Citrus plants not doing well

Nirmal2013

11 years ago

I have tried to grow chinese oranges plant in my garden 3 times but the plants shrivelled and died within about 10 months to an year. The soil ph is between 6 to 7 and I use only organic manure. On the other hand the plant of the same species is flourishing like anything in the neighbour's adjoining garden despite the fact that they do not care for the plant except watering it.
It is the same story about the five lemon plants which I have. I give them lots of organic, nitrogen rich, manure and yet with the start of winter each one starts shrivelling and falling of leaves and in most cases the onset of spring does not bring back foliage and most plants eventually die. If the loss of foliage is due to winter cold, how is it that the same plants in my neighbour's garden keep flourihsing even during the peak of winter ? We receive reduced hours of sunlight during winter but my neighbour's garden receives NO sunlight during winter.

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Comments (5)

meyermike_1micha
11 years ago
Nirmal, welcome..

I am not well versed in ground citrus. but let me try to use common sense:-)

Have you given it any thought that you might have a pest problem?
Maybe too much organic material which could clog your soil and suffocate your roots?
Maybe the way you water?
Maybe over fertilizin?
Is the compost fresh or composted?
Might you be killing the roots by burning them?

I am thinking that maybe you should find out what your neighbor is doing and if you don't talk, then at least try to carbon copy what they do.

Are they adding the materials to the the soil like you are?

I would ask if I could take a close look at the soil and what if anything they do to it for their trees.
I would inspect closely for pests since one yard could have them and then the next, nothing.
I would also inspect for mildew, mold, and or fungus.

Can you take a picture?
mgk65
11 years ago
It is likely that you are using the manure too soon. It has to be composted at least a season. You'll know when it is done, because it will smell like dirt instead of manure!
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Hey Dave, "Have fun bringing those plants in?!?!"...REALLY?! You more than welcome to come to my apartment and help me then. I ONLY have around 100 or so to move indoors, and just like you, I have other tropicals that also need to come indoors. Last night we hit 45 so I know I will be moving them all indoors this week. MY plan was to spray them all with the FE today but this darn rain is putting a cramp in my plans. Tomorrow I will hopefully be able to spray them all and then as long as the weather co operates, I plan on having them all in for good by next Sunday. Thanks for the pics Dave! I find this very interesting myself! Was it you that sent me the Aztec Gold 2 years ago? If not it was the other Dave. Anyhow, that plumeria(along with maybe 4 or 5 others) did the same as what you described above. I actually felt guilty having to rip those huge, long roots out! Because I have so many trees, I know it would be really hard for me to get them all in the ground. I could do maybe 10 or 15 every day for a week and a half or so, and get them all in that way. I just have t o be more careful with how I do this stuff this year. I am waiting for comp approval for my 3rd back surgery. The last surgery was last November. They put in titanium screws and a cage system, and 2 screws broke, and actually one of those screws fractured my vertabrae. I want to recover from this surgery and not worry about having to have another. A HUGE advantage to sinking the pots into the ground is that you also don't have to worry so much about the pots blowing over. I had so many plumeria that were second year rooted cuttings, and some of them were all ready substantial trees. I want to say that at least every month of the summer, I was picking up 10 or 15 of my trees at least 3 or 4 times! This coming season, I will be repotting almost all my trees so hopefully this wont be such an issue. Thanks again Dave for posting this thread. I would love to see how many other people here did this and what there results were. Bill gave great advice on how you could plant the trees in the ground without having to rip the pot out. HE recommended planting an empty pot that was a couple inches wider than the pot with the tree in it. Then you just slide your tree into that pot and fill in with soil. When fall comes and you have to bring them in, you just pull the smaller pot out. He said that you could leave the larger pot in the ground so the following season you could just put your potted tree right back in without having to go thru digging another hole again. Andrew
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hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
11 years ago
Well, you may, indeed, be burning your trees with raw manure, so make sure your manure gets composted, first. Or, yo can try fertilizing with a fertilizer especially formulated for citrus, with the proper NPK ratio along with the right amount of micronutrients for your soils. Also, how low are your temps in the winter? Your neighbor's tree may be more mature, and can handle low temps better than a new citrus tree. If you can post photos of the trees, that would be very helpful. Also, make sure your tree is in well draining soil, having your tree's roots staying very wet for prolonged periods of time will eventually suffocate the roots and kill the tree.

Patty S.
jojosplants
11 years ago
Manure should be composted at least a year before using.

JoJo
johnmerr
11 years ago
The manure is not the problem, especially if it is cow manure; it is possibly the most perfect fertilizer for citrus, and can be applied "straight from the cow".

The problem here... without any photos, without any info about soils, water, etc. is likely macrobiotic... maybe this person has salt problems with the soil, maybe there are drainage problems, maybe they "forget" to water the trees at times. Who knows! Without more details, fotos, information about soils, water, etc. Not even a citrus guru can answer this question. Doesn't India have some sort of agricultural assistance program for home gardeners??? Silly question... of course they don't.

Citrus plants not doing well

Comments (5)

meyermike_1micha

mgk65

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