Kristimama, Citrus are nearly carefree in the Bay Area, so there is no reason not to grow as many as you like. Fill up your whole yard with them! The only real problem that most people run into is infestations of sucking insects (particularly scales), vectored by the omnipresent Argentine ants. Other than that, you basically just plant them and let them go. Give them some acidifying fertilizer in the winter, and keep your soil healthy through mulching. That's about all you need to do. Calamondins are small, sour citrus fruits. They are generally used for their juice, much like you would use lemons, etc. (You wouldn't eat them out-of-hand, unless you *really* enjoy tart flavors!) Calamondins are essentially everbearing, meaning that they should carry ripe fruit just about all year long. This is a very nice characteristic. It is very handy to be able to pluck a few fruits for squeezing into water, over a piece of fish, etc., at any time! I haven't been following this forum that closely, so I'm not sure why folks here prefer to put citrus in smaller pots. However, I would say that most participants on this board probably don't live in areas where there may be absolutely zero rain for months and months on end. Keeping potted plants going when it is extremely hot and dry can be burdensome, and using large containers like half-barrels will at least minimize this problem.

Newbie, you have some special circumstances as you're on very sandy soil, and water will drain very quickly down and away from the root system. I would suggest that you head over to your local feed and orchard supply store, somewhere that supports your local ag industry, and ask them specifically the best way to water citrus in your area. Definitely NOT sprinklers that will broadcast water in typical sprinkler fashion, as John has mentioned, as citrus do not like to be hit by sprinklers or have their trunks constantly wet. And Rhizo is correct in that you'll want to be able to measure volume per watering session, and that will tell you how much you're actually applying per watering session, and see if that measures up to the recommendations from your local orchard supply center. I would follow what your commercial citrus growers are doing out your way, and that should give you the correct amount of water. That, and observing your trees for dryness (leaves folding upward), will give you a clue as to the need to water, or water more. I'm inclined to think in your area that commercial growers are using microsprinklers, probably 4 to a tree set at the trunk and pointing outward to water the feeder roots evenly, as opposed to bubblers set to flood a well, due to your extremely well draining soil. I'd think you'd probably end up with the water just soaking down around the bubbler faster than it could fill up a well, allowing for more even saturation. Betting you'll be told to use micro sprinklers. Patty S.

Well, I have to amend the showed in my above Foliage pro label. I assumed that "tsp" is tablespoon (15 ml), but I was wrong, it is teaspoon (5 ml). By the way, it gave very logical values. So ppm N are much lower that those I wrote. The right data are (gotten from here): Maintenance (every watering): 1 part FP in 3000 parts water (1 ml for 3 Lts water) (30 ppm N) Production (weekly): 1 part FP in 1500 parts water (1 ml for 1.5 Lts water) (60 ppm N) to 1 part FP in 750 parts water (1 ml for 0.75 Lts water) (120 ppm N). I am currently astonished, because those ppm N are in my opinion very low for citrus growing. It is commonly assumed that an optimum N ratio for each watering for citrus are between 100 to 150 ppm N. Those recommended for Foliage pro are much lower. I have tested at home the EC of a 100 ppm N of Foliage Pro solution and (with tap water) it is 0.89 dS/m. It is a very safe value, much lower than the maximum recommended for citrus (1.70 dS/m). It would be perfectly possible to water with each watering in a FP/water ratio of 1:1000 (90 ppm N), and even we would be below the recommended N ratio for citrus. So here there is something wrong or I am losing anything.

I think it's a balance thing, as with most aspects of gardening. The more sun you give your citrus while also taking care of its water, temperature, and fertilization needs the more fruit and flowers and growth it will give you. Honestly, I think this is why I hate fabric pots - I can only grow on my roof deck and I couldn't keep the trees cool / watered in those pots. Instead I grow my outdoor-year-round citrus in cedar containers to keep the soil cool and my indoor-outdoor citrus in terracotta colored plastic pots so I can heft them in and out (and check if they need water based on weight).