Thank you Mike. I will!

Congratulations Cristina! Great job!

Thank you Laura! I followed your " 5-1-1 "recipe" :)

Everyone's trees are looking great since being outside this summer. Here's a comparison pic of my Meyer from planting time to yesterday. It's been in the ground for a year and a half. I'll post another July update with all of my trees towards the end of the month.

At planting time.

And yesterday

Evan

Incredible Evan gorgeous! !!!

Brian

WOW Evan!! I can only imagine how many lemons that tree produces!! Beautiful! Not citrus, but I was just admiring my two apple trees and how many apples are on those trees. It is amazing how much fruit trees produce in the ground...we will be having apple sauce, apple pie, apple dumplings, etc...;-)

Thanks Brian.

Laura, LOL, that tree has 2 lemons on it, that's right a whole 2! These will be my first lemons from that tree if they hold on until they're ripe. The desert is harsh on my trees, right when my trees bloom and start to form fruit is when we get our windy season so a lot of fruit naturally falls off my trees just from the wind. You guys are lucky because when your trees bloom they're protected from the elements either indoors or in a greenhouse like Brian. I think that's why you guys get fruit so much sooner than I do on your young trees.

Evan

Very nice job. That dwarfs the growth of either of my in ground Meiwa and Fukushu trees.

6b Steve

Leaf node 55 bud from seed grown fukushu sprouts out of the side of C35. The graft is 9 days old and is kept bagged except for this picture. August 4 will be the 3 week time period for growing a good graft.

6b Steve

I left this meiwa kumquat out for the freezing winter it was a bare stick all these leaves are new! Phew thought it was dead!! These guys are so resilient :)

Wow Evan that's amazing growth!

Brian your trees are always amazing!!!

steve one day I want to one day start grafting that's so exciting! XD

thanks Laura!! I'm excited about mine too!

here are the rest of the trees pictures promised guys!! Work got a little crazy so I've been off these forums lately!

This is my yuzu Itd almost all new growth!

Vaniglia sanguino from four winds!

My calamindin the leaves are curled but it's bursting with blooms!

Those kittens are adorable! So for fun I'm posting my English angora bunny Archie I add his manure as fertilizer it does great for citrus!

I forgot my Moro blood orange guys this ones going gang busters!! It wilts every day at around noon so I repotted it and I found the roots are so bound to the bottom of the pot that I think the pavement burned the roots as it gets hot during the noon day sun :/

This one is my nagami kumquat! No flower blooms yet but I'm hopeful :)

Evan, and what steroids did you give that tree???? Is it called sun and lots of love or the best fertilizer anyone could get and a secret?? Amazing job buddy!!! I would love to stick mine in the ground with your trees for a few weeks and see what happens... GOOD JOB!!!

Jan, what cute little bunny you have there, and not to say that your trees are not just as amazing..Look at all those flowers...Yum, must smell so good! You can tell your tree gets lots and lots of sunshine..Good work

Brian, Brian. Brain my friend,

Tell me, are you getting frost anytime soon? This weather is ridiculous unless you are warmer than me. <y long range ten day forecast shows nothing warmer than 80 and today was 55...Yes, 55 for the third week of July when we should be in the 90's...My poor trees. I don't think they can take anymore very short summer here. This is even killing me. The whole country except mt area, New England is sweltering while I am very chilly...Make absolutely no sense buddy! 50's tomorrow too. I have no idea. It feels like early October here....Honestly, my weather just stinks!! We have yet to see many 90 degree days and those warm summer nights........They are already selling Halloween stuff. Hugs buddy

My weather forecast!!! (((((((((((

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/lowell-ma/01851/daily-weather-forecast/333574?day=1

Update: 20 days and 3 treatments of FP later and my key lime is packed full of blooms. Leaves are looking better, too! I'm impatient, so I think I'll leave the fruit on this time unless it starts looking stressed.

They sure do love this Georgia heat.

Mike, it may be hard on the plants, but I would kill for a day or two in the 50's lol.

-Kelley 8a

Jan that has to be the cutest bunny I have ever seen and your tree's are gorgeous.

Mikey my friend lol your weather looks way better than mine it's been ridiculous here . Mikey we are working on the wettest July ever here we had over 3 inches of rain yesterday . No frost yet lol but the long range is showing a possibility of frost by mid September way to early, a very short summer . Maybe hold my breath that we will have a very sunny winter lol . Pic of my yard yesterday you can see all the leaves on my tree's inverted very neet they looked silver . At least I know the pro mix is working well .

Take care my friend

Brian

Thanks Jan, cute bunny and nice looking trees!

Hey Mike, no steroids over here, just lots of sun, heat, water and TONS of fertilizer. I use Arizonas best citrus food, so no secret, just a very good fert for trees in my climate and soil type. It's readily available at big box hardware stores here in CA. I realize that it is very difficult to over feed this Meyer, they are hungry little trees. I'm sure if you could bring your trees over to hang out with my trees they would love it and sprout tons of growth. Hope all is well with you and your family my friend.

Evan

I was out on the porch this morning trying to photograph/identify a pair of owls that came through yesterday morning. The owls didn't return but a snapped a photo of one of three tree frogs that were eating bugs in my calamondin tree :>)

Mike, Brian I can't believe your weather over there! It's the middle of summer and supposed to be at the hottest now!! Your poor citrus. But looking at both your citrus trees you would never know :) sending out some good sunshine your way!

john that's such a tiny and cute little frog XD

Please Please Jan send the sun and heat our way we beg of you lol. Actually it worked we have sunshine right now . Seriously Jan the high yesterday was 58 degrees everyone had sweaters and jackets on not supposed to happen in July . I am so glad for you that your having a summer and it's not true what they say misery likes company . Thanks again for the sun and your Moro blood orange is gorgeous.

Brian

Brian buddy!! I think your weather is worst than mines! I think you have me beat! It finally cleared up today after hours of drizzle and sweater weather, and it's just a whopping 67 today! possible 40's tonight. So far we are aiming to break records in the July cold temps department! I am so miserable with this, and I so wish our summers were long and hot like they use to be. I am lucky to get one or two good beach weather weeks if any and years past they use to be all the time week after week July and August. I have trees already coloring up near me.lol

The Geese are back and the night singing crickets are out 2 weeks early here. The very early in the morning birds are gone as if they headed south already. Very strange.

Brian misery loves company and I am glad you are in my company..ha Hugs buddy

Evan,

my friend, thank you for those nice pics as always and I had no idea that fertilizer was sold there. I would have to still give you a heck of a lot credit because there are many living there and their trees don't look half as good as yours even under those conditions...Bravo~!

John,

you must know how crazy I am about frogs! That is a very nice pic. I love it.

Jan,

I can't believe it either. It's just not normal. What's funny is that the jet stream drops all summer here when it should be in Canada, cutting off the nice hot summer just west of me, then it rises back up again in fall and winter to give us death killing unseasonable warmer winter not allowing our plants to go truly dormant. It's scary in my neck of the woods...Very unpredictable...

My calamondin is loaded with fruit and flushed again. It is officially my favorite tree.

This tree has officially grown into beast compared to the little stick I received. It's in an 18 in pot and I'm so happy it's in 511 because otherwise it would be super heavy to move haha.

My trees are doing great, putting on size and staying a beautiful green. I can't believe that August is almost here. The summer has flown by with all the gardening and hot weather fun!

Thank you guys for all your help with learning to care for citrus!

-Amanda

This one barely qualifies as citrus-related but there ARE some lemon leaves in the lower right hand corner. Two of these guys came through my yard early Monday morning and I tried the past two mornings to get a zoom photo so I could identify them. Both came through again this morning and this one stuck around long enough for a photo op...and it's a barred owl.

Let's see, who has the likes here?? Love all the pics friends!! Love that Owl.

Lol Brian I can't believe it worked!!! I'll do it more often in that case XD just think warm thoughts towards your general direction! Thank you the Moro is one of my favourites but I must say your trees are always what I aspire mine to be one day :)

Mike I don't know how you grow citrus in your neck of the woods if it was me over there I'm pretty sure I'd have killed them all! :( must be your super skills! I gotta say all my success is thanks to you and people like you on these forums willing to share your advice so generously :) thank you!

John it's like a wildlife sanctuary in your backyard! So cute! I love owls! :)

Lol Brian I can't believe it worked!!! I'll do it more often in that case XD just think warm thoughts towards your general direction! Thank you the Moro is one of my favourites but I must say your trees are always what I aspire mine to be one day :)

Mike I don't know how you grow citrus in your neck of the woods if it was me over there I'm pretty sure I'd have killed them all! :( must be your super skills! I gotta say all my success is thanks to you and people like you on these forums willing to share your advice so generously :) thank you!

John it's like a wildlife sanctuary in your backyard! So cute! I love owls! :)

Hey Mike, my hibiscus finally bloomed! It's flowers are as big as my kids' heads!

It has so many buds on it that it will look like a red bush when the rest flower out!

Beautiful, both of them ;)

Here is my July update on my citrus this morning.

This is the Oro Blanco I planted in my front yard earlier this year. It's trying to recover from severe sunburn, it looks like it'll pull through.

Same tree different angle.

Eureka lemon twins, another couple months and they'll be ripe

Eureka Lemon quadruplets

Eureka lemon tree in its entirety, it has tons of new growth.

Variegated pink eureka lemon at about 8'-9' tall and wide

Cocktail pomelo holding some heavy fruit, its bending the branches towards the ground and causing new growth to form mid branch.

Rio red grapefruit holding softball sized fruit

Moro blood orange pushing new mid summer growth

Gold nugget mandarin

Going to have to post again to get all of my trees posted.

Part 2

Oro Blanco holding heavy fruit this season, hoping they're juice filled this year and not dry like in the past

Tango mandarin #1 (bad pic)

The unstoppable key lime, it's probably holding 150 lbs of fruit right now.

Pomona sweet lemon that has exploded with growth this summer

Cara Cara navel orange that's been severely attacked by grasshoppers

Accidental key lime #2

Misshapen trovita orange, I'll let it grow for another couple seasons before trimming to shape

Tango mandarin #2 on sour orange rootstock doing just fine in my heat

Meyer lemon

Last but not least, my Pixie mandarin

Evan

Evan, how's your Pixie Mandarin? I have a young plant which has some fruitlets, so I'm hopeful that I get a chance to taste one for the first time next year.

Evan very nice . Glad to see that your Tango's are doing well amazing growth. Love your Oro Blanco and key lime. We finally have a sunny day after 2 or 3 weeks of rain .

Brian

Brian

Jason, I'm not sure how they taste off of this tree it's never produced fruit. It's been in the ground for about 15 months and flowered a little in the spring but didn't hold onto any fruit.

Brian, thanks, I can't believe it's been raining that long for you. I'd trade you for some sunshine, if you'd send me your rain. We haven't had any measurable rain since January or February. Your back yard always looks so nice and the pool so inviting.

Evan

Evan, you mean that you have a tree that does not look perfect!!? I love everyone of your pics and trees. I wish I could stroll around your yard so seeing your pics is the next best thing..Thank you my friend

Brian, it's about time buddy!! I feel your pain. I swear all our weather comes from your area. It was cold today and warmed up at the least minute when the sun came out from the 60's to the 70's, just ask Vladimir..It's been way below normal for days and in fact most of the summer except for a week. I just don't get it buddy. Beautiful pic!

Amanda, beautiful both! I love it. That flower is hugs isn't it. just like I said!? I also love the leaves too. Mine is just budding out. I will take one of mine too when it flowers!

Jan, I am so happy you have learned a lot here! Yahoo for you and thanks)

Mine are all growing well, but here is a unique picture of one flowering orchid I am so proud to have flowered! Even with this thick gloomy cool weather, it still flowered for me after three years of trying!! I looks aliensitic!! It smells so sweet and strong, it fill the yard!!

Evan, your trees are looking great - as usual. With the duplicates, your going to have to open up a fruit stand I think!

Mike, nice orchid!! Evan, those trees are amazing! May I ask the story behind the "Accidental key lime"? Those key lime trees are monsters. I was going to post a pic of Kevin, but he looks like a stick compared to those! May I ask how the sweet lime tastes?

Well, here he is anyways...Kevin the key lime in his new pot. He probably stands near 7' in the container. I can't wait till the key limes are ready. My Persian lime also has limbs growing from the bent branches with all the limes. I don't know how I'm going to get him in the house. Also, one Meyer lemon bud pic. I was soooo excited...there is a hummingbird that is coming to feast on the exotic lemon blossoms!!! They bypass the new feeder and go for the Meyer trees!

Kevinas you can see, this tree is in continuous production of key limes...large, medium, small and blossoms...I think there are lots of key lime pies in my future - especially considering production from the limequats and the giant key lime. It will be fun to compare flavors.

OMG Mikey that orchid is so beautiful . The colors are spectacular the flower looks almost like a cross between a very colourful spider and a bumble bee love that one . Mikey you poor guy you are getting the down wind cold and rain from our area hopefully you won't get the sloppy you know . Hugs buddy

Brian

George, thanks yeah my wife says that all the time, once all our trees start producing regularly we're going to have to sell fruit by the freeway off ramps lol.

Mike, that is a beautiful orchid, I've never seen one like that. Kudos to you having it flower!

Laura, Kevin looks great! He's not a stick at all! He's holding a bunch of fruit too, you'll have home made key lime pie soon! The story behind the accidental key lime is I bought it and planted it before I really was into citrus growing and I thought it was a regular lime tree aka bearss/ Tahitian lime. It had been in the ground for a couple years flourishing before I realized I had planted another key lime and by then it was such a nice tree I didn't have the heart to tear it out of the ground. That's the story behind it and now I have more key limes than I know what to do with.

Evan

Good story, Evan! Which lime is better? Bearss or key lime? I got bearss lime earlier this summer and it had 22 tiny fruits, it dropped them shortly after it arrived at my home. Only one remained and couple weeks later it bloomed again and set 2 more fruitlets. When will they be ready and how do I know when to pick them?

Sunshine a bearss lime aka Tahitian lime is just a regular lime that you can buy at just about any grocery store. My key limes taste better than those any day. Limes usually take about 6-7 months to ripen and I usually pick them when they start to turn half yellow. That's when they're the juiciest I think. The pics below are from last year and represents what it looks like when I go pick limes in my yard. Despite having harvests like this several times during the season I still end up with hundreds of limes on the ground that I never get to before they fall off the tree. You'll have to pick your limes as they start to look ripe and test them at different times to figure out when they're perfectly ripe. Once you do that for a couple seasons you'll figure it out and know exactly when they're ripe and ready to pick.

Almost 6 lbs in one bowl.

Evan

Oh Evan, those are great! What a wonderful harvest! Thanks for the story about the key lime. Sunshine, I totally agree with him. The persian lime is just a regular lime, but the key limes are stronger and more flavorful...Not to mention, they are often hard to find in the store. Persian limes are a dime a doze at the grocery store....

I just finished fertilizing all my trees. I gave them another round of Oscomote yesterday and today I gave them Peters and pro-tekt. My trees are so happy. I hate the thought of having to bring them in for winter. I figure I should have at least another three months of them outside if the weather cooperates. I am worried because a few of my trees - Persian lime is one of the biggest culprits - are so huge and wide that bringing them inside is going to be a real challenge. If it was not loaded with fruits, I would trim branches, but I can't right now because the limes are not ready to pick.

Thank you Laura and Evan! Very impressive harvest. I might obtain key lime branch from you, Laura (to graft on my Friendship tree) when the time comes :))

Laura, I fertilized today too. It took 12 lbs of fertilizer to get all of my trees fed.

Sunshine, when you are ready, say the word and you have it! Wow Evan, that is an incredible amount of fertilizer! I am happy I have that huge 25lb bag of Peters fertilizer because I am going through it.

Thanks Laura! WOW Evan, how many times per year you are using that amount of fertilizer?

Sunshine right now I'm fertilizing every other month, so 4-5 times per year, that's actually lightly fertilizing my trees. They're still fairly young so I'm feeding them lightly more often instead heavier doses 3 times per year. It seems to work and my trees are doing well so that's what I do. I'll fertilize again in September and then probably once more in the winter to help keep them green. Then I'll start the process again when I see my trees start to bud up in February. That's when I feed them the most to help kick start the growing season and help promote the massive bloom and growth flush. It's overwhelming in my backyard in the early spring because all of my trees bloom at once. With the 18 citrus trees I have the scent is intense and my walls hold the smell in my yard and if you're not expecting it will take your breath away. It's hard to explain but it's something to experience, standing in a citrus grove as the sun rises, smelling fresh mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange blossoms in the spring. That's what I love the most about my garden.

Evan

So many wonderful pictures to look at! I wish there was a "love" button that we could push. ♡

Amanda, beautiful pic of your son and the Hibiscus. Your citrus are doing splendid this summer.

John, love the barred owl. Beautiful picture.

Evan, I am always in awe of your trees and all of the fruitful varieties that you have! Your key lime is so productive! Wow! Have the Pomona Sweet Lemon and the Cocktail Grapefruit produced decent, edible fruit for you yet? I have a young Pomona, but am still waiting (since last season) for a mailing nursery to get the Cocktail back in stock. I hope the Oro Blanco fruit taste much better for you this time around.

Brian, I love your "tropical" paradise! Just lovely! Perfection!

Mike and Brian, we have had a number of nights that have been down into the forties ! July sure feels more like fall. What's up with that?? Lol..The only good thing about it is that the cool nights helped my Santa Teresa Lemons set some flowering buds. I hope to get some lemons that stay on and mature this time around. The cooler weather has not been good for my tomatoes. I usually have ripe tomatoes by this time and my garden tomatoes are still small and green. Mike, what a stunning orchid! I am so happy for you that it finally bloomed after three years! Well worth the wait. :)

Laura, Kevin the key lime looks great in his new pot! I look forward to the key lime pie pictures in the near future, I do not envy you getting him to fit back in the house this fall though.. :D We had some rain showers earlier in the week but I was able to fertilize all of the trees on Friday. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow evening!

Jinny and everyone else thanks! I am sure proud of this Orchid. Too bad the flower only lasts for a week((

Well, I might as well just give up on summer and the beach! My ten day forecast show no 80's at all!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time we should be in the 80's, it will be September and too late to even get the heat of summer. What a crappy beach and boating year! Nothing but lots of humidity and loads of rain. It's a good thing that at least my roses are holding up, weeds growing like monsters and citrus as green as can be))

Sorry about the weather over there Mike, but atleast it sounds like your trees are doing awesome!

Well, updating....sadly I didn't realize there was a colony of ants living under one of my patio containers. And sadly didn't realize what a detriment they were to my orange tree. I had 30 surviving immature oranges, all of which have been eaten by the ants..arghhh...Oh wrll, there's always next year, eh?

Hey any thots on whether or not I can prime my tree back a bit considering I have no oranges left?? I know not to touch the fruiting wood but these guys are monsters to move in and out. Laura, happy to hear yours are doing good. Where do you live that you bring yours inside during winter, also??