I find it odd myself to see flower buds forming on my grapefruit tree at this time of year. maybe the mayans' were right and the world is coming to an end in DEC 2012.

I live in Guatemala... the Mayans have a different concept that is a new beginning, not the end... come to Guate and experience the new era for yourself...

John

Not to completely sidetrack my question, but I believe the Mayan calendar theory has been disproved. Something about how the Roman calendar and the Mayan calender don't exactly match up and how the inclusion of our Leap Years means that the day 'predicted' by the Mayan calendar has actually come and gone. They also found older Mayan calendars back in May or so that continued their count long past the one that has been used to fuel the "End of the World" scenario.

John the Guatemala sales man.... Anyway, I would not worry about the key lime flowering, let it do what it will, no need to remove, pollinate if you want. Mine is flowering too, not many just a few, If your lucky you can pick a ripe lime in early June. BTW- 12/12/12 is approaching beware beware.....ok really its agoing to be 13/13/13 ok, never mind I mean 14/14/14 well, .....actually 15/15/15....

Leekle, limes and lemons will flower periodically, and more frequently year 'round than other citrus. Key limes are actually pretty prolific trees, so just enjoy. My two Australian Finger Limes are blooming. Again. And, I found several blossoms on my Chironja and my Ortanique as well. Of course for me, we're having a crazy late and warm Fall. It will again be in the high 70's and sunny today. Damn this weather.

Patty S.

So should I could continue with the minimal watering/no fertilizer approach, or should give it a bit more water and maybe some light fertilizer to help with fruit production?

Why would you minimally water a citrus tree? There is no season to "cut back on watering" for citrus. You want to provide adequate water all the time. Use your finger to test your medium to make sure you need to water. Be sure you have well draining potting mix (search for "511" mix on our forum), and continue to fertilize frequently. The cutting back of fertilizing during the winter is for in-ground citrus. The thought behind that is to prevent your citrus trees from pushing out tender new flush during winter, when you may risk having some frosts or even short periods of temps below 32, which would damage tender new growth. Container citrus that are moved indoors during the winter are managed differently. I would recommend DyaGro Foliage Pro. Used quite a bit on this list for our container citrus folks.

Patty S.