It will probably get another flush. Any picture?

Steve

Picture would be great. We are big picture buffs here)

I will upload a picture of my trees once I get home. i have been monitoring watering needs with the wooden dowel trick, and have them planted in 5-1-1 soil many had recommended. This meant watering up to every other day for the last two weeks with the weather as hot as it is, but iI brought them inside today since we have a good chance of 30-40 mph wind gusts most of the next several days. i also have foliage pro but have only been fertilizing every 3 weeks or so since the plants were younger and didn’t want to risk root burn.

Bob, if you gave your tree Foliage Pro at every watering in a weaker dose, they would thrive. The chances of root burn are non existent with the 5.1.1 mix at that rate. Even a teaspoon a week is good. NO worries about soluble salts in the 5.1.1 mix)

Ads for wind, why not set the pot in between bricks or in a place where it will no blow over, a sheltered spot? That is what I do. I recon they are in plastic pots? Why not set them into clay bigger pots for weight?

I am with Steve, another one if you feed the way you are suppose to. But why would you loose a flush? The rain would do wonders and the heat would make them grow like weeds.

Mike (or anyone else who uses it), how much Foliage-Pro do you apply at each watering? I've seen a lot of different numbers but they mostly seem to be between 1/4 - 1/2 tsp/gal. I use a pipette to dose it at 2 mL/gal which is somewhere in the middle (1 tsp is 5 mL), works well but I've never tried anything else for comparison.

Edit: Mike's making it look like I can't read by editing his post to include the amount while I was still writing mine 😆

That makes sense. I like the idea of having a consistent concentration every time you water because I feel like if the nutrients are highly soluble the concentration in the soil would drop too much giving it plain water. I'm growing indoors though, which means I have the ability to control every drop of water that touches the pot while outdoor growers have rain to contend with anyways.

So far I'm still mixing everything all at once and using the same concentration for all of my plants. I'd like to start optimizing that more but need to come up with a way to do it that doesn't make a ton more work for myself. Surprisingly though, everything from aloe to peppers to cannabis has been more than happy getting the exact same water.

Mike, do you have a tds meter? I'm curious as to what ppm your nutrient solution is at. I use peters 25-5-15 and try to mix it around 900 ppm for my weekly feedings. Was curious if your foliage-pro was around the same concentration. I use a heaping tablespoon in my 2 gallon watering can.

900 ppm is too much per application. Should be around 300 PPM

Ken, I'm mixing a new batch now and taking some readings at different concentrations for you and for my own reference.

1 gal filtered water: 36 ppm
1.25 mL F-P (1/4 tsp): 116 ppm
2 mL F-P: 182 ppm
2.5 mL F-P (1/2 tsp): 222 ppm

Silica, do you have a source for the 300 ppm number? If that's right it may be worth experimenting with slightly higher amounts.

300 ppm seems very low. Heavy feeding plants being grown hydroponically can handle being flooded daily at rates of 1200 ppm. I've been feeding my container citrus for years at 900 ppm and none show any signs of fertilizer burn. In summer they normally get watered 2 other times during the week so salts are flushed right out.

Ken, with your system of applying large amounts of fertilizer, then flushing the fertilizer out, you are wasting your fertilizer.

Peters 25-5-15 bag recommends for woody perennials (Citrus) fertilization rates for periodic fertilizing should be in the 200-375 ppm range. 1 tsp per gallon will give 275 ppm. I tbsp. of 25-5-15

Meyer lemon is the tall spindly one, came that tall with only 3 branches and about 7 leaves in the mail. suffice to say I wasn’t very impressed. The yellowing leaves are all the original leaves, with the new ones nice and green. There were two more flushes of growth, just tiny buds of new leaves on the bare branch that started growing then turned yellow and fell off while in the sun, had assumed it was just too hot for the newest growth.

Mike and ken, glad to hear that your plants can really tolerate a good amount of fertilizer! i know citrus are pretty heavy feeders, but compared to my orchids which need 1/4 strength fertilizer every other watering, it sounds like I could up my fertilizing a bit to see if that helps growth further!

Have others had multiple flushes of growth a growing season on their citrus? I guess that would be a better way to rephrase my original question.

And silica, i I have been reading a bit about Jack’s 25-5-15, and know in the past there was some concern about the lack of calcium in it. Foliage pro seems to be the standard, and i have osmocote as well, but the cost difference between the two seems pretty impressive. Has it worked well for you?

Bob, I generally get 5-6 growth flushes in a growing season.

That’s fantastic Ken! What I wanted to hear.

Bob, like Ken's, mine too. I actually get blossoms several times of the year and fruiting non stop along with many flushes. Active trees I would say))

To obtain 5 flushes per year on a citrus tree, all one needs to do is keep the tree's roots and scion at 80F and provide the needed nutrition.

Bob, you get plenty enough calcium from your water supply, You certainly don't need to concern yourself about calcium.

80 degrees is not needed, I get flushes over the winter and I keep my trees at 65F during winter.

You won't get 5 flushes at 65F

No, it's much warmer outside over the summer, but from October thru April my trees stay at 65F and still bloom and flush.

Thank you all for the input and advice! i will keep my trees inside this weekend away from the storms, and then get them outside in some more sunlight and wait for the next flush! I will also start fertilizing a bit more frequently with foliage pro at least until iI run out. i I use jacks 20-20-20 for my orchids and really like it, so i may switch over to Jack’s25-5-15 for citrus at some time.