Just what I'm looking for. If you have more, lets hear them! :)

I would think a good explanation with suggestions as to what mixes to use for various growing environments. In particular, I think most container growers in Northern areas are the ones who struggle the most and have the greatest losses. A discussion about possible mixes such as 5-1-1 or gritty, the importance of not over-watering, and perched water tables would be quite helpful. Additionally, citrus trees grown indoors for winter are susceptible to a variety of pests - mites, aphids, whiteflies, scale...all of those should be identified, and treatment methods discussed.

Winter leaf drop and root rot and treatments for both.

A good schedule of when to do things, when to fertilize, preventive treatment for pests for people who bring their trees in in winter (what kinds of products, how much and how often), when to pot up vs. when to repot. and what size/material of pots to use, how often media should be changed out, and best times of year to do so, When/how often to water, how much and how to check if the tree needs water, When/how to transition trees from outside to inside and back out again (light,fert, and water adjustments)

I would second something along the lines of what mixes work well in general areas as well as watering. My key lime in a pot dries out pretty fast in SD right now (warmer weather) and would have a totally different schedule than some people who are going through snowstorms.

All good points and also, info on location of the citrus trees inside the house during those winter months.

Lots of pictures, maybe a little guide to popular citrus for begginers? Definetly some directions when to prune and fertilize. I'm kinda new at citrus so havent fertilized yet!

Also when and how to prune for sure if you can :)

Just a few more off the top of my head : > ~

Keep the tree from producing more than three fruit until it has a reached a maturity / size that it can support more fruit.

Fertilizing tricks / solids and liquids / frequency and the myth of 3x a year. - Effects of neighboring roots / landscaping.

Check / test irrigation water.

Irrigation requirements / frequency / amounts.

Check and treat for pests. / ACP / HLB / >> be responsible to the industry and follow the guidance of your local / relevant Ag department.

Soils / drainage.

Planting locations - the myth of full-day sun requirement. (most citrus can be just fine as an understory tree / half day sun)

Hi David may I congratulate on your new beautiful website fantastic job I have seen many and this is definitely one of the best I've seen and it's in Canada very very exciting . Love the pictures and description on every variety of citrus you carry . I am really looking forward on doing some shopping here .

Brian

Yes, a very nice website and a terrific selection of trees. To bad I live in NJ.

Cory

Good news on that front Cory. My main nursery will be able to drop ship to you before the end of the year, hopefully in a couple of months.

I am also looking into incorporating myself in the united states and setting up a brokerage and greenhouses so that I can ship and grow other tropical fruit and foliage with ease. An American corporation is a huge undertaking as a Canadian citizen and subsequently will likely not happen before the end of the calendar year.

Or just put a link to this site? ;) (Just kidding)

Actually a great suggestion :) I am going to include a "Useful Resources" page with a link to this forum and several other pages with great citrus, tropical fruit, greenhouse and container gardening information.

Looks like you have a great handful of folks with lots of great ideas! I can think of few things that will kill or affect my citrus tree for the better or worst over a short period of time if not addressed...

pH and how important it is to make sure that your fertilizer solution is available. What those of us can use in the ground and what those of us can use in a pot, which many of us use vinegar for potted ones..

The right choice of soil mix...That using a good porous one is a must for all potted citrus growers no matter where we live..All the benefits to using it and success stories..Good air movement through the root zone, lack of soil pests such as gnats, lack of dissolved salts, good gas exchange, lack of perched water which most often rots roots and so on..

Then how important it is to flush your mix out of dissolved salts if using anything less than a porous mix. The more peaty it is, the more often one must flush salts...

Are you saying that you will be selling to us in the U.S here soon? I would love that. It seems to me you will be one of the few growers that actually wants us to be successful with proper care verses those that dispense generic or bad advice so that we will return to buy more because we failed in our first attempts.

I will be very excited when you get your US sales going. I will happily order from you!

My suggestion is to divide instructions up separately for in ground citrus, methods of freeze protection, etc. from the container grown citrus side of things. In ground citrus and container grown are two very different things.

Hey David ,

Great Job on the website , I see you already have most of it covered , my list would include :

• Potting Mixes/Drainage incl comment on Grow Medium Ph
• Watering/Dealing with root rot .
• Repotting(root bound) /Up-potting .

And end of the season , when we prep for 2017 winter you could add :

• Winter Leaf Drop.
• Indoor Lighting
• Maintaining the Humidity, Temp, Lighting balance
• Greenhouse tips n tricks .

Dev

Just read through the wishlist and that is quite an undertaking to cover all those topics. All I can think of is the topic of differences/similarities between care for different types of citrus plants especially for container/indoor environments.

Hi David is your website up and running now so that we can now place our orders ? Thanks

Brian

Hi Brian.

It is unfortunately not finished quite yet. I'm having some trouble with my shipping calculators "packing" the orders incorrectly so I keep getting strange package sizes. It should be done soon enough and if I can't fix it I already have a meeting set up for Tuesday with web dev to go over everything.

Hi David thankyou so much for getting back to me . So looking forward to see your site up and running there are a couple of tree's that I am extremely interested in the Gold Nugget and the Ortanique, I can almost taste them. Looking forward to ordering !!

Brian

I think that the first discussion should be around just how expensive, time consuming, and difficult citrus trees are to grow outside of their temperature zone. There are nearly a countless way that citrus trees die during the winter month when they have to be brought inside. Any plant that has root rot problems should never be grown in a container. This rules citrus trees out for up north growing. Fruit off a container tree is minimal. If I get 448 kumquats of 1 inch diameter I will get the equivalent volume of fruit as just 7 apples of 4 inches diameter. Would any one fight with a container apple tree that delivered just 7 apple a year. Citrus fruit is cheaper than apples. For my indoor trees to grow well I need to blast them with light from ugly light source that I have to hide in my basement. If I don't heat my basement the trees won't grow or produce flowers/fruits. The soil must be replenished every 2 years for good plant health. The soil will cost more than the fruit is worth. The available trees are grossly over priced and are usually grafted to rootstock that is not compatible for potted culture or the scion grafted to it.

The most important thing in a rootstock, that is not affected by root rot or graft/scion incompatibilities. I wish you well on your guide. There are facts out there that are important but not available. Those facts are what we need to see to make our decisions. I lost over 300 citrus trees before I received 6 gift citrus trees. If I had started with the gifts first I would have lost every one of them.

6b "WAY TO FAR NORTH TO BE GROWING CITRUS" Steve

Hi steve

I'm wondering where abouts you're located? I don't have problems growing citrus up here in zone 5/6a and my customers in Thunder bay seem to be doing fine with theirs... Anyways, thanks for your input.

Brian, how are your trees doing these days? A nice pic of one with lots of blossoms or fruit would make my day..Hugs buddy

Hey Mikey buddy how you doing? I have been sick with a bad cold since Thursday so I have been taking it easy at home although I did manage to take a couple of pics.

David is right Steve I live in zone 4b nothing and don't have a problem we've had enough lemons and limes and oranges to get us through the long winter.

Brian

Greenscape gardens this is great to hear! I'm in Canada vancouver to be specific and it's so difficult to find citrus here! I found your website atleast I think it's your website? Through your fb page! I wanted to order a pink lemon hope you deliver to vancouver great idea to have a citrus nursery in Canada :)

My trees are moving forward quite nicely. It will take several years before I get a good amount of fruit. It is however a lot of work, money and knowledge. The vast amount of people that grow up north quit after a year or 2 when their trees die. Those of us in a group like this can get the help needed to get our trees to a good productive. point. I still feel that the most important thing to know is that citrus tree growing up north is not easy. "We" are the small handful of citrus tree growers doing well with few troubles. I am enjoying my adventure but I feel guilty if I am not in my opinion honest with others that growing citrus will be about the hardest plant experience they will ever have. Once learned they will do fine. I would like this emphasized in your writings. Not discouraged; so people can make there best decisions. There are also a lot of pitfalls that tend to be an unnecessary risk in grow these trees. There are a lot of publications out there on citrus growing, but none seem to emphasize the care needed in getting going.

6b Steve

Building on what Steve said--there's a lot of misinformation out there regarding potted citrus. Things like humidity (we don't need to mist our trees), fertilizer, soil choices, and light requirements are a few examples of things that need to be straightened out for the general population. And like Steve said, citrus growing in northern latitudes is expensive and challenging, to say the least! But the rewards are well worth it!

-Tom

Thank you Tom

You said it very well. I don't want to discurage anyone but I want to paint an accurate path to success emphasizing just how hard and expensive it is. People starting out need to know that for success this will start out as much more than a hobby.

Nurserie point out how easy it is to grow a meyer lemon tree and pick your own fresh lemons. People buy these trees and they are dead and or discarded in less than a year. That is how I got my 2. They were rescue trees. They did well only because I had extensive knowledge and experiance with citrus trees. They turnede out to be beautiful Cuban shaddock.

Cuban Shaddock from cuttings · More Info

6b Steve

I have to disagree with this. I have more than 2 dozen trees in Toronto. I find their care easier than some of my other tropicals (coffee, coco, etc). We need to remember that citrus are not "tropical' -- they are semitropical. As Tom mentioned they don't mind dry air, (my RH is constantly 10-20%)... I cannot stay the same for some others (i.e. coffee) that experience browning leaves in air this dry. They are also not as picky about light as we all think, however most likely under fertilize their citrus.

Hi Steve.

It really does sound like you are trying to discourage people from growing their own citrus when you say things like: "6b "WAY TO FAR NORTH TO BE GROWING CITRUS" Steve" or "The vast amount of people that grow up north quit after a year or 2 when their trees die." In fact, statements like: " "We" are the small handful of citrus tree growers doing well with few troubles." are completely unfounded. Though I respect your opinion that growing citrus was the hardest experience you've ever had, it certainly wasn't for me. Personally I think that shoot tip micropropagation is complex, but not hard. I think that cultivating mycelium for master cultures is time consuming, but not hard. Basically, I think that all of the things you are saying are hard, are in fact easy with a little knowledge, which is the purpose of offering this guide.

I don't think that growing citrus is "expensive, time consuming, and difficult". As a matter of fact as hobbies go, I'd say it can be rather cheap! To be clear that it CAN be rather cheap. If you want to spend a million bucks building a theme-park sized greenhouse then go ahead, but you certainly don't need to. If you want to spend $40 a bag on bark chips for your 5-1-1 mix then you can, but you don't have to. If you want to spend a grand on a fertilizer injector for your irrigation system, again you can but you don't have to. I'm sorry that you feel that this hobby is expensive, but I feel that you can keep you hobby on the very cheap side if you want to. That is to say that I managed to keep everything on the cheap side when tropical plants were not a part of my business and were just a hobby.

Just for the sake of clarity, when you say that things are difficult to grow outside of their 'temperature zone', are you considering that every houseplant that you come across is being grown out of it's 'zone'. If what you said were entirely true then I don't think that I could grow the orchids, bromeliads, tree ferns and other wacky things that I do. You could even go so far as to say, that because these species are not native, they don't have anywhere as close to as many naturally occurring pests and therefore are EASIER to grow!

I would like to encourage positive discussion, so if anybody would like to start a discussion about this elsewhere, please do. I would however like to hear from people who have something positive to contribute to the production of a citrus care guide, here.

Thanks for the imput so far everybody. :)

Poncirusguy is certainly correct on one point. For people new to growing container citrus the average life span of their citrus tree is less than 2 years, and in many cases less than 1 year.

As I said, the purpose of an educational guide is help people grow their trees :) Having a guide that tells you that your tree will die in a year or two sounds like a very poor guide indeed! lol

If you are aware of some information that you think would help new horticultural enthusiasts in their endeavor to grow, please share it here. A big thank you to everybody who has.

The average lifespan of any house plant is probably less then a couple of months how many people know how to take care of a Christmas Cactus or even a tomato plant so what's the point ? Dave if anything is looking for solutions to people's questions not all of this negatively so if you have any tips then let's hear them if not start your own thread on citrus mortality and leave this was alone . Thankyou

Brian

I would also suggest multiple winterizing options for those who need to bring citrus trees in for the winter, such as the sunny window (how to pick a good spot), greenhouse, grow tent, garage, basement, etc

I can't wait to check out your guide :)

David - I agree with you 100% so far. Basically I like the way you are approaching the task at hand.

Often the discussions in this
forum makes it sound that citrus is something extremely special in terms
of its needs and care. For a new grower any plant can turn out to be
difficult - a quick visit to other forums will illustrate that quite
well. So any plant can turn out to be special depending on the grower.

I think new gardeners (and sometimes others too) tend to think of plants needs being equivalent to people or pets. Time-scales at which plants operate is very different from animals/humans. Over/Under watering is the most common reaction to plant problems with the expectation that it will solve the perceived problem quickly. Same goes for light, nutrients and pests.

So some basic horticultural techniques embellished with some specific do's and dont's for citrus will be helpful. After having read many posts on this particular forum what I miss is a good critical look at citrus growing. In containers, specifically.

Fine print: I only have a few citrus/lime plants nothing as exotic as many members here. To me they are just like most other plants I have. In fact, they are easier than a few other plants I have.

Some Ideas that worked well for my winter growing.

Meiwa · More Info

Hold trees securely in place to avoid knock overs and place a light over them in a reflective container

Greenhouse and bucket lights · More Info

fukushu kumquat 1 · More Info

Fukushu kumquat#2 · More Info

Meiwa · More Info

Sweetlee Tangerine · More Info

Greenhouse and bucket lights · More Info

Greenhouse and bucket lights · More Info

I am an environmentalist and use scrap material. anyone else could use treated timber or cedar from the lumber yard. It will look much better than mine.

I am sorry for my negative approach. My point is to let people know how hard this is and give the tool/knowledge to get most new-bies past the first 3 year die off. Then we can help them from time to time down the rood. I think you guide is a fantastic idea. My wife needs the computer now so I'll be back with more tricks that got me by

6b Steve

Thank you Steve :)

Nice to see the fruit on your trees Steve. You greenhouse looks good. Good idea to use what you have.

Cory

Agreed and I love the greenhouse. I think people would love to hear more about how you reduce the costs involved with your hobby like the bucket reflectors or if you're using reclaimed materials for soil mixes. That type of thing can really give people the confidence to try growing for the first time and I think would be appreciated by the seasoned growers too :)