Citrus fruit drop (forum)

Wayne starts with ...
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2589166.htm

Hello all
Over time we have had discussions about premature fruit drop but I don't recollect anyone coming up with this solution.

"Plant nutrients don't get lost from the soil just because plants take them up. In heavy rain like this and sandy soils, the nutrients leech through. And in clay soils, heavy rain like this washes them away so in sandy and clay soils, it's not a bad idea to use folia fertilisers if you get a lot of rain.

And now for the trace elements. You know, they're the ones that the plants only need a tiny bit of. And citrus trees need a tiny bit of the trace element boron. When boron is deficient, you get premature fruit drop. When the fruit's only tiny, it'll drop to the ground. A sprinkling of trace element mixture around the base of the tree, because that contains boron, will fix it."

I thought this was interesting as I have had this problem in my sandy soil and more or less just watched as the young fruit dropped.

Now for the bad news about Boron/Borax, you can over do it.

"

Time: 13th June 2009 3:01pm

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About the Author Wayne
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Steve says...
From my experience, fruit drop is a sign the tree is under stress of some sort, usually too wet or too dry, otherwise it could be fertiliser ie too much or too little, or locked up chemical elements/imbalance etc that only a soil sample will show up.
Some dropping of small fruit is normal as the tree usually produces more fruit than it can support & will discard the excess.
Fruit quality can be improved by reducing the yield of developing fruit by, say 20-30% thus allowing the tree to put more of its energy into a smaller crop.


Time: 13th June 2009 6:39pm

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About the Author Steve
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Jimmy says...
www.agric.wa.gov.au search for cirtus drop, excellent fact sheet avaialble.

Time: 15th June 2009 2:36pm

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