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yakkwak

Fertilizing/Review of Past Posts

yakkwak
11 years ago

I have been reviewing past posts regarding fertilizer concoctions. Past posters have mentioned coffee grounds, Epson salts, and vinegar as additives. In addition to the Dyna Gro and Osomcote Plus, should I be adding any of these? If so, can someone recommend a schedule and ratio for indoors container citrus? I have the following: Calamondins (both regular bush size and bonsai sizes), an Improved Meyers lemon, and a Satsuma mandarin. All regular sized trees have some fruit, in varying stages. I'd recently inquired about the Satsuma as it dropped some leaves after re-potting and moving; it is now stabilized - no more dropping - knock wood. Also, I have Osmocote Flower & Vegetable for some of my other plants - it is a 14-14-14. Is this Osmocote completely useless for my citrus? the Superthrive I use on my bonsai useless for the citrus as well?

Comments (3)

  • eahamel
    11 years ago

    Why do you think Superthrive is useless? A lot of people here use it and are pleased with it.

  • baconquest
    11 years ago

    I use Osmocote Plus as a controlled release fert, and 1/4-1/2 tsp/gal of Foliage Pro with a tsp of distilled white vinegar every watering. I have a kumquat in the gritty mix and a meyer and a ficus in the 5-1-1 and that seems to work well for me (I don't add vinegar to the ficus!). I have minimal leaf drop and dark green foliage. With the longer days I'm getting a nice flush of growth on the meyer and ficus at the moment too! I think most people here would say stick to the Foliage Pro/Vinegar. I've not seen any complaints with that combo. Osmocote Plus is a nice insurance if you forget to fertilize every now and then. The citrus can handle a lot of fertilizer!

  • skinn30a
    11 years ago

    I like J.R. Peter's 25-5-15 HP. Citrus take up nitrogen, phosphate, & potassium in increments of 5-1-3. Feed with every watering at 250ppm (1tsp/Gal). As I understand it, the downside of a 14-14-14 is that in time, you'll have excessive amounts of phosphate and potassium build up in your potting medium which can foster undesirable culture. The only thing that J.R. Peter's lacks is magnesium. If the tree shows a magnesium deficiency, dissolve 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salts in a gallon of warm water and pour it over the root area.

    It's also a good practice to flush the potted medium once a quarter with water at a rate of four times the volume of the container. This periodic flush helps remove residual salts ect which is especially important if you're using Foliage Pro and vinegar. It's my opinion that the majority of the leaf drop issues that you read about here on this forum are due to excessive sodium in folks' potting medium because they never flush their pots and the salt levels just build up until they reach levels that are toxic to the tree.

    This come to me from a very successful citrus grower on another forum. I enjoy his guidance and have followed it with very good results.

    All this being said, I also know of other folks that grow the hell out of some citrus trees that use the potting soil that your not supposed to use and just lay down some osmocote every few months..simple as that and they've got some awesome citrus trees.

    Also, personally, I would not use coffee grounds on my potted trees...maybe in the compost that I use for my in-ground trees but definitely not my potted stuff.

    Best,

    Skinn30a