Citrus Trees
Standard style Citrus trees, supplied in fully established in large pots and at least 3 years old should be grown in large, well-drained pots, somewhere where there is little variance in temperature. The varieties we supply are hardier than you might imagine, but below -5°C these trees will die. In winter, move your trees to somewhere warmer – ideally somewhere with light, and above 10°C. If you can house them in your house (such as a conservatory), you will have the added benefit of glorious citrus fragrance filling the room when they are in flower, but take care with central heating, as this will dry them out considerably.
Caring for Citrus trees
Water well and feed in summer with citrus feed, as they are sensitive to minor nutrient deficiencies – a bit like humans taking vitamin pills. They can be temperamental when the temperature, light or humidity changes rapidly and can shed a few leaves or fruitlets quickly. Do not worry, this is quite normal – they are robust trees and will recover.
Citrus trees are some of the only ones that produce flowers and fruit at the same time. Fruit can take a full 12 months from setting to harvest, so be patient. It is natural for plants to set a lot of fruitlets, many of which drop off. The plant will select the strongest few to sustain to harvest.
Citrus Tree Care Information
Sweetly-fragranced flowers will appear all year round, especially in late winter. The fruit ripens up to 12 months later – so plants are often in flower and fruiting at the same time.
Citrus trees tend not to thrive in centrally heated homes. From mid-June to late September, give plants a treat and transfer them outside to make the most of the available sunshine. Remember they are not frost tolerant so will need bringing under cover if cold nights threaten.
In summer, water freely – ideally with rainwater. In winter you can reduce the amount – allowing the surface to partially dry out before watering again. Always allow excess water to drain away.
Overwatering in winter is one of the commonest problems with citrus trees.
Only minimal pruning is required to reshape or remove dead or damaged shoots.
Citrus Tree Top Tips
We recommend using our Soluble Citrus Fertiliser to ensure your trees grow into big and healthy specimens and most importantly, bear lots of juicy fruit!
For best results, bring your citrus trees indoors, to a cool area of the house over winter.
Feed with specialist feed every month during the spring and summer to help with growth – they are hungry fellows.
Citrus Problems and solutions
The problems associated with growing citrus are due to unsuitable growing conditions. Any one or several of these problems may occur:
• Failure to flower
• Flowers drop before fruit sets
• Yellowing of leaves
• Loss of leaves
• Fruit fall
• Rotting roots
Failure to flower
Lack of light, lack of feeding, erratic watering, or low temperatures can all cause this problem. If a citrus plant is grown from pips it will often not fruit for a number of years as they have to go through a juvenile stage before flowering. An average time for trees grown from seed to fruit is seven to ten years. Commercially, citrus are propagated by budding or grafting and can flower and fruit after only after two or three years.
Flowers fall before fruit sets
Dryness at the roots and lack of air humidity can cause failure to set fruit. Flowers do not need artificial pollinating.
Yellowing of leaves
There are several possibilities. The roots could be too wet or too dry. Draughts, low temperatures, or lack of feeding will also result in yellowing leaves.
Loss of leaves
This can be caused by draughts, too low or high temperatures in winter, often coupled with too much water in winter. Citrus prefer a cool winter rest. Provide lemons with a minimum winter night temperature of not less than 10°C and calamondin oranges with 13°C.
Fruit fall
Fruits should ripen in a period of warm sunny weather, taking almost a year to develop to full size. Most cultivars set too much fruit for the size of the plant. Some of these will be shed, or clusters should be thinned to one fruit each on young plants.
Rotting roots
The first sign may be leaf fall or yellowing often caused by overwatering. Cut away damaged roots with some of the compost and repot into a smaller container.
Preventing common issues
In order to keep your citrus plant in tip-top condition:
Ensure that care is taken not to over water in winter.
Do not pot on citrus into a container much larger than the root ball.
Feed citrus with a proprietary citrus fertiliser. Use a high-nitrogen liquid feed from early spring to mid-summer.
Change to a balanced feed from mid-summer to late autumn or early winter.
Avoid wide fluctuations in temperature and stand citrus outside in the summer months.
Increase humidity levels by placing pots in a saucer of damp gravel, expanded clay granules or recycled.
lightweight aggregate. The water shouldn’t reach the top, as this can make the compost in the pot too soggy.
If some roots have rotted, keep the plant in a cool position, watering with care, in the hope that the plant may be able to make new root growth and recover. If in doubt as to the reason for a decline in growth and appearance, remove the plant from its pot and check the root condition. If roots are firm and healthy, then evaluate the plant’s situation and surroundings. If the roots are crowded, repot in spring.
Citrus can also come under attack from pests such as scale insects, mealybug and red spider mite.
Causes for leaf drop of a citrus tree
The most common citrus leaf problems for lemon, lime and orange tree leaves is leaf drop. This can be caused by any number of reasons, but the most common is a great fluctuation in temperature, causing the leaves falling off a citrus tree to continue to drop until the tree can handle the temperature once more.
Citrus trees like warm weather but do best in temperatures that don’t go much above 15-18 C. Further, whether you have your citrus trees indoors or out, you should make sure the temperature doesn’t fluctuate; that it is more of a constant temperature. This will definitely help stop leaves falling off a citrus tree.
Citrus leaf problems can also be caused by scale. Scale insects will cause orange, lime and lemon tree leaves to fall off the trees as well. These insects can be removed from the leaves of the citrus tree with a sharp knife. You can also use your fingernail or a cotton swab soaked in alcohol. If you find that there are too many insects to remove this way, you can spray the tree. Either spray the tree leaves with alcohol, or if you want to go a more natural route, use a mixture of lemon juice, garlic juice and cayenne pepper. Neem oil spray is effective too.
If, after checking the tree thoroughly, you find the leaves falling off a citrus tree in your home or yard, you should make sure the soil around the roots is wet enough. These trees like a lot of water and you need to water them thoroughly each time you water. Instead of just looking for signs of soil dryness, poke your finger into the soil so you can feel how damp the soil is beneath the surface.
Orange tree leaves and other citrus tree leaves are very prone to leaf drop and doing whatever you can to prevent your citrus tree leaves from dropping should definitely help your cause. If you do your best to prevent the major causes, you shouldn’t have too many problems with these hardy trees.