I ditto tiller and others. Good advice from all so far. The only thing I would add about chemicals...is that there is one bottle of stuff you really should have, and that is a water treatment for Chlorine and Chlorimines. Chlorine is not that bad if you add less than 10-20% of your total amount at once. The fish can get Gill Burn if they play in the hose spray so put the hose in a area they can't get to. The chlorine will hurt your bacteria colonies in your bio filter but won't wipe em out. After a day or two contact with the air will dissipate the chlorine (it will go faster if you have an airator or waterfall). Chlorimines though are baaaad. They will never leave your pond without being treated with an additive. You can call your water company and see if they use chlorimines. If they do, then you need to get in the habit of using a neutralizer every water change. If they don't then you can get away without, unless you notice your plants being hurt by chlorine when you change the water. "Bad stuff" on the bottom are organic compounds like leaves, fish poop, dead fish etc. As it decomposes it will create a layer of mud called "muck". It's black and smells bad. If your pond ever has a sewer odor that's a sure sign that your muck has run amok and the fish are in danger. When this happens oxygen levels drop and you start getting brown algae and your water will look like rootbeer. Anaerobic bacteria start to go to work in the oxygen free environment. This is a fish death sentence. You should regularly scoop out the majority of the muck leaving as little as possible on the bottom after it settles back down. "Regularly" depends on your pond. More trees, dust, pollen, weaker filter etc mean you need to clean it up more or less than others. There is no rule about how often to clean. To clean out muck, you just need to scoop it out. You can do that by hand, with a bucket or shop vac. One thing I like is this little attachment that goes on the end of a garden hose. The flow of the hose water creates venturi suction that pushes the muck into a little nylon bag. Keep in mind that with any of these options you will stir up the muck and it will take a day or so to see improvement. If you do it regularly, the stirred up muck isn't a problem for the fish. But if you have a deep layer of it you might want to do what destany said above, and move the fish into a container for a bit (filled with pond water!) as all those bad compounds will be spiked during the clean. If your depth is closer to 3 feet I would still think about either getting rid of the goldfish (donate them to a pet store or other ponder) or the koi. With either 3 koi or 11 goldfish you have about the right fishload. But with both, you have about double what you will need in a year or so when they get big. If you are dead set on keeping all of them, you need to plan on losing some to stress or plan on getting a heavy duty biofilter and/or doing regular muck sweeping.

I have 2 Washington Navels and 2 Valencias from around 1950. I have a Pink Marsh Grapefruit, Minneola Tangelo, 2 different Lemons, Fig, Peach, Apple, and a Fuerte Avocado from the 1970s. All of the above were choked in ivy when we bought the house 16 years ago. I've gradually worked on them but the fig, peach, and apple are not going to make it. I will probably add a few small figs in a different place at some point. The current fig is trying to damage a retaining wall and is lifting the pool decking on the other side of the retaining wall. 3" Fig roots are competing with the Valencia 25 feet away the other direction. I'll probably end up with about 10 full size citrus, about 10 small citrus in the old grove area, about 15 more in pots or espaliered against walls. I expected to have 3 full size Avos but looks like I might end up with 4-5. I have one Pomegranate and was planning on a guava and persimmon but think I will run out of room. In order to put the small Avocado upwind from the pool, I would need to be sure it wasn't blowing pollen into the pool during the swimming season. I see my Fuerte and my friend's commercial Haas orchard both getting ready to flower now even though the fruit will be ripe at very different times. I just don't know if this is normal since the weather this year is so bizarre. This post was edited by GregBradley on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 11:46

Ok Ruth ann, did get that it was the prolonged heat of this summer as to why they're shorter. I'm also having issues with budding, although all 4 are from cuttings. 3 from last fall, and 1 from Home Depot. I have 1 yellow that turns an orange with a really exotic beautiful smell and it has a china look to it's trumpet, shiny. That's the HD and it's beginning it's first flush of 15 buds, 1 pink that's 5' that has 5 small buds, 1 yellow with none even though it's 4' high and 1 that's not any higher than 2' though I'm grateful it's still alive as I know it had root rot while still in the house waiting for spring...it's a double orange cutting. I love these things...they've kept me busy in a way I really needed over these last winters and now it's so much more than I thought...next summer is gonna be something to look forward to. Thanks for all your help over the last couple of years Ruth ann, John and all who took the time out to share. Sincerely, Sandy

1: What types of citrus trees are you growing and their size now? Lemon eureka lisbon meyer babies not grafted. Everything else grafted Lemon meyer Tahitian lime Australian finger lime Australian gem Makrut lime all 5 years old Lemonade Calamondin Mandarin emporer, clementine West indian lime all about 2 years old Arnold blood orange a year old Australian round lime Yuzu not sure brand new tree have it about 6 months. But already over a metre and a half and has fruited already 2: How do you grow them? In the ground or in containers? In a greenhouse, indoors, out with or without supplemental lighting? If container grown what type of soil mix are you using? All in containers. Outside. Bring the younger in in the winter keep them in my back room which has big windows 3: What type of fertilizer do you use and why? Have you tired other types and found one that has proven to be more effective? Composted chook manure. Seasol. Potash. Trace minerals. A bit of epsom salts if needed 4: What about pest control? What type do you use and why? Try and let nature control it. Remove stuff with my hands and try plant things around the garden to attract beneficials. If things get really bad i will enlist the help of a homemade white oil spray. But thats just when I'm desperate as I worry about the beneficials. 5: Where did you buy your citrus trees? Please also supply the link if it was mail order and which state, please. Have you had any negative experiences in buying trees? Most of them are presents. But have bought some of the older ones from bunnings and from the sundays farmers markets. I've got a wishlist for some of the more unusual ones which I can only find online, but want to make sure my current ones make it through the summer first. 6: What were some of challenges you faced growing your citrus trees? How did you, if you did, correct the problem? Leaf miner. Scale. Ants. Getting enough water and protecting from sunburn in the hot summer. Getting feeding right and shaping properly. Besides the pest control. I put a shade cloth up when its going to be too hot. 7: Why was citrus a choice for you to grow? Was it the look of the tree or did you just like that type of fruit? I love citrus. Beautiful fragrant flowers. Zest. Fruit. Leaves (makrut) and pretty looking plant. 8: What other types of fruit trees do you grow and why? Fig. Tamarillo. A few native australian berry trees. Acerola. Fejoia. Peach. Apple. And a baby banana tree...we will see how we go with that. 9: Other then this forum what other venues or clubs have you enlisted for support? This forum. No clubs. I was a member of a community garden but then I moved. 10: Were there any books you found especially helpful in growing citrus? No not yet. 11: Out of all your citrus trees which one do you love the most and why? That's a hard question. My tahitian lime is one of my oldest most prolific and i love limes. A lot of the others are a bit young yet. 12: What do you do with your harvest? Eat it, cook with it, and share it? Eat it. Cook with it and share it. I have a few friends that come for some of the makrut leaves. I cannot wait until some of my trees are abundantly producing so I can share with my friends and neighbours 13: Does your family share your hobby of growing citrus trees? Ummmm not so much