Need to reacclimate potted grapefruit tree?
Travis in PHX (9b)
3 years ago
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Travis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoRelated Discussions
has anyone planted Melogold grapefruit [in pot]?
Comments (23)nkt: For every mix, I don't have exact proportion per se. I just mix what I've got at that particular time. One thing that I don't forget is sand so I can have a well drained soil. Next to that is peat so the mix will be more acidic which citrus loves 6.4 to be exact. Next is steer manure as fertilizer (because they are cheap. Then a potting soil so the mix is a little black in color and black soil is an organic soil. If I have perlite then I toss it to the mix or dolomite or dirt from my yard. The main thing is when you hose your mix, the water will go down quickly. In less than 10 seconds. Then you know you have a good mix. If you want a proportion mix, then 1/3 sand 1/3 potting soil 1/3 peat moss. then add 2 cups steer manure. Mix them good. If you want you can add the osmocote to the mix a long lasting fertilizer about 1/2 cup. You could use the one you bought as a 1/3 of the mixture then you can buy the play sand as the other 1/3. Then as for peat moss if there is no small size bag peat moss you can substitute an orchid mix. As for the long lasting fertilizer, right now I'm using Vigoro 19-6-12 All purpose. Before that I was using Osmocote 24-4-10. Your citrus will not know the brand and they are so forgiving irregardless how you treat them. The main thing to remember is the pH of your soil and don't water too frequently. Wait until the soil on top is well dried to the touch. Benny Be mindful that once every 4 months drench your soil from top to bottom. Use water at least 4 times as big as your pot to get rid of the salts that was built up ....See Moreneed help! container marsh grapefruit/ orlando tangelo tree??
Comments (1)I think you'll be fine there, Crazy01. You have several years to go, yet, to worry about trees getting too tall. I would suggest purchasing semi-dwarf or dwarf cultivars, so that will help to remove the height issue. Drop-crotch pruning would be the technique you're after to keep the height down if necessary. Three feet is close, but again, if you purchase semi-dwarf or dwarf cultivars, that, plus being in a container will keep size down. You should be fine. I have two container citrus that are about 3' apart right now, and they aren't close to each other, yet, and if I keep the container size limited, they will stay that way (may need root pruning several years down the road to keep size down.) My only concern is the lack of sunshine. 4 hours is almost not enough. 6 hours would be the minimum for good quality fruit. Use a very well draining potting mix - we have a couple of great recipes on our forum, just search for "gritty mix" or "511 mix" for the ingredients. Also, Farfard makes some excellent professional mixes you can purchase as a pre-bagged product, if you can purchase Farfard in your area. Lastly, remember to fertilize properly. Most of our container citrus folks as well as myself like to use Dyna Gro's Foliage Pro with each watering, and I also use a time release higher nitrogen fertilizer as well, since my container citrus are out all year 'round like yours will be. Container citrus need more fertilizing due to their more artificial environment being in pots. I do a water flush about every two months to flush out any built up salts from the fertilizers as well. Good luck and please share your photos with us when you have your trees planted. Patty S....See MoreAnts in grapefruit tree soil
Comments (17)Well these were old posts but I will update you all. I called a nursery in Florida and they suggested soaking the root ball in soapy water which I did.. I noticed when I did that, the tree perked right up.. But, according to the nursery, the ants weren't hurting the tree. The reason the tree perked up was because it was under-watered.... It was the water I soaked it in! Then I repotted the tree and sprayed a ring of raid ant killer around the lip. The nursery told me insect sprays don't hurt trees, only insects... But the way I solved this the most was to put the tree in a saucer and made sure that saucer always had water in it. Ants don't like to swim so in essence, I put a mote around it. In the winter, I see ants from time to time but not a ton of them. It's something I have to deal with by having this tropical plant hobby of mine. Now however, I no longer put that tree in a saucer outside because it's not good to have citrus trees sitting in water because they get root-rot and the tree suffers (leaves curl up and fall off) So I will have to take my chances with just using the ant spray. I think it helps to keep the soil moist though. I think ants like to tunnel through drier soil. So I hope this helps anyone who has stumbled upon this old post....See MorePotting Grapefruit: Bigger Pot or Root Pruning
Comments (3)If you're growing long term in a pot you should root prune regardless of how often you increase the pot size. Basically if you don't prune, the roots get progressively thicker and woody reducing the overall percentage of feeder roots. I didn't want to buy/lug a larger pot for my lemon tree this year and decided to root prune for the first time. It was easy and the tree is doing great. Here's an old post I found on the container plant forum that explains root pruning better than I ever could. It's not specifically geared toward citrus, but I found it helpful. Here is a link that might be useful: Root Pruning Trees...See MoreTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoVladimir (Zone 5b Massachusetts)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b) thanked MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZponcirusguy6b452xx
3 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b) thanked MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoTravis in PHX (9b)
3 years agoLemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years ago
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