I have been growing citrus (Lemon, Lime & Satsuma) for a few years now, but with a few problems, most of which I seem to have resolved.
There is one thing that is bugging me a little & that is watering.
I think I have the frequency of watering sorted but it is the type of water.
I am a farmer and get very busy during the summer and so have most of my pots, including the citrus, on automatic water timers for most of the summer, but not the winter.
We are on a private water supply & the water comes straight from a borehole out of the chalk & so is very hard. All the soil in this area is Ph 8 and so the water is also PH 8.
The citrus are in an ericaceous compost with added grit on the recommendation of my local garden centre manager.
In the winter months I water using rain water and in the summer when feeding I also use rainwater, they are fed using a citrus feed.
My question is this, do I need to include a little sequestered iron and/or Epsom salts into the surface of the compost to counter the water hardness or is the ericaceous compost and watering with rainwater on occasion good enough?