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Gardening in Oz

Disease or bug on fruits tree

10 years ago

Hi, I have a orange tree I haven't really looked after very well apart from seasol and powerfeed on a fairly regular basis, its about 5 years old and as you can see not very big for its age, I planted a mandarin tree next to it about 2 years ago.
The mandarin tree has only ever produced a few very small mandarin's and the orange tree I haven't got anything from. Both tree's now have a sprinkler head next to each other that waters for 35 minutes 2 days per week.
Just before Christmas I cut back any dead or low hanging branches to try and shape and hopefully improve the health of the tree's.
Both tree's seem to always have spiders around (do they hurt?) but the orange tree has had curling leafs for a while and the mandarin tree has a few now too, what is it and what should I do the fix it and improve the overall health of the tree's?
They both get a bit of afternoon sun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Orange and mandarin tree's

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Comments (2)

alisonoz_gw
10 years ago
From someone who has killed any number of plants over the years, I would say your citrus are looking passable.
And I really am no citrus expert but a couple of things...
I didn't really notice much leaf curl, it's more often an actual leaf miner and yours don't look like that. I think the leaves look a bit chlorotic (yellow) which could be a deficiency in... iron or any number of things.
The combination of seasol and powerfeed is good in general but just depending on a number of factors and particularly with citrus, may not be the best if used constantly.
I looked up the powerfeed data and it's Nitrogen 12/ Phosphorus 1.4 and Potassium 7. That might just be too little phosphorus to translate to good leaf growth and flowering. You might need to switch to a more citrus-geared fertilizer to use in the growth times autumn and spring.
We've talked here about citrus reaction to root competition, in that regard I'd be inclined to chop out the grass that's a bit too close, and mulch so that the roots get a bit more protection and that will also remind you to perhaps fertilize right out to the drip line of the plants.
The watering- you might do better with a loop and a couple of drippers than the spray and those can be set under mulch too to save evaporation.
I've also wondered how close your neighbour's plantings (over the fence) might be - looks like at least one banana, they will certainly be heavy feeders and enjoy going looking for nutrients, another reason to fertilize your plants a little more.
Before you commence anything though you might want to do a soil PH test just to see if you are fighting anything overly acidic or alkaline, as your plants would not like either.
lippies
10 years ago
I have a mandarin tree and all I basically do to mine is spray it with eco oil every year and put some home made compost around it,they do get sap sucking bugs on them if you don't spray and these do affect the tree badly,fruit starts to drop etc,you said you had your trees in part sun,madarin and orange and lemon all like full sun.dont keep pruning the trees every year just do it once to tidy up the low branches and then just leave it.also watering once a week is more than enough.
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@ lucky - Okay okay, I'll order our "Promoting excellence in slacking since..... whenever" t-shirts, complete with Wallyism ("People think I don't have a plan"). Probably get around to it next week :-) . Per your idea - I'd actually wanted to tie the branch up and push it against the trunk when it first broke, but wasn't sure what I could use that would hold the weight (the branch is about 1.5+" diameter at the base? and very long). For now, the propping-up may work, and I might employ some combo of tying/propping to get it through the early fall. Your link for Dr. Reid's blogspot on the stalked buds was VERY helpful. His photos were definitely applicable to my tree. I'll keep a look-out for the narrow angles and bark inclusions from now on, had no idea the tree might be growing itself a ticking time-bomb for a branch junction. @ cckw - Appreciate the extra reassurance that the patient will survive this break and the upcoming surgery! Do narrow angles trap water enough to erode the bark and underlying tissue? Guess that's another thing to watch for. I agree on pruning thoughtfully, but not always timidly, which I'm prone to do. My son and I did some aggressive cutting back on a few plum trees this spring, hoping it'll make them productive.The peaches need re-shaping desperately and will get that as soon as harvest is over in the next two weeks. I'll need guidance on whether or not to prune the pawpaws and pears. But that's another thread or two. I only wish there was a super-glue for trees or a way to instantly weld them back together. :)
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you use the HTML CODE .. and on preview.. if you see it... we will see it ... it is not necessarily the third down ... but it is for you .. anyway ... direction of sun??? .. the smaller shrubs.. look like they are now shaded out.. as the poplars outgrew them ... and they aint happy about that ... also .... the poplars are probably sucking all the moisture out of the soil... in an area twice as large as the canopy above ... thats not a great pruning stub .. but that didnt kill the tree .. where is dad.. and how bad was last years heat and drought??? any recent construction .. how about a pic of the trunk at the ground ... a call to the county extension office.. might get you a quick answer about any plagues running thru the area.. in regard to poplar ... all that said.. poplar are an extremely fast growing.. short lived tree ... i wish dad had planted something better ,,, or at least every other tree a better tree... i planted sticks of poplar.. simply shoved them in the ground.. in 5 years they were 20 feet tall ... in 7 years.. they were gone ... as that was the last season i could do it myself with my chainsaw .. and they were already breaking down enough for me to realize that it was going to cost me money i didnt have.. if i didnt get rid of them ASAP ... but having figured this in advance.. i had planted many oak ... and they were nice sized.. by the time the poplar had to go .... ken
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