I added the fertilizer the day I posted, so this is about two weeks later, if that makes a difference.

Wow that is cool looking! I haven't seen a flush like that, I'm def going to follow this forum! I kinda feel like I would squeal with excitement if one of my trees did that hahaha!

Umm, so this is a good thing?

Growth flushes are a positive result of good care and good growing conditions.

How do I get one like that?!! Hahaha

Amanda, can you see my post from two weeks ago, it's titled Replant or give up? Two very kind and knowledgeable people told me to try a couple of things, and I did both! I got some citrus fertilizer, I think it was Dr.Earth, and also a big bag of aluminum sulphate, and added both. I think the recommendation was to add the alum sulphate once a week till July, so I am going to try that! Hope I get a flower to tell me I am headed in the right direction!

Thanks for the info! I just posted a question about fertilizing schedules today becuase I want not burn the roots or underfeed my plants! I'll look at that forum as well!

Kcand,

These look to be planted in ground. True? What variety are they? If any are Meyer, you should add more fertilizer, as a well fed Meyer will have new growth that is first a reddish brown, later turning light green, and finally to dark green.

Planted in the ground, one Meyer, which is a lime, correct? One lemon, and one orange. I'll try and see if I can find names. More of what fertilizer, John?

Meyer is a lemon. A sort of sweeter cross of Lemon and Mandarin/Orange. It widely considered one of the best lemons to have and a favorite among many :) Also I hope my trees push growth like that once I get them outside. They look great! that is just what you want to see.

Looks like a good growth spurt to me!

Are those all leaf buds? Maybe flower buds will appear soon? What do flower buds look like? (I don't know the answers, that's why I'm asking)

What is the problem here? It looks like a healthy growth flush. I also live in the bay area and my citrus all start growing around this time. It seems early, but for California it really isn't.

-Brett

Brett, I've never had a growth flush before! I thought they were diseased and undersized leaves! I'll keep up the feeding and give them another year before giving up on them!

Those are leaves, flowers will look like tiny white/purple balls the size of a pin head at first but they will swell and bloom in the following weeks. My Meyer is always seems off about when it blooms I got my heaviest show in May last year then a smaller bloom in late summer, so I can't give an exact time frame. Once the flowers bloom I take a Q-tip and hand pollinate by dipping the Q-tip gently into the center of the flower to gather pollen and move flower to flower transferring pollen, but tbh I don't think its necessary with the tress outside since I didn't hand pollinate the second flush of flowers and they fruited on their own with help from the bee's I'm sure. But if your like me and like feeling "responsible" for the fruitlets that develop and have a bit of time on your hands it can be fun. Once your tree sets fruit it will self thin and drop some so don't freak out if your baby fruits fall off. the tree will hold on to what it can carry and you might want to manually thin them at the size of a marble to just a couple of fruits for the first few years so that it can get the fruit the correct size. I couldn't bear to thin my first crop and they were as small as a key limes (about 12 of them) and had barely any juice so I will be thinning to 2-3 fruits this year. If you do decide to give up on them at any point (and you shouldn't!) I know there are many people that would be happy to take in your trees ;)

Sammers, here's the dilemma: These trees were planted about 4 years ago, when they were about 3 feet tall and in the four years, not a single flower. Full sun, and surrounded by heavily fruiting citrus trees! I wondered if it was the soil in my yard or I had some non-fruiting duds. Advice from the forum said to try heavy fertilizing. and within two weeks, I got what I now know is a growth flush. I would love to have the problem of needing to thin a crop! I am glad to hear that I shouldn't give up! Will keep up with the fertilizing and report as the season progresses!

I am glad it worked! (so far) are the heavily fruiting trees in your yard? do you fertilize them as well? I didn't realize how much proper fertilizer helps until I regularly provided it (and forgot it) I hope this will be the year for you!

Any good citrus fertilizer will do; look for a ratio of 5-1-3 NPK (3-1-2 for Meyers); make sure they include Magnesium, Calcium, and Iron. If you want to go organic, I would recommend Espoma Citrus Tone. Whatever you use, you should apply it at the dripline and water in well; for your Meyer you should use about 1.5 times what the label recommends.

I have a plum and a Pluot which have done fine, with what I then thought was adequate, a fall feeding. Given how citrus grows like a weed here and in my old house, I was at the point of giving up. Will get more food for them!!

Laura, if I could..Where did you get your Jack's fertilizer or is it Pete's and what is the ratio of nutrients? I would love to order some..Thank you

Mike, you can get Jack's at AM Leonard, and their website has a code for free shipping on min. $85 orders until March 1.

Do we need the sulphur?

We need sulfur and so do citrus trees. Question is: sulfur being a micronutrient requirement, do they get enough from the water and growth medium? I know that citrus can be deficient in sulfur, but how common is that? I suspect it is rare. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Sulfur deficiency in citrus is extremely rare; and to my knowledge has never been shown in field grown trees. I'm not so sure about container trees, depending on the medium; but I would think any citrus fertilizer would have sufficient amount of Sulfur, possibly in the form of sulphates. Native sulfur is mostly only used to adjust soil pH.

Well, I ordered the Jack's and I still have my bag of Dr.Earth Citrus that I bought, so I shall continue with the feeding! It's always something or the other! Today I went out to see the trees as soon as I woke up and found about 4 tiny little snails on the leaves! They look like babies of the regular garden variety snail. Should I post a new thread asking for advice, so as not to muddle the thread here for future readers?

Diatomaceous earth for snails.

Dusted on leaves?

yes and on soil

Wow, looks good! My 2 year old mandarin from seed had a bad start. We were on 2 week vacation last summer and my mother-in-law did water all my plants. Heavily. Too darn heavily. The worst affected was this mandarin seedling. Luckily I found my way to this forum, and I planted it right away to 5-1-1 mix. It recovered but lost most of its leaves, and did shoot up like mad. Its now 14 inches and has something around 15-20 branches, have'nt counted them all. Its growing its second flush for this year.

I hope it will do as well as yours!

Man I love this forum! :)

Sulfur is considered, together with N,P,K,Ca and Mg, to be a macro not a micro nutrient (distinction between macros and micros depends, I believe, on the amounts absorbed by the roots). I have never heard of a citrus S deficiency either. Most any composite fertilizer should provide adequate amounts of S. Providing most N via ammonium sulfate should also take care of S.

I believe most (all?) citrus do not require external pollinators. In fact they do not really require any pollination to set fruit. Isn't this true for Meyer 'lemons' also? I've never met a Meyer in person.. Polinating insects tend to be the bane of commercial citrus growers, especially those growing seedless varieties (hence they tend to love neonicotinoid insecticides and hate beekeepers..).

Young non-bearing trees have minimal requirements for P and K. In the ground and assuming appropriate soil, N is all they require. The 5-1-3 'rule' of thumb should apply to fruiting trees where mature fruit is collected and removed from the orchard. Even then, it is more of general guideline rather than a formula one should stick to.

John, what is the name of the fertilizer you use if I may and what are the nutrients in it in what Ratio? Do you favor a certain kind over other? I know you are a master of making sure that your trees get all the nutrients they need to look as beautiful as they do and goes the same for your potted ones!!

I would hate to think that it's just the sun and weather making your trees look so beautiful...

Mike,

I use a custom mix of 18-6-12 (3-1-2) with 2% Mg and Ca; and 1% Iron and Zinc. Each of my mature producing Meyers gets 1 pound of that mix 3 times per year.

Mike, I'm sorry...I just saw your comment. I think the one Vladimir shows above is the correct one. It will last you a long time. I've used 1 tsp/gallon and about 1/2tsp over winter. I've even fed it at a low conc foliarly. My trees seem perfectly happy. It's much cheaper than FP. I believe that Cory and Steve have used it as well.

kcandmilo - congratulations on the nice start to the spring flush! It appears that your young trees finally got some "traction" as I call it. I had a similar experience in that my young trees appeared dormant and did not attain traction until after I increased the fertilizer dosage (using AS) - and irrigation.

Let me throw out a word of advice... save your money on the fancy specialty fertilizers by delaying their application until the trees start bearing some fruit. Most of their needs right now are N (from the AS) and water. When the fruit appears, and in years after bearing a heavy crop, the ratios mentioned in multiple posts above rise in priority and amounts.

BTW: I just threw down more AS yesterday in anticipation that it be watered in by last night's rain. the 1/4" of rain was perfect! And, the coming warm days forecast (65-70F+) will increase the root uptake of nutrients... and subsequently goose the flush. However, I am nervous about the string of frosty mornings this week damaging the new growth... 31F yesterday, 34F today... 32F during the week in my areas. Its warmer in Palo Alto so you should be in great shape : - )

I will post a clarification to my earlier post of feeding with AS weakly weekly in your other thread... There are details I left out of my regimen - primarily for brevity's sake. -

Happy flushing - George

George, the adventures continue! Some of the leaves look diseased now. I mentioned it to the nursery, and said I would bring in a sample, and they said, betcha it's leaf miners! So that's the next hurdle to cross! I'll take a snipping in for confirmation, and will be back to ask for help no doubt!

post pictures/// lots of help available here....

Being a new poster, I'm not sure whether to add a changing the topic post here, or making a new post. But George, and others, here are the worst of the leaves on one of the citrus. The one with the original growth flush seems fine, the middle one has healthy leaves, no growth flush, and this one is the worst, thought it seems to putting up some reddish new growth. Tell me the worst quickly :)

Reddish new growth = good news.

The bad news... you have CLM - Citrus Leaf Miner (like everyone else in the SF Bay Area). It appears that this is older damage, that is, from last year's growing season? If so, they're already gone.. but the eggs are likely about to hatch for a March/April assault.

If old damage, spray with a dormant oil / neem oil mixture.

If this is new damage then you can start the Spinosad-need mix spray regimen right away. [BTW: I add Bt (a caterpillar killer) to my every-other-week sprays and this seems to stop the attack]

good luck!

Nooo! I do have neem oil, and will start with that. How often should I spray? Will look into the Spinosad too!

Darn it, just as they were starting to get fed! I am beginning to think it was easier raising my human kids!

And should i spray the healthy trees as well, just in case these critters spread?

it shouldn't hurt to spray all the citrus leaves (especially the undersides) with a neem oil mixture.