this tree up. It has only been in this pot for about 18 months!

So, it is now going to be a lot happier here:
{{gwi:643040}}

Here is my Bearss lime, and as soon as it settles in, I'll start to tie it to the trellis and get the espalier going:

And, my lovely Italian Santa Teresa Feminnello lemon tree, also getting ready to be espaliered, after I pick the lemons:

Here is how I have them all dripped. I run the drip lines up through the bottom of the containers, through holes. I have the lines run through some 6" sprinkler risers that sit under the edge of the pots, so the lines can't get crimped or crushed. I have two lines, and a 180 degree sprinkling adjustable sprinking head that sits up next to the trunk, pointing outward. I just adjust the flow rate so I know it's going to get the tree sufficiently watered once a week:

And, a look at my mix. For these trees, I'm using MiracleGro Garden Soil (yes, that's right), along with small bark chips and perlite. Here's what the mix looks like:

This has served me very well, with zero issues. It should last several years without collapsing. Most like will need to either pot up, put in the ground, or root prune before I have to replace the potting mix. I will use my time release fertilizer in about a month, along with Foliage Pro, but at lesser amounts due to the MiracleGro already having some fertilizer in it.

Lastly, a really nice before and after story. This is my lovely Chironja orangelo, which at the time, was only propagated by one grower in S. California, and now, not propagated by anyone, due to the restrictions imposed on growers in California. So, getting this lovely cultivar was really a rare thing. In the getting of the tree down to me, it sat at a friend's place for a few weeks, and was being tended by someone who simply, well, wasn't tending it. This is how it came to me approximately 2 years ago. I thought it was a goner:

This is it, today:

And, same with my little Ortanique Tangor. It came at the same time with the Chironja, and in even worse shape:

Here it is today:
{{gwi:643059}}

This cultivar blooms almost as frequently as my Meyer lemon. I have a whole new set of fruit coming on, yet again:

Thought you all would enjoy a few photos on our lovely, warm (82 degrees) S. California fall gardening day!

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 17:44

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Comments (14)

poncirusguy6b452xx
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Patty

Nagami--Meiwa !! I see you got good taste. OOOH-YIaaaa Don't forget the bloomsweet. Very nice trees.

Steve
johnmerr
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Good job, Patty. Thanks for sharing.

John
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Hi Christy, First of all I want to offer my sincerest condolences on your friends passing:( I know how difficult that can be. I lost a good friend my first year out of high school. He jumped off a peer in Lake Erie. He was under the influence of alcohol and drugs and another close friend of mine tried t osave him but he ended up smashing his face into the break wall and losing my friend. That morning theyfound him floating in the harbour. Okay, about your tree. I have a nice lush dwarf keylime tree. Of all places, I bought it from Roberta's on QVC. It was a small little whip of a tree but has since grown to be over 3 ft tall. It has loaded up plenty of times with flowers. My first complaint was that this tree was advertised as having a great scent. Logees greenhouse also sells it this way and there is NO detectable scent whatsoever! Anyhow, my buds would open and then right about the time the petals would start to drop, the whole flower would fall off! I did have the tiny ovary at the base of the flower but it never developed. I have had a few here and there that did hold on but always fell before they ever got any size to them. Mike also told me that even though citrus are supposed to be self fertile, it may need to be pollinated. I also know that there are some citrus that need cross pollinators to set fruit well. One of them is a citrus that I have been considering buying, the minneola tangelo. I read up on it and read some posts here on it and found that they don't have to have the cross pollinator but you may only get a couple fruits without one. Hi Toni, I wanted to tell youy that I will email you some pics of my two mango trees. Sadly, one of them is going to die but it was my fault. This is the mango I brought back from Florida and I didn't pay attention to the trunk of the tree like I should have. When I got it home, I realized that the bark was split in one spot but I was home and it was too late to do anything about it. I have learned a ton about these trees and though I have lost 3 in the past, I am confident enough to buy more and get some of my own fresh mangoes. mango and cherimoya are my favorite fruits. I did want your opinion on these HPS lights. Now, I have read that they are brighter than bright. Fine with me, as long as they are bright enough to support strong healthy growth. This HidHut website has some killer deals. I am going to order the 600 watt HPS. I am going to need to of them. I went a little crazy on buying fruit trees this year. I bought a 'Day' avoacdo, two different varieties of cherimoya, one actually is a double grafted tree with an atemoya also on it, 3 citrus trees, a mango tree, tons of cherimoya, sugar apple, passion fruit and guava seedlings. I have around 14 large trees so I am hoping that if I buy two of these 600 watt set ups, I can suspend the light above the trees with three trees on one side and 3 on the otherside, that way I can have six trees under each light. My seedlingsa are still small enough to fit on my table but I also ordered 3 cacti from K and L cactus. I have a jackfruit that is growing pretty quickly and my problem is like Christy. I have hardly any good quality natural light. Well, I hope all is well with you and I will email you soon. Mike, I also need to email you. I got some good news about some of the stresses I was talking about with you. I will be sending your package out to you next week. Wether the angel trumpet is ready to be cut or not. Did I mention that the same plant that bloomed once has about 8 buds on it? It should be blooming by the end of this week or maybe next week. I will email you pics when it is blooming so you can see what you will be getting. Andrew
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hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks, Steve & John :-) Funny, I'm not really a fan of kumquats, too sour for me even with the skin, but I just love how they look in my garden. Same with Calamondins, yet I have an entire row of variegated Calamondins along the north side of my driveway. Again, love how they look. Both are used pretty frequently here in S. California as ornamentals . I've been trying to get to this project for weeks, now. So, I'm glad I was finally able to carve out enough time to get the trees in their containers. One more tree to put into the pot I removed the Bloomsweet from. I'm hoping the Bloomsweet doesn't have some significant transplant shock. That pot was completely full of roots, and the shape of that pot made it very difficult to remove the tree, as the opening of the pot was narrower than the fatter bottom part. We'll see how it fares. Sadly, I think I am seeing some very, very early flower buds finally, so I may end up not getting any fruit this next season. Oh well, patience is a virtue, I guess!

Patty S.
jumpinjoe
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
PATTY! Unbelieveable! Love it. Ive been looking around for wine barrels everywhere. If u know somebody who has some please let me know im willing to pay and travel if the price is right. I just posted some pics yesterday ofall mine.
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks, Joe. For the 1/2 wine barrels, check your local Home Depot's and Lowe's. They have them seasonally, usually late summer/early fall. I also just saw some last week in San Marco's, at Green Thumb Nursery. I would call around to all your local garden centers to see if they have any still in stock.

Patty S.
jumpinjoe
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Im definately going to do that. My neighbor has 4 with nothing in them but he wont budge for anything
Ryan
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great Pictures, Enjoyed them very much! Why did CA say no more to the Chironja orangelo?
poncirusguy6b452xx
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Patti

I must admit that your pots and container are infinitely more attractive than mine. I do however faver my steel half drum over a whiskey half barrel.

Beautiful landscaping and yard.

Steve
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks, Steve. Don't have any access to steel half drums, and not sure they would so much mesh with my Tuscan landscape, but it certainly would work well if you could drill drainage holes in the bottom, no doubt :-) Again, thanks for the nice words. This is just a tiny part of my yard, the small patio by the pool (where the Ortanique and Chironja are situated), and the north parterre garden. The rest of my in-ground trees are either on my front slope (about 1/2 acre) and my back yard upper slope. I'm sure one of these years I'll finally give up the effort of managing over an acre of intensely planted yard, but for now, it's a lot of fun.

Patty S.
meyermike_1micha
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Patty!!!! I had to save the BEST for last...

I don't even know what to say except thank you so much for showing me your sweet babies in pots!
I knew you could do such a great job and your trees testify to the integrity and love you show them...Marvelous !!

I love them all..None are my favorite but the story behind the two you thought were goners impresses me so...
Amazing and look at the fruit...
Look at the mix too..You certainly know the meaning of using a great mix that holds moisture more than what some of us are use to but not too much...One that encourages GREAT root growth and one that is stable for your trees.
You have figured out what is good to use for your area and everyone trying to grow under your conditions should take what you use to heart..

But it is not just the mix that prove how wonderful you can grow trees in pots, but your dedication and hard work you put into them.

You gave those trees a chance to live when many others would of given them up for dead and now they reward you with such beauty.

I am very proud of you and if I lived near you, you would be my citrus buddy and mentor...

I can't thank you enough for thinking of me and us, and in sharing your gorgeous trees!!
Have a wonderful night and please be safe..

By the way, it means a lot to me that you would post Kumquats specifically:-)))))
That is my next choice of tree once I can afford it:)

Mike:-)
poncirusguy6b452xx
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mike I am tempted to say if you pass through Cincinnati i'll give you a tour of my "farm" and send you off with my kumquat tree. Give me about another year and I might be ready to give you my 4 sweetlee tangerines and 3 poncirus trifoliata trees. I'll keep my bucket lights though.

Steve
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Terrific plants, Patty! I especially love the progress reports on those poor trees. You have some cool little nooks on your property, too.

Josh
serge94501
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Stunning citrus, Patty! Thanks for sharing. Two questions if you do not mind...

1. Does every pot get 2 sprinkler heads and are they set for 180 deg coverage?

2. How is the Chironja as far as taste?

Thanks!!

Serge
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The only pots that are dripped are the kumquats that sit in my parterre garden. The rest are dreadfully hand-watered (which I despise doing, lol). And, those are on a fairly low single drip head, since the pots are small, and the bottoms of those old clay pots are pretty much rotted out. So, they are sort of really planted in a "mound" surrounded by a pot :-) The Chronja tastes more like a spritely orange, than a grapefruit. It's good. If you like Minneola, you'll like Chironja.

Patty S.

Some Citrus Photos on a Lovely S. California Fall Day

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Some Citrus Photos on a Lovely S. California Fall Day

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