Those are definitely buds! Congratulations!

Both! That’s fantastic KC! Congratulations on your budding orange tree. I agree the rain has been much needed. Palm Springs got 3.7” of rain in one day, it was the third highest rainfall day in history for the area and 3/4 of our annual rainfall. I’m looking forward to our potential wildflower super bloom this year.

Yippee congratulations they are definitely flower buds with new growth, fantastic flush of growth going on . Enjoy all that liquid gold pouring out of the sky !!!!

Brian

Woohoo! I guess I need to buy What to expect when you're expecting for oranges! With such a profusion of little buds, I'll prepare to lose more than half the blossoms!

Mike, yes, it really was down to regular fertilizing! All credit goes to the more experienced growers here who walked me through it all and put up with all my questions!!!

Thans, Laura and Evan! Evan, yes on the wildflowers! We should get a heck of a display soon!

Brian, free water from the sky, what's not to like! And it works all the fertilizer in, washes the gunk out of the air and of the leaves...I could get used to this!

Off to gloat over the tree and whisper encouragements to it!

KC

Those oranges are going to be delicious! Post pictures of them as they grow!

Amanda, you betcha! Just stop me if I start getting I'm two months old stickers from Etsy!! I went out to throw my veggie scraps into the compost and went the long way round via the orange tree :)

KC

Congrats on your flowers-to-be and also congrats to folks in CA for finally getting some consistent rain. This IS supposed to be your "rainy season" and sadly, the natural seasonal progression has been severely disrupted over the past decade or so.

Here on the east coast in my area, it has been raining (with maybe a handful of weeks that were dry and a few with snow/sleet), every 3 - 4 days for almost a year straight, so glad the pineapple express is giving you some (although that stuff eventually gets shunted this way too...lol).

And yes, the plants love that rain water (thanks to some of the dissolved nitrogen in it). This past late fall, I started collecting and storing small amounts of rainwater (no room for any big honkin' rain barrels) in a 5 & a 6 gallon jug, plus some 1 gallon jugs, and have been interspersing plant watering with that and tap water when I can.

Look forward to seeing the pics when they are flowering!!!

Jenny, hello! You are so right. Those storms eventually get here and it's snow for me at midnight tonight and all day tomorrw. That is such great new for Califorinia though. It's about time there is a big dent in their drought. Maybe the spder mites they have all been dealing with and the sap sucking bugs can finally take a break. The onlt down side is that is snowed in Hawaii..lol

Kcandmilo, have they opened up yet? Have they? Ha. Can't wait to see them do so. I knew you were fertilizing more. Like us, they alays need a steady diet! You are doing a great job and reaping the harvest of your had work)

Brian, I love that, "the liguid gold from the sky". For that area, it sure is! It's probably the same for us although common because of whatever nutrients it holds. When it rains here, it seems all my plants outside are injected with steroids buddy. Hugs hugs

kc, what did you do that was different than before just so others may learn from your experiences.

Denise, the back story is that we moved into a house that had been used as the storage and construction debris site for the 4 houses built on my cul-de-sac. I got to start a garden from scratch, and planted all my citrus about 5 years ago. The trees did nothing for the first 3 years, and in my inexperience, I posted here asking if there were such things as sterile trees and if I should pull them out and start over. Because I lived in a house before that had over-productive citrus that I had neither watered nor fed for over 15 years, I assumed somehow, that citrus didn't need much care. (I had two giant 40 year old orange trees, and two lemons that were pruned by my mow and blow gardener into lollipops every year, and they were so overburdened with fruit, I had to put up free, help yourself signs under them!)

So many people I couldn't even begin to name walked me through how I needed to fertilize my citrus, and so I followed all their advice :)

I did a solution of Jack's professional once a month, scattered Espoma citrus tone around the roots twice a year, and sprinkled ammonium sulfate around two weeks after the Jack's. I haven't done anything since i stopped fertilizing around late October or November, although I did put some leftover alfalfa meal around the roots a few weeks ago. (I may even have used up a bottle of Foliate Pro and something else along the way the first year!)

I suspect the plants were so starved they ate it all up, and I fully expect someone to chip in and say I need to ease back a little now that the trees are more mature. Yes?

KC

I do think that what really kickstarted the trees was the AS. That was a dramatic difference and I got my first flush after that, and posted here in a panic asking what all the light green needles on my trees were!

KC

Kcandmilo, that's exactly what I do when it rians come spring. When It pouring out unexpectedly, you should see me running about the house trying to grab every houseplant I have to get them out there before the rain stops. Then when it's over, they all look so refreshed. Beautiful choice of plants.

Yes, acidifying your soil always makes a HUGE difference.

Mike, hahaha, I know just what you mean, and I one-upped you, buddy! My lil old neighbor was getting rid of her tea trolley, the kind with glass shelves and little metal handles! I brought it home, and now I walk around the house with the trolley like a butler in the old movies, collecting all my plants and taking them out or to the bath tub to water!!

Also here's my stupid question of the day: AS is acidic?

KC

You do have me one up !! lol. I can picture that. What a great idea though. It's so much easier than trying to squeeze several at once in your arms then tripping.lol

Here you go about the AS..

The primary use of ammonium sulfate is as a fertilizer for alkaline soils. In the soil the ammoniumion is released and forms a small amount of acid, lowering the pH balance of the soil, while contributing essential nitrogen for plant growth.

Congratulations KC!!! Very happy for you!

George, if you are following, how are you doing?

KC