Saturday, July 9, 2011

Growing Citrus

A good year for Mandarins
Right now you can buy Navel oranges for about 50 cents a kilo such is the plentiful supply of citrus fruits this year. I have a similar "problem" with backyard grown Mandarins. They are perfect and sweet and the ground is littered with fallen fruit. No special fertilizer given to the tree, but it had a fantastic supply of good steady rain over the growing season Likewise the lemon tree which also has a terrific crop this winter. The lemon tree would completely fail all garden magazine "how to grow the perfect lemon" advice. I decided not to fertilize it at all because I am tired of getting a crop of those humongous lemons which weigh the branches to the ground. This season I have plenty of juicy small fruit .......perfect really. The leaves however would surely send a citrus expert into a state of shock as they all pale yellow. And then there is the bark which is covered in scale. Just don't tell anyone.............


2 comments:

  1. Mangoes were in a glut here this year, and lemons and limes are few and very expensive.

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  2. The Lisbon Lemon I planted in Daintree in 1986 has always suffered from an array of horrific citrus complaints but inspite of this neglect continued to produce big crops of fruit. Well it did until I decided to prune it hard last year and remove dead wood etc - given time it may recover again!

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