Please don't laugh....

16 years ago

but I have a question about my container kumquat. I have looked all over the forums (I'm a regular elsewhere) and can't find anything.

We were given an already planted kumquat about 3 feet high this summer. It's in a semi-sun spot in a large enough pot. Around here the sun is fierce and no rain till October - and it's so far healthy but the very few fruits had me wondering, so I poked around the container. It seems that the tree was planted in the soil, in the container, without having the black woven plastic fabric around the rootball removed. There's a good 4 inches from the plastic around the tree to the edge of the pot. Should I assume that someone at the store was an idiot, and just dumped the thing in the dirt in the pot and sold it? Would someone actually do that? Do I have to dig the thing out, remove the plastic wrap and replant it? Would the roots have broken through the bottom, and how could I possibly damage the tree while doing this? Cause if it's possible I'll probably do it.......

And while I'm here, we inherited a full grown lemon tree when we moved here. Looks healthy, but the fruits are very hard and dry, even after months of rain. It hasn't been properly cared for in decades.....but just sits there happily producing un-juicy lemons.

Thanks,

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Comments (3)

tsmith2579
16 years ago
Shalom, batya! Yes, remove the plastic fabric. Apparently someone confused the woven plastic burlap (sandbag) material with real burlap which is a natural jute, hemp or flax. When real burlap is used, it is fine to leave the root ball wrapped since burlap will quickly rot away. I can't guarantee it will make more fruit but it will certainly help it to grow better.
tantanman
16 years ago
Batya;

I never laugh at serious citrus growers.

Always assume the store salesman is an idiot who
will sell you junk unless you are guided by a
friend or otherwise by your own better research.

Your lemon may be a "rough" rootstock lemon
from an old failed grafted tree. Check around
and try to find if low quality lemons are common
rootstock in your area. You may need to take out
or graft it with a good lemon scion or find what
else can grow on it that you will like.

Larry in coastal Texas.
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batyabeth
Original Author
16 years ago
Hardly a serious grower like you guys, but enough of a gardenwebber to know where to ask!! I would have never planted the kumquat like that, but the whole thing, pot, tree and all was a gift from folks who would never have blinked. I'll pull it out (and the pansies around its base) and set it to rights - easy enough.

The lemon thing is harder. "Checking around" for those kinds of answers here is nearly impossible, in that the tree is about 15-20 years at least, and there's no one who could conceivably answer. No one but commercial farmers pay attention to details like species, kind of rootstock, etc.. It's a lemon tree and some are no good, period. Thousands of folks have one near the house and no one thinks about it any further. I'll check with some groovy green garden types out of the mainstream that I know and try to Dick Tracy this thing. But what you're saying is that anything I do to try to juice up the fruit would be futile, and I should just try to find something interesting to do with what are really a lot of organic lemon rinds!!
Thanks again, B