I can't comment as I have no experience with it, but would like to follow this thread to hear what others have to say. I can tell you though that many of my trees are blooming heavily and I have not exposed them to stress.

I am with john here. Encourage growth if you can. In container culture reducing temp also impacts the soil and thus the roots. In nature and in their native conditions the soil temperature does not change rapidly even though air temperature can drop significantly. I have read some studies that in various fruiting plants that triggers the blooms - a way of getting ready for warmer conditions.

Yuzu is the only citrus I have heard of that you can stress to induce flowering. Something about tying a string onto a branch close to the tips if I recall? And then releasing it to get a bloom.

This is where I got the idea: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/induce-citrus-blooming-23219.html

I talked to a calamondin grower once who was 100% convinced water stressing a calamondin then watering it thoroughly induced blooming with his trees. I've also read that online. I don't know, and don't have to try it because my calamondins are blooming idiots. :)

As day lengths increase, your trees should respond, unless you are dealing with an alternate bearing variety.

Take a wiffle ball bat and beat your tree silly. That will induce blooming for fruit trees. I don't know about citrus. The use of the wiffle ball bat does little real damage to the tree but the tree doesn't know that.

6b Steve

Goes along with my strategy of propping an axe next to the tree.

There have been experiments showing that my wiffle bat beating actually works.

6b Steve

Steve and John - the Citrus forum curmudgeon funny guys - you crack me up.

Vladimir, my trees will flower no matter what I do. I have notice they flower more than grow when kept at cool temps...How are your trees in the greenhouse these days? I am so grateful we are not worried arctic temps or tons of snow this time of the year..Notice too that the temps in there will start rising much more faster and higher once the next couple of weeks passes by! Love it

You guys crack me up also! LOL. Vladimir, I agree with Mike. The trees in my son's room that gets fairly cool - although likely not below 63, are going crazy blooming. My other trees are blooming as well and have been through the winter...some more than others, but definitely those in his room are doing quite well with the blooms. One thing I noticed...I have four lights in the there...One of the trees - the thornless key lime is very tall and I can't get the lights to reach up there so I have them pointed towards his middle. In the area where the lights hits it, it has sprouted and budded the most. The thorny key lime which is closer to the window is blooming on every branch. I wonder if it also a seasonal issue.

I have a similar issue with my Fukushu Kumquat tree. It has not bloomed since I got it about 3 years ago. So I contacted the nursery and they suggested to use a higher Phosphorus fertilizer (the middle number in the NPK value) if the plant is generally healthy anything less than 15-15-15 in the NPK value. I did some research and found Bone meal to be the best organic alternative to synthetic fertilizer for this purpose. Bonemeal has an NPK value of 4-12-0 and 22 percent calcium and since it is organic it is readily available to the plant. I have started including bonemeal along with the regular citrus fertilizer. I will report back if this change in feeding helps the tree to bloom this year. Good Luck!

No. Never a higher P fertilizer. I just pull back on your Niitogen and it will bloom. What do you use for fertilizer ? What about foliage pro ?

I had been using mushroom compost and harvested rain water and not really any specific fertilizer until this year on the specific tree (kumquat). This year I got the "Jobe's Citrus and Fruit" fertilizer. You make an interesting point on pulling back on the Nitrogen. I will keep that in mind if this method does not work. Thanks.

Nctropics,

When individual nutrients are available in excess, it not only unnecessarily contributes to the total volume of solutes in the soil solution, which makes it more difficult for the plant to absorb water and nutrients, it can also create an antagonistic deficiency of other nutrients as toxicity levels block a plant's ability to take them up. E.g., too much Fe (iron) can cause a Mn (manganese) deficiency, with the converse also true, Too much Ca (calcium) can cause a Mg (magnesium) deficiency. Too much P (phosphorous) can cause an insoluble precipitate with Fe and make Fe unavailable. It also interferes with the uptake of several other micro-nutrients. You can see why it is advantageous to supply nutrients in as close to the same ratio in which plants use them and at levels not so high that they interfere with water uptake...)

Great explanation Mike!

Mike, Thank you for breaking it down. It makes much more sense now.