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Citrus California Gardening garden

Washington Navel Orange tree issues

Ajith Unnikrishnan

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Hii All,

My Washington Navel Orange is not growing for last 4 months..it flowered a lot and all the fruits dropped and leaves are not getting bigger and i see lot of bark getting brown and i cut those... I am fertilized it every 3 months..Please advise on what needs to be done.. Is it due to Citrus Stubborn disease.?.

Featured Answer

socalnolympia

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Half the problem, I suspect the soil might not be the best. Too many woodchips that do not do a good job of holding moisture. Ideally the soil you'd want would be rich loam, with just a little bit of clay. Compost is good too.

The leaves will be a reflection of the root health and ability to uptake moisture.

You also don't say where you are located, but I suspect on the West coast, because dry air can cause water stress on citrus and cause leaves to look like that. To reduce water stress, some people (in climates with a drier Summer season) provide partial shade for young citrus.

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Comments (9)

bklyn citrus (zone 7B)
5 years ago
looks like mold and insect issues
Ajith Unnikrishnan thanked bklyn citrus (zone 7B)
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It may be a beginner's question, but a GOOD beginner's question! ;-) Here's the story on your Washington navel orange: they don't require pollination at ALL in order to produce fruit. As a matter of fact, though their flowers contain all of the normal 'pieces and parts' (the male and female thingies), there is one important item missing. The pollen (which is what contains the sperm)! Naval oranges produce fruit parthenocarpically. Hmmmm, I'm not sure of the spelling of that, but I AM certain of the process. No bees required, no swapping of DNA, etc. You'll need to look elsewhere for an explanation of why your tree has stopped flowering. I'd think in terms of all thing cultural such as sunlight, potting mix, fertilizer regime, and so on.
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What you have is not unusual; it is likely an indication that you may be being overly kind to your tree in terms of fertilizer. The "second" set will ripen later, depending on your climate and the absence of frost. I don't know about your fert. schedule; but in San Bernardino there are quite a few commercial groves around, where you could stop and ask them what is the fert schedule they follow. Growers are usually willing to share with you what they know/do, if you show a little interest. If you don't find anyone in San Berdu, look around Redlands...the climate and the soil are the same.
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Ajith Unnikrishnan
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks socalnolympia /
bklyn citrus. Yes i am in san francisco bayarea. I will remove it and change the soil with loam and compost and little bit of azalea mix(since citrus likes slightly acidic soil). Also one more question is does citrus trees grow in summer..i see lot of new leaves in spring and doesnt grow at all in summer..is this normal?
Denise Becker
5 years ago
You didn't mention what type of fertilizer you used on the tree. Are you using a product designed for citrus? Yes, your tree is suppose to be growing new leaves during the warmer months of the year. It's only going to grow new leaves if it has the right growing conditions. Tell us about it's environment which may explain what's going on.

If the tree can support itself, I would remove the stake. Those ties will just girdle the tree and the tree will grow around the ties.

Citrus Stubborn Disease? That is a joke right?
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
5 years ago
It's just a baby tree. it is going to need time to grow a root system before you see much happening above ground.

Yes, they grow mostly in spring and don't grow in summer much at all. Best not to fertilize going into summer in the future.

Native soil is best for trees. They do not do better with a heavy dose of amendments.
lgteacher
5 years ago
If your tree is newly planted, it's going to need some time to establish a good root system before putting out a lot of growth on top.
Ajith Unnikrishnan
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks all for the inputs. I planted this tree in january and it lost most of the leaves. I fertilized with jobes citrus fertilizer in feb and may.. also added compost.. it flowered a lot in march/april and started producing new leaves but none of the flowers converted to fruits and the leaves are not growing as well.. the tree is south facing and receives good amount of sun.. this tree was little close to our lawn and i was thinking that it was receiving too much water because of lawn sprinklers and i started manually watering the lawn..attached pic after i planted the tree..
uncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)
5 years ago
Echo above, your newly planted tree needs time to settle and roots to grow.

I've never used jobes, i feed my young trees ammonium sulfate.

SF Bay area has many microclimates so really can't offer more unless we know what part of the area you are in.

Good luck!
viper75
5 years ago
And if I may add (echoing above) Your soil does stand out as retaining a lot of moisture. Perhaps too often watering. Citrus really do like being flooded, then letting dry out. If it stays too damp in between, it really does lead to stress.

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