Wow, lots of beautiful blossoms on your Meyer lemon, Mike! They smell so heavenly! I love your Christmas Cactus. Mine will have exactly two blossoms this year. It just doesn't get enough sun, and this is the sunniest window of the house!

Patty S.

nice mike

Im jealous. Only thing blooming right now is the Fukushu Kumquat. I kid you not that thing flowers every month. I dont know if that is normal or not but sure it fun.

Mike

That's a nice setup you've got there. The joy of walking into a room like that after being outside in 20F weather is a one of life's simple pleasures. With the Meyer blooming this early you could have some large fruit next year!

Ryan..Thank you. It sure is refreshing to be in there, and even more so when it's in the 50's today and I can open up that skylight...I loved it today:-)

Mike, oh, they will come, especially in that nice set up you have! Just watch for mites as temps warm up:-)

Patty! Really? You like that cactus? Just ask, and I will root some cuttings for you!
By the way Patty, you don't need much sun if any at all to get lots of blossoms:-)
I just love the new edit feature!
It is a reliable bloomer and unique in color:-)
Hope you are well and thank you.

Mike

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Tue, Dec 4, 12 at 21:28

Hey mike

I have been on spider mite patrol big time. We are having quite a bit of them. Neem oil is taking care of them. they are mostly going after the few plumeria leaves that havent fallen off yet.

I hate hate hate red spider mites!!

Mike

I suffered from an infestation of spider mites last year of my trees. This year, I resolved to attack them before they get out of hand. I've sprayed neem oil solution a couple of times this winter so far.

I found a site with some tips on using neem oil.
1) Neem oil solution breaks down after 8 hrs.
2) Include some drops of insect detergent with solution

Here is a link that might be useful: neem oil

Nice tree; nice flowers; may be a bit young to make much fruit. If you notice (could just be the lighting) most of the blooms lack that strong purple color so prominent in Meyer blooms. My experience is that juvenile trees sometimes produce those all white or near white blooms; but they rarely set fruit.

John

Here's a photo from my rooftop gifting nursery (for friends, family and new investors; the closest I come to container growing. This is a Meyer budded onto Macrophylla root exactly 1 year ago.

I just bought a Meyer lemon tree, I'm looking forward to it blooming.
I like your indoor solar lights ;-)

Mike, you didn't alert me to this thread... I can't believe I almost missed it! You have a lovely setup and great light for your plants! My compliments to the grower, as always! Solid work!

I decided to nip all possibility of insects, whether mite or otherwise, in the bud through the application of a granular systemic. It's made for outdoor use, but if it can be used in pots outdoors, why not indoors? It seems to be working well. I haven't seen anything in the insect category in quite a while!

And as you know, Mike, I live in mite heaven, with everything so dry. I do keep a spray handy, just in case. But so far, so good.

I just don't come here very often because I don't grow citrus... yet. I do plan on it in the future. It seems that some types are a lot more difficult than others...

Thank you, Mike!! I'd love a rooted cutting. My Christmas Cactus is getting bigger, and I'm fertilizing it more, which it is really liking. Hopefully next year it will be filled with blossoms. It's funny you mention that about sunlight, as my neighbor has an absolutely enormous one and last year this time, it was completely covered in blossoms and it is in a rather dark area of her home. I was flabbergasted.

Patty S.

Hey Mike

I wanted to share my Fukushu Kumquat that blooms almost every month. I dont know if that is normal for them to do this but it sure is nice and fragrant. My meyers are barely blooming right now.

{{gwi:563313}}

Tonights low is headed for the teens, gonna be chilly!!

Mike

Oh MIke, where in the world did you get that huge plant!
It's a beauty, well cared for, and loaded with blooms pal!!!

I am so proud of you! You have come a long way and have done a great job. I love looking at your potted trees.

Does it give off a very strong fragrance? If so, will you hook me up? Where did you get that tree Mike.

Patty, I would love to hook you up! I will remember you come the spring:-0)

Jodik, you live in mite heaven? lol....I hear you on that one! One must do what they must do in order not to be surrounded by webs by the time they wake up in the a.m! Boy, if left alone, they can certainly do a lot of damage over one night! I am so glad you did not miss this.
Thanks for visiting this forum!:-)

Crispy, Thanks! I do too:-)

John, very nice! I had no idea you owned a tree in a pot! Nice.

Mike, great info by the way! I was using the same Neem mix after a day or two. I appreciate teh info on that:-)

Mike

Mike

The thing I have learned about mites... not only in citrus... is that they like things dry and dusty/dirty; just giving your tree a regular wash goes a long way to controlling mites. In Guatemala, as in California and ??? we suffer from Broad mite (here called Acaro Blanco); my gurus tell me there is no real prevention; so when I see evidence I resort to Bayer Oberon... maybe I should be a sales rep for Bayer, I am such a fan of their products.

Thanks mike.

I got it on clearance from lowes the summer of 2011. This spring I'll try and root some of it or maybe try and graft it if I can get a hold of some rootstock. I have no idea how it would do on its own roots. Either way I'll get you a clone.
Mike

Mike..Thanks pal!

I can't believe you got that at Home Depot! That along with Plumeria? Lucky you. That will be the day I ever see anything like that sold here. Beautiful pal!

John I wish we could get those bayer products here. The only one we have is one that kills everything and makes mites spread like candy! That is why I no longer use it unless I have mealy issues.. It's a systemic.

Mike:-))))

I'm a big fan of Bayer products, myself... or Schultz... when it comes to keeping pests at bay! I decided to use the Bayer granular systemic on everything potted this year, indoor and out, and I'm really glad I did. There's nothing crawling, flying, or building webs in my plants or pots... except the occasional housefly, or an errant spider that lost its way! No mites, no whitefly, no scale, aphids, fungus gnats, thrips... nothing.

Every year I deal with such pests outside, and I try not to bring them in. I think the systemic helps a lot. But then, nothing I grow is edible, either... and for some, that's a consideration.

But with the indoor conditions I have, which are close to desert-like, the mites do like to try staking out territory! Especially in winter!

Schultz makes a 3 in 1 spray product... and I think Bayer offers something similar... I always look at the packaging to make sure it covers mites, because some insecticides do not.

Hello Jodik!

I hear ya...I love to use the same stuff on any of my non-edible plants! It really makes a difference when I have not stuck with my Fish Emulsion routine.

The Ponderosa Lemon trees are starting to flower now! Oh, it smells so good on a cold and wintery day!

Hoping everyone is well.

Mike