thinning fruit

8 years ago

I picked up several new citrus this season. They all came in 4 gallon pots. My general question is, how do you know how old they are, so you know if you need to thin the fruit?

The meyer didn't flower AT ALL, so bummed. The persian lime had a few flowers, made a few fruit, and dropped them all.

I got 2 nagami, let's call them nagami-a and nagami-b. Same batch from the local nursery, so they should be same age. Nagami-a has about 10 fruits. Nagami-b has about 30 fruits. Not all of them full size. Kind of interesting, as each plant has had ONE orange fruit for several weeks.

I figure this would make a good experiment, if I was so inclined. Perhaps I should remove the fruit from one, and let the other one go? But which one?

And then what should I do about the meyer and lime? Is it correct to assume that the first year you get fruits, you should remove them?

Featured Answer

johnmerr

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

The Meyer just needs time to adjust to the new light conditions; you should probably thin out the majority of fruits in the first year; after that you can pretty much leave it alone. The kumquats will self thin... just leave them alone and enjoy the fruit.

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Comments (6)

Silica
8 years ago
If you want to know how old your trees are call your supplier and ask. Or you can cut your trees down and count the bark growth rings.
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hibiscus909
Original Author
8 years ago
My two nagamis that came from the same local souce (a month apart) have gone different paths.

Nagami B has about 10 fruits , and most of them have turned orange. I don't think I've had any drop.

Nagami A has about 30 fruits, and they are small and green, still. The other issue is that part of the plant has had droopy leaves for a while. I'd say about 30% of the plant droops.

Watering doesn't resolve it.

I pulled the plant out to check the roots. There were lots of broken roots in the bottom of the pot, I'm not sure if they broke off when I was trying to pull the plant out, but my guess is no. The rootball seemed OK (nothing black/brown/mushy). I can't say there was much in the way of fresh new roots. I gave them a sprinkle of macroalgae, and back into the pot.

So I am left wondering why these fruits are not maturing, and why only part of the leaves are droopy. This plant has the occasional leaf start to turn brown and drop off, although it is not always one of the droopy leaves, interestingly enough.

Considering how the one nagami (fewer fruits) has filled out and turned orange, shouldn't the other plant be about the same? Both of these plants are in 5-1-1, btw, and this is my first season using it.
johnmerr
8 years ago
Different cultivars often have different habits. They may be the same age; but they may not be genetically identical; for example the budwood may have come from different age trees. Try not to stress over them; leave them alone and enjoy how they grow.
hibiscus909
Original Author
8 years ago
Very good point.

It did make me revisit the idea of thinning, tho. Perhaps the plant with 30 immature fruits would benefit from fruit reduction? It also has the issue of droopy leaves, so either the leaves and/or roots are not working as well as they should?
johnmerr
8 years ago
I can find no evidence that you ever need to thin kumquats. Leave them alone and see what happens; and maybe then you will be smarter than all of us.... or maybe just more experienced. I have several kumquats and they have fruit year round in this climate; and I have never thinned them.... pomelos and sometimes grapefruits that are just too heavy for the young tree; but that is not an issue with calamondin or kumquat.