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andrew_scott77

Easily the best deal on grafted citrus trees EVER!!!

Andrew Scott
10 years ago

Today I had heard a rumor that the Lowe's 45 minutes away from me, was having a HUGE BLOW OUT SALE!!!!

Being told that the trees were originally $24.98, for a tree in a 3.8qt pot, and is 13in tall. Now in my opinion, $24.98 is not a bad cost for these trees. Now the only citrus that they were selling was lemon(Improved Meyer Lemon), and lime(Bearss Seedless), which was fine with me!

When I got to where the trees were, I found the sign that read, All citrus trees are $5. I was stunned! Now began the really hard part. I started pouring through probably 100 +pots, until I settled on 2. Both had nice amounts of new growth on them, and both are even loaded with flower buds, no small fruits, but lots of new leaves, stems, and flower buds!!

So after finally settling on those 2 trees, I started sorting through all the Seedless Bearss lime trees, and settled on a tree that has a bunch of really nice new leaves and branches but no fruits or flower buds.

Now the mix that these trees came in looks like it is mostly bark and in my opinion, all three of them are going to need to be repotted. My intention is to wait until I know the trees are not stressed. I also will have to go and get insecticidal soap because I did see a little scale.

I am just stoked that I got such a great deal, and I am also glad that I got to increase my citrus collection for $10! The other tree is going to a very good friend of mine. Just a few weeks ago, I told her over the phone that I would root a cutting for her, and because of this sale, I wad able to get her can entire tree!

Lastly, my friend who was with me told me he spotted small banana trees. I walked over to where they were and saw that they were also selling for $5.00

Comments (9)

  • trianglejohn
    10 years ago

    One of the best trees in my citrus collection came from a similar sale. I ended up buying one of each tree they had, two of them being tangerines. That was only a few years ago and one of them has maybe tripled in size and has a few fruits but the other one (a Tango mandarin) is over 6 feet tall and has about a hundred fruits on it. They were both 12 inch babies when I bought them for $4.99 each. I have no idea why one would grow to fast but its the tree that everyone notices when they walk into my garden.

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi John. Thanks for your response, especially for what you said about the 'Tango' mandarin. I also got one of these but not at Lowes. I found this at a nursery right down the road from Lowes, but these trees were $34 BUT these trees averaged about 3ft tall. My 'Tango' is 3 1/2 feet tall.

    I went back to that nursery the same day I got my Lowes citrus. and they were running a different sale. They were charging the same as what I paid, BUT they were BOGO!!!

    If only I had some more space but I all ready had 5 trees in my little collection!!

    I also saw that they were selling olive trees BOGO!! I thought that they would be fun to try but I know that Olive trees require chilling hours to flower so I decided to pass on them for now!

    I'm just glad that we're seeing citrus trees being sold in areas that we had never seen them being sold before!

    So John, how did you like the flavor of your 'Tango' mandarins? I cannot wait to have the opportunity to try the fruits!

    Andrew

  • wjp4140
    10 years ago

    Lucky you! I got mine from walmart. Think they were for mother's day.

  • trianglejohn
    10 years ago

    All of my clementines, mandarins, and tangerines taste the same to me. And they all taste better than what I can get in the store - and we get pretty good citrus shipped up from FL in the winter. Some times my fruit is a bit seedy but not often. The absolute best thing about growing any of the "tropical" winter fruit is when you get invited to a last minute holiday party and all you have on hand to bring is a big bowl of fruit. At first folks are happy with your gift, then they're surprised you grew them yourself, then a week later they are calling you screaming through the phone about how those are the best tangerines they've ever tasted. It makes all the hard work worth it.

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi John. We have access to good citrus too BUT, you have to be willing to pay good money for them. For instance, I had never seen cocktail grapefruits locally. I found them at a Wegmans about 40 minutes from my house. We have a closer Wegmans, they just don't carry them. Last year or the year before, they were selling one of my top favorite citrus fruits, Minneola Tangelo. They were 4/$5! Yes, the fruits looked really nice bur cmon! Was the peel dipped in 14k GOLD! The cocktail grapefruits were the same, and the large navel oranges(also a top fav of mine) were $1 each and they were in SEASON!!

    I also got hooked on Meyer lemons. I could drink Meyer lemonade year round but here in western NY, they also sell for a premium. I was buying bags of them for $5 and there was maybe 5 or 6 small to medium fruits per bag. I forgot to mention they were organic, so this must have also jacked up the price.

    John I think growing your one citrus is the way to go. I now have 5 lemon trees(3 Meyer lemon, 1 each of Pink variegated and Ponderosa), an Oro Blanco and a Star Ruby, and a Kishu Mandarin that probably won't make it. I am hoping I can replace it this year! Lastly, is the new Tango mandarin I just bought a couple weeks ago. I have extremely high hopes for this tree, considering it is 3 1/2ft tall all ready, I should have fruits by next spring :)

    Andrew

  • meyermike_1micha
    10 years ago

    Andrew! You lucky person you!

    If I had a Lowe's here that sold any kind of citrus, I shoot myself in the foot...What a joke...Nothing here if ever.

    Home Depot once had them last year and they were short trees in 8 inch pots for 24.95...Those went on sale for 5 buck once they looked half dead..

    I am so happy for you.,......:-)

    By the way..would you believe I have a Mango fruit getting big? Yup...
    I think we owe each other an e-mail, you think?

    Good to see you pal.

    Mike

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey Mike, I actually did email you, probably about a month ago by now. I just figured you had a lot going on. I had emailed you about citrus and jades. I do remember you telling me that you did have a mango fruit, but isn't your tree pretty small? I will advise you that a young mango tree will be stunted if you allow it to ripen that fruit.

    My oldest mango, my Ma ha Chinook died over last winter. It was my fault, which made it hurt that much. Basically it needed to be pruned back some, as the tree was about 6ft tall. I whacked it back but didn't repot it when I needed to. The tree started responding to the major pruning by producing tons of new growth, but because it was so root bound, and it needed to be watered more often, it died :(

    Anyhow, you read about the other nursery which was only a few minutes up the road from Lowes, they had the BOGO deal. I didn't know that wa going to happen but the Tango mandarin I got is a very nice tree, all though I now have to treat it for scale(there really isn't that much on the tree), so I have it isolated from my other trees.

    I really need to find a nice small Kishu, and I will be happy. If I were to loose any of my other trees, I will replace it with either a Navel or a Minneola tangelo.

    I am pretty tired tonight so if I don't email you tonight I will tomorrow.

    Nice seeing you here!
    Andrew

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey Mike, I actually did email you, probably about a month ago by now. I just figured you had a lot going on. I had emailed you about citrus and jades. I do remember you telling me that you did have a mango fruit, but isn't your tree pretty small? I will advise you that a young mango tree will be stunted if you allow it to ripen that fruit.

    My oldest mango, my Ma ha Chinook died over last winter. It was my fault, which made it hurt that much. Basically it needed to be pruned back some, as the tree was about 6ft tall. I whacked it back but didn't repot it when I needed to. The tree started responding to the major pruning by producing tons of new growth, but because it was so root bound, and it needed to be watered more often, it died :(

    Anyhow, you read about the other nursery which was only a few minutes up the road from Lowes, they had the BOGO deal. I didn't know that wa going to happen but the Tango mandarin I got is a very nice tree, all though I now have to treat it for scale(there really isn't that much on the tree), so I have it isolated from my other trees.

    I really need to find a nice small Kishu, and I will be happy. If I were to loose any of my other trees, I will replace it with either a Navel or a Minneola tangelo.

    I am pretty tired tonight so if I don't email you tonight I will tomorrow.

    Nice seeing you here!
    Andrew

  • Andrew Scott
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey Mike, I actually did email you, probably about a month ago by now. I just figured you had a lot going on. I had emailed you about citrus and jades. I do remember you telling me that you did have a mango fruit, but isn't your tree pretty small? I will advise you that a young mango tree will be stunted if you allow it to ripen that fruit.

    My oldest mango, my Ma ha Chinook died over last winter. It was my fault, which made it hurt that much. Basically it needed to be pruned back some, as the tree was about 6ft tall. I whacked it back but didn't repot it when I needed to. The tree started responding to the major pruning by producing tons of new growth, but because it was so root bound, and it needed to be watered more often, it died :(

    Anyhow, you read about the other nursery which was only a few minutes up the road from Lowes, they had the BOGO deal. I didn't know that wa going to happen but the Tango mandarin I got is a very nice tree, all though I now have to treat it for scale(there really isn't that much on the tree), so I have it isolated from my other trees.

    I really need to find a nice small Kishu, and I will be happy. If I were to loose any of my other trees, I will replace it with either a Navel or a Minneola tangelo.

    I am pretty tired tonight so if I don't email you tonight I will tomorrow.

    Nice seeing you here!
    Andrew