Alaska citrus growing project
Jason Robinson
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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cory (Zone 7a, NJ)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Citrus pioneers from the North, it's not easy!
Comments (6)Mike, My apologies for posting this in your thread, but it seems like a good place for it. I've been growing citrus on and off in the Northeast (Massachusetts) for the past ten years or so and I completely agree with you, it is not easy growing citrus in the north, especially indoors. In years past I've tried grow lamps (600W), heating, etc... to keep my potted citrus growing all year. However, my citrus never seemed truly happy except for 4-5 months in the summer and fall. A couple years ago, I gave up on this approach, and have let my containerized citrus on their own in a relatively cool (50-65F) sun room during the winter. They receive relatively little direct sun and judicious watering. Doing this, at least for me, has resulted in much more content citrus. I also began messing around with in-ground-citrus (in part from some posts I've seen by Frank_zone5.5) Last spring I planted a Satsuma out in my yard. When winter was approaching, I built a mini-cold frame around it using 35 gal water barrels and an old glass patio door for a roof. To make a long story short (Patty has seen all of my posts on another citrus board...), I was able to overwinter my tree with with great success. I did not supply any external heating, but relied on the high heat capacity and enthalpy of fusion of water to protect the tree all winter (although I did have an emergency heating system). I had the backup heating set to turn on if the temp inside the enclosure got below 27F, the lowest temp inside all winter was 27.6F (when the outside temp was 3F!), so I never needed the emergency heating. The system worked great, not a single leaf dropped (as far as I could tell) all winter. Currently the Satsuma is putting on a nice growth flush. Overall the outside tree was less work than my indoor trees. Just one afternoon in the fall to setup the enclosure, and another afternoon in the spring to remove it. No watering, no WLD, and no bug problems. My indoor trees were much more work, weekly checks for water, and spraying a couple of times w/ Horticultural oil during the winter to knock back one form or another of insect infestation. Here's some pics of my outdoor tree: Last fall (late Oct. 2012): Early Nov. 2012 after putting up the enclosure: Jan. 2012 buried under 25 inches of snow: Graph of the daily low temps (outside air, inside air, and inside soil) in Jan, when we had our coldest weather. Looking good in mid March 2013: After removing the enclosure on May, 1 2013: New Flush on May 1: Currently, I count > 40 flower buds... Hopefully they will be open by the end of the month, this will put them ~1.5 months behind my container Satsuma that flowered in April, and give me a chance of having ripe outdoor citrus by the end of Oct. when I have to put the enclosure back up....See MoreHelp with Disease ID on Citrus Bush
Comments (6)This definitely looks like Greasy Spot. This is a fungal disease that can happen and can easily be treated. Your citrus tree is not a "disease spreader", but you do need to take care of it :-) Be sure you're fertilizing regularly, and if it is an Improved Meyer lemon, it will need a little extra helping. They can be VERY prolific producers of fruit when they're healthy, so let's work on getting your tree back to optimum health. Just contact your local garden center or ag agent for appropriate fungicides to treat. I believe this is very easy to treat if you stay on top of things. Here is a link that might be useful: Greasy Spot...See MoreNeglected Citrus
Comments (3)That is awful! 99% of my citrus are on the irrigation system for the yard, mainly because I can't trust anyone, including myself, to remember to water them regularly. Are you absolutely sure the ones you think are dead, dead? I have seen completely brown and wilted trees sprout after sun and watering. Maybe, just maybe, they all survived. Good luck! citrusboy aka Marc...See MoreHas anyone heard of using left over cooking oil on citrus plants?
Comments (99)If you have problems with an iphone, you can go on line and learn a lot from their tutorials. For me to use it just for web browsing it is not a big deal. If you buy a $ 900.00 unit, it is overkill for the purpose of doing basic stuff, there are cheaper ways . I use an old desktop with window 7 pro and a couple of programs for uses like Gardenweb and other progams, got a nice 24" screen to go along with. When friends show nice pictures of their efforts it show up nice with my set-up. For me it does your pictures no justice to watch it on a dinky screen, Forgive me for being such a lousy pita....See Moreubro
7 years agoUser
7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agojinnylea
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agojinnylea
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agojinnylea
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agojohnmerr
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoubro
7 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agohobbyartisan (Saskatoon, SK Canada, 2b)
7 years agohobbyartisan (Saskatoon, SK Canada, 2b)
7 years agoJason Robinson
7 years agoHU-76537105
2 years ago
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