Tips & Ideas

How would you feel if I was in charge of your care, but I simply failed to feed you?
How long would you expect to survive? Yet this is what happens in many cases with plants that are expected to produce.

If you starve a tree, it will starve you.
If you feed a tree, it will feed you.

Citrus are heavy nitrogen feeders and nitrogen leaches out the fastest of all nutrients.
It is important to have a good fertilizing schedule, due to the leaching of nutrients in sandy soils and the fact that citrus require high nitrogen intake. Trees simply cannot produce fruit if the tree is lacking nitrogen. When watering your Citrus many nutrients are lost. So FEED FEED FEED your trees!

RECOMMENDED FERTILIZERS

Notice: Avocado Trees: adjust use of DynaGro to once per month.

• ☼ Osmocote Flower and Vegetable Smart-Release Plant Food: twice a year.
• ☼ Espoma Citrus Tone for Citrus and Avocado:  every 30 days (approx. 3 tsps. for a 15" pot)
  OR
  ☼ Miracle-Gro Miracid, Acid-Loving Plant Food 30-10-10: every 2 weeks to 30 days. (DO NOT USE IF YOU'RE USING ESPOMA)
• ☼ Fertilome Concentrate Fish Emulsion Fertilizer
• ☼ Dyna-Gro DYFOL008 Foliage Pro
• ☼ Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm and Citrus Potting Mix

If you have just received your tree, then I suggest you not re-pot your tree until you have waited at least 2 weeks to insure the tree is not in shock. Re-potting is the worst thing you can do to a tree that is under stress. If your tree is having issues, DO NOT RE-POT!
Many people make this mistake thinking they will fix a problem and end up making it worse.
Use Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm and Citrus Potting Mix, when you’re ready to re-pot.

FERTILIZING SCHEDULE

Notice: Avocado Trees: adjust use of DynaGro to once per month.

February (beginning of the fertilizing year)

• Osmocote

March through October

• Week 1:  Espoma OR Miracle-Gro, Spray Dyna-Gro on Foliage
• Week 2:  Spray Dyna-Gro on Foliage
• Week 3:  Fish Emulsion, Spray Dyna-Gro on Foliage
• Week 4:  Spray Dyna-Gro on Foliage

November

• Osmocote

December and January are rest period for trees planted in the ground, if tree is inside you can continue to feed.

Foliar feeding is important and Dyna-Gro has 16 of the minerals essential for optimum plant growth. Using Dyna-Gro gives plants the nutrition they need. Plants take up the complete nutrient formula and foliar applications have greater mineral uptake than regular soil fertilizing.

Foliar Application: Mix a quarter to half tsp. per gallon of water and spray directly on leaves. It is important that this is done only in the morning and sprayed on underside of leaves as well, use a biodegradable wetting agent to maximize adhesion to the leaf surface, so the nutrients don't just roll off the leaves.

If you have any questions about fertilizing, you can reply to this blog with a comment or call us at 866-216-TREE (8733).

Wishing you great success in your citrus growing!
Nancy

By far, the Meyer Lemon is the most popular. Like all the lemons, it is easy to grow, prolific and does not need a lot of heat to ripen the fruit. The Meyer is slightly sweeter than the classic commercial varieties (Eureka). Its soft skin develops an orange hue when fruit is fully ripe, and its distinctive, mystical flavor combines lemon with a hint of tangerine. The Meyer lemon can be very productive, even indoors, and does not need a lot of heat to ripen the fruit.

Kaffir Lime leaves are used extensively in Thai and Cambodian cooking, and zest of the fruit is an ingredient in some curry paste recipes. Keep your Kaffir lime tree close at hand in a sunny window and you'll be able to create authentic recipes year-round.

Calamondin (Kalamansi) is a diminutive tree originating in the Philippines. It's ornamental form, fragrant blooms and small tart orange-colored fruits have made it a favorite for centuries. The sour juice of ripe fruits can be used in salad dressings and other recipes.

Christmas is just around the corner! This is one of our favorite times of the year. To celebrate we will be running sales until Christmas, so be sure to check our Facebook for our newest coupon. Click here for a printer friendly version of this project.

The holiday season is all about family and there is no better way to celebrate family than spending quality time with your kids. So here is a fun project that you can do with the little ones while making your house smell wonderful with the freshness of oranges.

The ornaments also serve a practical purpose if you have cats. Cats hate the smell of citrus, so when you use these ornaments they will avoid your Christmas tree!

Pretty Orange Slice Christmas Ornaments

Now this recipe is not limited to just oranges, you can try this with any citrus that you have but oranges tend to have a longer lasting smell and the smell mixes well with the cinnamon used in the recipe, so good that you might be tempted to eat the ornaments!

Here are some popular varieties used to make ornaments.

Large Orange Varieties: Washington Navel; Valencia; Summerfield

Medium Orange Varieties: Owari Satsuma; Red Navel "Cara Cara"; Moro Blood

Small Orange Varieties: Clementine; Calamondin; Louisiana Sweet

(Note: Blood Oranges keep true to the traditional red Christmas color, so if you're not too sure about putting the color orange on your tree; then you can opt for the Blood Orange instead.)

Things you need:

Oranges (4 Large Oranges, 6 Medium Oranges or 8 Small Oranges to provide good coverage on a 7' Christmas Tree)

Sharp Knife (appropriate for slicing the oranges)

Hobby or Exacto Knife

Fabric Ribbon

Scissors

Paper Towel

Ground Cinnamon or Cinnamon Oil (optional)

Cotton Swabs (optional for use with Cinnamon)

Glitter (optional)

Glue (optional for use with Glitter)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Slice the oranges crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices, discard the ends. If your oranges have seeds, remove them and discard. Lay the slices on paper towel. Use paper towels to blot excess juice on the slices.

3. Apply Cinnamon to a Cotton Swab and apply the Cotton Swab to the white rind of the orange very generously. Be sure to not get cinnamon on the actual fruit because it will darken the area which will not allow the Christmas lights on your tree to shine through the fruit. (optional)

4. Place the orange slices directly on the oven rack for best results. You may use a cookie sheet but if you do you need to spray the orange slices very lightly with cooking spray or they will stick. Allow slices to bake in the oven for an hour.

5. Turn down the temperature in the oven to 215. If you used a cookie sheet, you may need to flip the orange slices for even drying. Once turned, return to oven to dry for an additional two hours. Once two hours has passed check the slices for dryness. If the slices are not dry allow for more time, be sure to check the slices often. Once they are dry, allow to cool completely.

6. Take the Hobby Knife and cut a 1/3 inch slit into each orange just under the rind.

7. Cut a piece of Ribbon at least six inches long with your scissors and fish the ribbon through the slit you just made on the orange slice. Then tie a bow towards the two ends of the ribbon, so you have a hoop that you can use to secure the ornament on the tree.

6. Now you can get the kids involved by decorating the orange slices.  You can glue the Glitter as suggested in this recipe or decorate any other way you like! It's best to use a very thin coat of white Elmer's glue. Be very careful to use the glue very sparingly, you don't want to rehydrate the orange slice! Silver or Gold Glitter lightly applied to the fruit of the orange gives a lovely sparkling glow when close to lights on the Christmas Tree. Be sure to allow any glue to dry completely.

7. Decorate Your Christmas Tree!

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas from LemonCitrusTree!