StickS, the only reason I reduce the N drastically right now is to prevent that new growth that results from getting destroyed by freezes/solid frosts. If you protect or can move the plants to safe locations then no reason to stop the feeding. Note though as the soil temperature decreases, the roots can't absorb the nutrition as effectively.

Roots can burn when fertilizer is next to / on roots and the ground dries out. If you feed your trees, you must water them! It's rather difficult for me to keep all the roots moist when the trees are on a slope and 100+F. I am planning a major low pressure drip irrigation conversion with fertigation included - - that should alleviate the issues. ...and save me some water too! - George

Molewacker,

thank you for your explanation. My tree's are in containers, much easier for me to keep them moist. I believe I have read somewhere we are expecting a warm September and October.

Stickstring, if you are expecting a very warm next couple of months, then I am screwed on this side of the country..That jet stream does not ride from west to east anymore and has not for months..It buckles spilling down the center of the country leaving me all the cold side while the west bakes..That would be you guys..Lucky me. At least my petunias, all my coolish loving plants are growing well in this. I too have lost all my tomatoes and now my roses..

Vladimir, way o funny..The only thing I veer complain about is this weather.lol You would never know I have property down in Puerto Rico not being inhabited by anyone.lol

Anthony, what zone are you in or where in the country do you live that your weather is nice and hot? probably the west I am assuming..You have yourself some very nice looking trees there and very nice growth. You are a meteorologist???? That's amazing. I keep in touch with my local ones when I can and always wanted to be one. I am always in tune with my weather and all the changes through the years..

Jinny...What's this I hear...?? FROST????? Now that's pretty bad and very sad. Way too early for that...You know, I wonder if Brian has been worried about the cold at all. I miss his greatly!!

Brian??/ Brian, what's up buddy? Hugs!

Lisbon 8A - major growth spurt all over... but I liked this contrast. 8/28

Molewacker, I forgot to tell you that you are doing an amazing job. Good work. I love your pics...

Mikerno... I am a meteorologist and environmental scientist here in Fort Myers, Florida. Im always willing to help and warn the community about extreme weather events, in particular winter freezes. Im willing to post about the potential of these events long before the news or the weather channel reports on them, which is usually too late to buy whats needed. For example ive warned about sudden stratospheric warming which is usually a two week warning for freezes. Or the North Atlantic Ocellation for example. I also analyze the computer models and warn people about threatning weather conditions, such as cold or severe weather for their plants on here and on reddit. Im in zone 10A in SW Florida.... Where are you btw. Maybe I can keep an eye on your area in forecast for you...

Thank you Mike! - - - - and Anthony - that is a great offer! In fact, I'd love to get a few inches of rain over the summer. its dry dry dry in my area.

Anthony, boy you may regret that offer! I live in MD if you want to look out for our weather ;-). I grew up in FL though.

Thank you Jinny! If they die, I won't be too sad now that I know how easily I can root more cuttings :) Getting light frosts before August has even ended..that is some strange "summer" weather you're experiencing.

Its been raining all day for me as well and also feels chilly indoors! I may have to wear a pair of thick sweatpants to sleep if this continues. I'll also be on the lookout for your weather forecasts Anthony!

I'm sure after this cold spell, it'll suddenly turn hot and muggy again. Seems to be doing that all month so far. Good luck to all of our trees this week!

Kvetch, how did you root your cuttings? I am trying to root some trimmings from my moro and not having much success. Also I may has missed where it said but what kind of citrus are your cuttings?

Sammers, I have had success rooting cuttings for the first time too. I used a liquid rooting hormone and pro-mix. I also put quite a bit of the stem (like at least 3-4 inches in the mix). I used a deeper container so I could get them well in there. I then tented a zip lock baggie (not closed off at the bottom or you get mold) and just put them outside! I did not even use a heat mat this last round and I rooted oro blanco and I dare not hope, a cutting from my ST ! I cut the remaining leaves by about1/2-2/3. My ST has still not sprouted, but it looks totally alive and the remaining leaves are nice and green...it has been about a month.

Mikey buddy it's been a horrible summer here to . I think that we hit 90 once record rain and cloud cover although all the weekends seemed sunny and warm . Mikey that's incredible that your thinking of already using your space heater. If I could Mike I would bring all my tree's in tonight but I have all my veggies growing in the GH and we still have to do some insulating in there. Mikey it's dropping to 40 two nights in a row Thursday and Friday and a high of 59 tomorrow way to early for this . I think fall is already here I wonder when winter will arrive buddy lol. Your not alone my friend many here are going through the same misery . Hugs my friend.

Jinnylea love your setup , I can't believe frost twice already . Which part of the country do you live in ?

Brian

That's great Laura, I had tried rooting three cuttings back in June (Moro,Calamondin,Minneola) the Moro Died instantly and the Calamondin followed a month later. The Minneola is still as green as the day I cut it but no new growth or visible roots. I currently have about a dozen Moro trying now. For all of them I have used a powdered rooting hormone before putting them in 4in pots filled with Spag. peat moss. I mist them when the spag seems dry and tent when with a upside down Rubbermaid container to keep the humidity, they are along my counter in indirect light from the kitchen window. I am hoping a few take. I would love to be able to share with others.

Hi Sammers! My citrus cuttings were from a Meyer lemon. It is my one and only citrus :) so any citrus talk I spew will be about the Meyer haha

I had a pot of peat prepared before putting the cuttings through the process. I had moistened spaghnum peat moss that air dried enough that it was light/fluffy, still moist but not saturated. After collecting the cuttings and pruning them to get the most healthy looking stems/branches, I cut all the bottom tips at an angle. Then I misted the bottom tips and rolled them around in rooting hormone powder as high as 2 inches. Lightly tapped off excess (but scraped the exposed tip to leave a thin layer powder instead of a chunk) and stuck them all straight into pre-moistened spaghnum peat moss. No pencil pushing holes. Patted the peat against the stems. Stuck all 4 cuttings spaced evenly apart into a 4.5" terra cotta pot, put a large ziplock bag over the pot and taped it closed. As it was my first time, I actually left on about 3-4 leaves per cutting and I didn't even clip the leaves in half. That made it too wet and humid in the bag so I made a small 1" cut at the top of the bag to encourage aeration and let out excess humidity. I didn't want excess humidity to cause rotting. I realized later the peat surface would dry out because the terracotta was absorbing the moisture and releasing it into the air but I had no way to water the pot with the bag over it so I made a makeshift self watering wick.

I created a water reservoir for the plants to self water. I used a shoelace as a water wick to ensure there would always be moisture available for the mini microclimate if it needed it. Once the cuttings started to produce flower buds, that's when I discovered the 4 cuttings' rooted and the roots were tangling with each other.

**I know making diy setups can be expensive or easy diys hard to find so I'll detail how I made my makeshift wick.**

**Warning!! Looong detailed description below!!

Large rounded plastic lid from a slurpee cup or fast food drink with large straw hole. Just large enough to situate the pot you have your cuttings in. Found a bowl at home with the same diameter as the plastic drinking lid. Inverted drinking lid to sit on the bowl edges and not fall through. Took a shoelace, shoved it into the terracotta drainage hole until I assumed it was positioned towards the middle of the peat media. Trailed the shoelace through straw hole of the plastic drinking lid into the empty space between the the bowl & lid. Poured alittle bit of water into the bowl where the shoelace was sitting in the water. Terra cotta planter then sat on the drink lid above the pool of water where shoelace was submerged. I refilled the water reservoir whenever it started drying out. It took about less than 1/4 cup of water each time I refilled.

Sry for the too long description. Since I already took apart the cuttings, I'll lightly recreate the setup and post photos of it later. Hope that helps your rooting efforts Sammers! Even with all the research I've done on rooting before trying to, it won't always work since our environments and methods may slightly different. So I adapt when it seems like they're lacking something it needs. When you misted the spag when it's dry, it's good for creating humidity in the air for the cutting. The misting might wet the surface but it won't always fully moisten the spag below the surface where the roots will try to grow, it may actually be dry in that area (thanks to the traits of peat). The roots won't try to grow/extend if it doesn't detect moisture close enough to that rooting area where you put the powder. Since the cutting has no roots, it can't replenish itself if the cuttings starts drying out, stressing the cutting more. So making a humidity dome from a plastic bag or plastic box will help keep the moisture contained and consistent for the roots to do what it wants without stress of other problems. I made the water wick so that it would always be moist in that rooting area without needing my constant care. Seemed to have worked!

1 major thing I would've changed would be the way I cut the tips that will be dipped in the hormone. The roots ONLY grew from the tip of the cut I made. I didn't see any root growth above the cut where it was green AT ALL :( I've seen a couple videos of ppl propagating and they advise you to scrape/shave a thin layer off the green stem about 1 inch long all around the stem where you want roots to grow. It would create more surface area for roots to pop out and have a stronger root foundation. This may help root cuttings from varieties that might not root as often. I'll post a very interesting link of an experiment on rooting cuttings with the rooting powder. It's a one of a kind video from an unknown youtube user and was totally mind blowing for me!

Thanks for sticking around to the end of my post if you've even made it this far :) I'm freeing up photo space soon and will have pictures to post when I can finally take pictures again. If you're starting more cuttings, let us know how they do! If they're not progressing, maybe we can help throw around some ideas for you to try to rescue them!

Thanks Kvetch! It sound like I am on the right track. I am hoping of the dozen I started at least one takes. If not at least I tried!

Kvetch and Sammers, here is my rooted with raw honey lemon cutting. The roots grew from the very end of the cutting, the green area that I scratched to get more root growth, it healed itself and roots did not grow on that part:

idea111 · More Info

Those roots look great Sunshine! How long did it take to root when you used raw honey? I had a fig cutting that started molding and dying on me and I fiddled with all sorts of methods to try to save it. I put honey all over it and lightly dusted rooting powder when it was slathered in honey :D it ended up surviving but I'm waiting on root growth to show up against the plastic container. I have another cutting waiting to be rooted but I didn't apply anything to it yet. I'm not sure if I should use honey only or both like I did before! Cuttings are so fun

I hope your cuttings take Sammers! If anything, you have enough cuttings to take a few from your original setup and add something different to see if it changes anything :) I waited 4 weeks before checking mine but I'm pretty sure I would've discovered the roots if I checked even earlier. I was afraid 100% peat would be too wet and suffocating. I think the terracotta ended up working wonders to help with that potential issue. And I also agree, at least trying will help you find out what ends up working for you. Good luck Sammers!

Yes, Mike and Brian!! Frost! We are expecting FROST once again tonight!! Arghh!! I cannot believe it! It seems it was a good decision (lazy) to leave a few of my larger pots of citrus in the gh after the last frost.. I can barely walk around in the gh now, like Brian, I still have vegetables, grapes, olives, tomatoes, herbs, flowers etc. growing inside. I do not have room for more plants so the rest of the 20+ citrus, seedlings, pomegranate and figs will be brought back in the sunroom . We will need to cover the in ground citrus back up. BTW I live in upper MI. Zone 4..

Beautiful Lisbon, Mole! Sammers, I hope your cuttings take this time around. I have faith! :) Laura, I am on my third try trying to root a Santa Teresa. . Good luck! Sunshine, nice lemon cutting. Kvetch, thanks for the wonderful, detailed description for rooting cuttings..very helpful! :)

I finally had good luck rooting a few citrus cuttings.. I cut a branch off of my Etrog and ST on June 9th.. I made sure each cut piece had several leaf nodes.. I cut a couple of leaves in half..Like kvetch described above, I shaved a thin layer off of the green stem on the bottom of stem, dipped it in raw honey then cinnamon. I put the cuttings in a mix, equal parts soiless potting mix, peat and perlite. I used plastic sandwich bags to tent and snipped off a corner to allow a bit of air in and for some humidity to escape so mold would not form. I then put the cuttings in the sunroom. Two Etrog and a Santa Teresa. . I also rooted a rootstock in water and planted in a mix with perlite. .

The setup for my 4 cuttings in this single pot (ziplock bag tented over it)

Jinny those cuttings look wonderful. All those new leaves! I'm jealous :D flowers are pretty and all but I'd prefer it if my cuttings would grow some leaves and branches first!

Laura, glad to hear that all our similar methods have mostly been a success :) time for the fun part..getting them all through winter alive and in one piece

I found the YouTube link for the rooting experiment. It's a bit long and audio is low but I credit that to old equipment. He used basil (I think?) for the experiment. He also made a great informative video on building your own vermicomposting trays/house too

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=quHWxvi2Q68

Great job Jinnylea very nice cuttings. I usually take cuttings from of my tree's to makes a great winter hobby . Jinnylea I know it's August right lol big laugh , it's going down to 40 degrees tonight here in Ottawa Ontario very close to frost and I have no where to place my tree's for the night the greenhouse is full like yourself . Jinnylea you are very lucky you didn't bring your large citrus back out very good call . Good luck tonight.

Brian

My first frost is usually in early November, so EVERYTHING is still out. Citrus trees get protected by late October. I am more concerned about this hurricane season. Ocean temps in mid-upper 70's so can't get really cold yet but moving stuff into a shelter for a storm is no picnic and would hate to lose those extra outside weeks to Irma (NJ/Zone 7). I don't like some of these weather models. On the other hand strong Bermuda high is expanding westward (typically is strong in September and October), so Ontario cold is held off for a while in its progression east and south.

PS, These are Lisbon lemons and Persian limes but not too many Citrus I do not have.

Kvetch, this particular cutting took 3 months to root. The other thing to keep in mind that once the cutting has roots, repot it right at the crown level, maybe even with some root crown above soil, so it doesn't get stem rot. Lost a cutting before, because it was planted little deep.

Jinny, congrats on your cuttings also! I was looking at my ST cutting and I suspect it is about to sprout - fingers and toes crossed. It is just sitting outside in a pot on the picnic table like all the others. I do not even have it covered anymore. Hopefully the cool weather these last couple of days will not slow down the root development. I will try to post pics of my other cuttings tomorrow although it is supposed to rain all day and I have a birthday party to host :-). The oro blanco cuttings are really sprouting.

I hope your cuttings sprout Laura! I dread the day I have to figure out how to transition mine from being covered 24/7 to going commando.

Thanks for the tip sunshine! I knew that about transplanting already potted/established trees but I didn't think about the crown level for the cuttings. I'm already out of town too! :( I'll have to scoop out the excess when I get back asap. At the time, it didn't feel stable enough if I didn't plant it deeper but I'd rather have a living staked cutting. Thanks so much again sunshine!!

let them go commando at night first when the light load is 0.

Steve

Sorry I'm don't know what that means :( light load is 0?

There is no light at night shining on the tree putting a "load" on its new roots.

Steve

Well, is was 34 degrees just west of me, the coldest ever in summer! It was 43 here at my house and too me, that is such a joke. What's going with this cold around here? I think we may finally go back to summer for a few days. It's been up and down since the year began! My trees were all wilted this morning until I watered with warm water this morning! Thank God it's at least above 70 today and the sun still feels hot. All the trees are already changing and dropping leaves tons of them.

Brian, buddy, I see you have been cloudy and cold to boot. It's just horrible! I was thinking of you this morning when all the way down here many 30's were in many towns..Have you hit 32 yet> How have the nights been for you and have you considered bringing your trees in a month early? It's crazy. Hugs buddy!

Anthony, I love the fact that you are into weather! I am very in tuned with mine and yet it's funny, no matter how cold it is here, unusually cold, and in fact how strange it is, not a none weather man will explain why? Do you have any idea why the ridge is so stuck in the west, for months on end causing severe heat all the way up to Alaska while my area the North East in constantly stuck on the eats side of that ridge cause us to be extremely colder than usual? That jet stream is suppose to flow from west to east into Canada allowing us summer days, and yet there is a constantly ripple in it causing the check mark in the east....Is there a reason for the jet stream buckling year after year when in years previous it did not/ many are blaming the pollution in China backing up the jet stream...I am so happy to have met you. Too, does it look cold for the east coming or finally a change where the ridge will be here causing a nice warm fall? Thanks

Jinny, you poor poor thing! I can't believe frost already! How have your temps been lately? We almost had frost here last night this far south! Never in summer has this ever happened and is very strange!

Mike

It is cold here to with highs in the high 69 and lows in the 50's

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steve

Steve, thanks for all those pictures and background information about each of your trees, it helps to visualize our trees ' growth in the zones we live and see the growth patterns of your outdoor/inground citrus trees.

not quitting yet, just a bit slower, one of my Cara cara.

Hi Mikey our weather is so similar incredible. Just like you it was in the 30's in the suburbs but where I live in the city with all the concrete the temperature stayed in the upper 40's thank goodness I was so worried . Mikey by the look of the long range forcast I will be able to keep my tree's out till the end of September which works out to 5 and a half months outside not to bad . My tree's look fantastic very green and healthy and the scale bug seems to have disappeared for now . Mikey my friend I wonder what kind of winter will we be in for this year , have you heard anything ? Thanks for thinking of me my friend . Hugs buddy .

Steve looking very good your sweetlee has some incredible growth going on right now .

Brian

Well, the city of San Fran (where air conditioning is unknown), just had their hottest day EVER at 106 (and records go back over 140 years), and there is a lot of fire and smoke in the West! Even Seattle getting into the 90's today. No one knows what the he// is up with with this craziness. But generally when there is high pressure ridging in the West, there is troughiness in the Midwest and Northeast but it's the persistence of patterns and "getting stuck" that is unusual. Locally (Zone7/NJ), low 80's today, 88 tomorrow. Not getting a feel for what kind of Fall is in the cards, but lots of leaves prematurely falling on deciduous tree and don't know why (color peak is actually last week in October-early November). Certainly, has been enough rain this summer but preparing my sand bags today just in case. Yes, it could have been a sunnier summer (especially on weekends!), but would rather have this than FIRE! (Have lots of wooded area around me.) Today is looking like a great day for the barbecue though!

Its called local weather, records come and go, i suspect a warm Fall

Mike, reading your posts, your area seems to have very low light levels. In cases of long term low light (PAR), it is commonly recommended to mix in a solution of 0.5 - 2% sugar (sucrose), or biostimulators containing sugars, into your working foliar spray. Sugars add the additional source of energy needed for the incorporation of mineral nutrients into organic compounds which are used by the tree in the metabolic processes that are responsible for plant growth and development. It should do wonders in your situation.

Bklyn, I hope you are right about that.It seems the weather channel has a different outlook for the next three months here and I am not happy about that(

Silica, thanks for letting me know. How do I begin to buy this stuff or do I make it myself? Much appreciated. I'm thinking, hydroponic places must sell stuff like that?

Mike

Mike sucrose is common table sugar.

Silica, if you're aware of any resources that show the effect you're talking about with regards to foliar sucrose application would you mind sharing them? I'd love to read more into it. I DID find some resources that pointed to sucrose as part of a foliar spray leading to a lot more ladybugs sticking around the garden, which I think most of us would agree is a big plus.

http://cropwatch.unl.edu/research-sugar-application-crops

Love ladybugs :)

PacNorWreck, I would think there are many locations that you could find the information you want about the foliar application of sucrose. There is an outstanding excellent fantastic text book titled "Advances In Citrus Nutrition" which has many pages on foliar nutrition of citrus, including a lot on the application of sucrose. I warn you the book is not cheap. I paid $250.00 plus postage.

Silica.if you were to mix up a quart if spray how much sugar? Thanks again

Silica, not sure if you saw my question? Thanks

Mike, the range for sugar (sucrose) used as a foliar spray on citrus trees is from 0.5 - 2 percent. In a quart of water that would be 4.7 grams (0.5%), and 18.8 grams (2 percent) Add sugar, then fill with water to make one quart and dissolve thoroughly.. Mike do you have a gram scale? To give you an idea 28 grams is one US ounce. If you don't have gam capability, we have electronic gram scales. I could measure the above amounts using a teaspoon and let you know the approximate level using a teaspoon. Also, adding a LITTLE surfactant will increase the efficiency of the solution..

Silica, I wish I had something that measured like that but I don't. If you could let me know teaspoon wise that would be just great. I really appreciate your help here! As soon as I know how, I am going to try this. I can't wait.

Even if you could tell me by the teaspoon or tablespoon how much I would use in a gallon, and I would just mix up a gallon of it.

28 grams = 2 tablespoons. I got that off my peanut butter jars. This assumes that sugar in a tablespoon has a specific gravity of 1.0.

Looks like a warm fall so far to me here in NYC!!!! Although I brought everything Citrus in already, strictly to avoid bugs. Fall is for Fishing..... But you know what....

Here ya go Mike: http://www.thecalculatorsite.com/articles/units/convert-teaspoons-and-grams.php

There you are Mike, Vladimir answered your question. ! level teaspoon weighs 4 Grams, so of course, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar weighs 2 grams.