I love the taste of the meyer for sure and I grew up on Eureka's but we eat and use more oranges than lemons.

I agree with John completely. unless you plan on taking those trees somewhere I would plant them in the ground and prune them to whatever size you want them to be. I have peaches and plums that I don't like get over eight feet they've been in the ground for 4 years now.

Did you repot yet? Just curious about your mix. They look incredible!

I repotted an avocado tree late afternoon. I posted a pic in the avocado section. I have one more avocado tree to repot in the morning then I might plant the meyer or satsuma tomorrow in the ground.

Oh I meant have you ever repotted the citrus or is that the original nursery mix in the containers? They seem to love it whatever it is.

These are the original containers and soil (kellog and compost)that I placed them in when I transferred them from the nursery small containers into these 15 gallon ones. I use Kellog mixed with my own compost that I make in an 80 gallon barrel that rotates on rollers so it mixes easily. I give them Vigora citrus and avocado food every 3-4 months. They get about a 1/2 cup each application that I sprinkle on top.

After reading another thread on over fertilizing it looks like I'm under fertilizing my citrus trees.

Container plants grow slower than in ground. You don't have the wrong idea by keeping them in pots. It's one of those personal choices.

John likes to push Meyer on everyone. Don't listen to his comment about how you won't care about your other trees in 2 years. If life gives you a Meyer tree, graft it over to something else. Seriously though who would only want to have lemons? Isn't variety the spice of life?

I just ordered a Gold Nugget Mandarin which I will pick up next weekend. That will give me Mandarins between my 2 trees from November- Summer. I'm also hoping my small Dwarf Washington Navel produces some this year.

You might want a mid season mandarin if your hoping to have a harvest from November to summer. You have the early and late covered

Citrus grow perfectly also if kept in pot for years.....very nice collection :)

I just picked up my Gold Nugget Mandarin and potted it into the 15 gallon this afternoon. It's in the middle with the Satsuma on the right and dwarf Washington Navel on the left. That is the last tree I'm buying for my yard.

Nice tree, just try not to harvest too early. It probably won't be ready when the satsuma is done. Gold nugget does hold late from what I hear.

God, I WISH I could set mine in a place like that for a year or two..I have no idea of what potential mines have given the best environment they could be in..Arg..Sort of takes the fun out of growing them up here when you know how held back they are due to our weather..Really stinks! Good job

I have to agree those trees AND your yard look fantastic. So jealous. Nick, yeahhh famous last words lol

I'm going to extend my fence out where the backyard meets the front yard. It will give me an additional 30 foot by 8 foot section to plant some of these trees. Maybe a few avocado and couple citrus trees.

I think I am being maligned here... first, I don't PUSH Meyers on anyone; I only share my enthusiasm. Second, I didn't say in 2 years the Meyer will be the only one you care about; I said it will be the only one you TALK about.

Nick, do you have a Queen avocado? I live in Guatemala, the home of the avocados of the world; we have over 100 varieties; but the only one I grow is the Queen.... google it and you may learn why.

John I take no offense at your enthusiasm and your experience with growing trees. I'm really just starting out and in my 3rd year. I started out with my lime tree then added the Meyer and the rest of my fruit trees over the past couple of years. I gather advice and experience from those who have been doing this much longer than I have and try to encorperate that into my gardening. So far what I'm doing is working and even my local nurseries can't believe how well my avocado and citrus trees are doing. My Peach, Nectarine and Plum in the ground are doing amazing as well.

PS I will check into that variety of avocado

Guatamala avocados are notoriously frost sensitive. Research hard before deciding on any avocado, especially one that's not a Mexican variety.

John, I also appreciate your enthusiasm for Meyer lemons. They are a really fine fruit!

But in my experience so many people in California have Meyer lemon trees in their yard, either planted by them, or previous owner, that they really are not talked about all that much. Everyone loves them, but they're so common that they don't inspire much chat about them.

Now a Blood orange, a Kishu mandarin, a Santa Teresa lemon, or the guy down the street who got an Australian Finger lime or any other not so very commonly planted citrus, those are the trees that get talked about around here. Or any other variety besides the ubiquitous Meyer, Eureka or Washington Navel citrus (mostly in that order, lol).

I almost pulled the trigger on the kishu but went with the gold nugget. I wanted the sweetest one and the consensus was the gold at my local nurseries. Who knows I might get a kishu anyways :)

If you have space issues, that's a good choice. Gold Nugget is delicious and seedless. It has that rich true "tangerine" flavor. Plus it's a late mandarin, so you get some yummy after many other mandarins are done. And it's a good sized fruit, gold ball sized or larger, on average.

I love Kishu, but it is early-mid season, right when lots of other mandarins are also ripening. And it's really small, as in tiny. 50 cent piece (does anyone remember those, lol) to nickel sized depending on the yield and how you thin. They are seedless and very sweet, though not as strong a "tangerine" flavor. But I have young and toddler aged nieces and nephews and it's a perfect size for them, and super easy to peel.

Btw, when I say "tangerine" flavor, I'm referring to the flavor of the Clementine. Which is pretty much the Lifesavers Tropical candies in the "Tangerine" flavor. Lifesavers got the Clementine flavor pretty much spot on in that candy.

One lady here and everyone knows who, never wavered. She said Kishu is the best mandarin in every category besides size. Flavor, sweetness, easy peeling, truely seedless, heavy bearing.

I now know what I'm grafting to some of my rootstocks in the next year... thanks, haha.

-Tom

I almost forgot to include one of the deciding factors of the gold nugget over the kishu. The gold nugget is cold tolerant to 26* whereas the kishu is 32*.

I got those numbers from a growers site. I know there are some variance with different growers. I noticed that with my avocado trees depending on the grower/nursery.

Yep, if your tree is at the top of a slope, even a slight one, it will not get as cold as it would at the bottom or on flat ground. Cold air sinks and will flow downhill. Bottom of a hill is the coldest area, especially if there's anything to stop the air flow, like a fence or the house.

Well, that is what i thought... and thinking that all my old thermodynamics courses would confirm it - agree. But what i found in reality is the opposite. The trees at the top of the ridges suffered severely while all at the mid to bottom of the slopes were fine after the week of nightly dips to 19-22F (even the then puny, OroBlanco suffered no damage at all - while the Bearss Lime with 1 3/4" trunk on Volk (and surrounded by fencing) was dead to the ground).

I believe that in my yard, the air movement at the top of the slopes was much greater than the movement at the bottom. And so that air movement reduced the temperature and increased the effect of the freeze.

- George

Very interesting!

my lime tree is in the lowest point in the corner of the fence in a container. It the most vulnerable tree I own when it comes to frost and its one of my healthiest. Also 2 of my jalapeno pepper plants behind it survived the winter and are showing new growth already. I'm with George on this one with how my yard is configured with my trees and structures in close proximity. In fact in the other 2 corners I have peppers that also survived the winter. I think its warmer there and less direct wind on the tree and plants.

The new growth on my lime tree is going crazy this year. My Meyer lemon is doing the same thing.

I was just reading the taste test results on over 60 varieties tested and the Okitsu Wase Satsuma won the test. This is the one I have along with the Gold Nugget I just purchased. Have any of you tasted this variety before and what are your thoughts. Here is the article below.

http://www.fruitmentor.com/okitsu-wase-satsuma

The owner of that website also has some magnificent citrus grafting videos if you're ever interested

Thanks I will take a look at a few of them

i have both of those - the Gold Nugget & Okitsu Wase; although they have only been producing fruit 2-3 of years. They are both very good, and very different. The fruit of the OW ripens Nov/Dec and the GN is ready now, but still improving on the tree, getting juicier/sweeter. Both easy to peel. The OW seems to dislike strong afternoon sun while the GN doesn't seem phased by the bake of late summer sun on a west facing slope. The OW is typical Satsuma taking a few sub 20F nights in December with minimal visible damage [the fruit was already harvested]; the GN looked tattered [and the fruit destroyed]. The OW is slow growing for me (maybe because i let it produce too much fruit), while the GN is upright growing and getting past 7 ft.

I do like them both, especially since the harvest season is far apart. But, in my case, the GN fruit is at risk every freeze season. - George

I picked up some new larger containers for my Citrus Trees which are 25 gallons. these will now be there permanent homes and I added new soil and nutrients. The 1st pick has the dwarf Washington Navel on the left, the Golden Nugget in the middle and the Okitsu Wase Satsuma on the right. 2nd pick is the dwarf Meyer and the bottom the dwarf Key Lime.

Nice pots. You know that every couple of years you have to take them out, root prune, and replace with new soil right? Make sure you do it. Otherwise the problems from being root bound will be a hassle.

The lime is 3 years old and the meyer 2 years maybe 3. I root pruned them today and added new soil and some nutrients. The Satsuma and Navel I bought last year and put them into 15 gallons with new soil. Today I pruned them and added new soil. The Golden Nugget I just bought a month ago.

Nick Very attractive pots too. They should do well with your care.

John I guess that I will be saying if life gives me lemons, I will pray that they are ------------------------------- NEW ZEALAND LEMONADE LEMONS--------------------------------

Here is my Meyer lemon tree in July of 2014

I just added a Tahoe Gold Mandarin to my citrus collection at Costco for only $18.99

I'll be seeing my new addition going outside in 6 weeks. Grafted it myself.

I have been reading this post, am wondering if nick or anyone could me. 1. Size of container for my 1-2 years four wind grower citrus (kishu, pixie and kumquat). I live in Palo Alto, Northern California. Zone 9. 2. Potting mix: will eb stone organic cactus mix work? Need to add something in? If Kellogg is ok, but I don't have home made compost.

And I would like to plant the little 1 year old kishu and pixie in the pot, then plant in ground when they are taller. My side yard south facing fence is 7' away from my house. Only full sun higher up. Right now 3' higher. No problem in summer, but winter needs to be higher than 3'. Should I have a bigger container 25 gallons to start? Four wind grower recommends 6-9"

Just arrived

Meiwa Kumquat on Kuharske Citrange · More Info

Meiwa Kumquat on Kuharske Citrange · More Info

Meiwa Kumquat on Kuharske Citrange · More Info

Where do you get 7 gallon buckets Steve?

I got mine when I was hired to clean out a house of junk in order to sell. One mans junk is my treasure. Your pots can be 3, 4, 5 gallons etc. Its just that buckets have handle and pots don,t and they are free.

Hi steve, did you drill the holes on the bottom as well as side? Is miracle-glo pine bark mulch at Home Depot a pine fines? What type of potting soil? Is MG perlite mix (small print enhanced with plant food) the perlite that 5-1-1 calls for? If i keep all the plants in the nursery dirt and container for 2-3 weeks, should I keep them in shade? I will be too busy to care for them .as far as water schedule, how often should I water them in nursery pots and new pots?

The potting soil I use is that that my customer used and is discarding. Many time I don,t know the brand name.

the bucket in the picture above is what my Meiwa kumquat is in and it has hole in the bottom as well as it's circumference.

The miracle gro mulch is not pine fines but much coarser. You can use sand that is around 1/16 inch and larger to about an 1/8.