My Edible Fruit Trees: Citrus Trees

Bush Lemon Tree (Seedling) ^1/10

Comments: -

Tried but DIED.

I still don't know what happened to my wee bahbee Bush Lemon. After my disappointment in my Finger Lime, a friend told me I had tried the wrong native citrus, and Bush Lemon was the way to go- like a normal lemon, but hardier in our heat.

It struggled from day one, and hated every single spot I put it in. Hated full sun, hated part sun, hated shade. Hated lots of water, hated barely moist, hated dry. Damn thing lasted a few months as a sickly looking thing, and then as soon as summer rolled around it just... died? Straight to dropping every leaf and becoming a dead stick.

I've since planted a few natives into the garden, and having learnt what I have about our natives and their soil needs, I'm actually wondering if my soil was too rich. I'd really like to try Bush Lemon again, but perhaps in the ground, and with minimal soil amendments. Maybe some more research is required?

Made me sad to lose this one. I plan to try again some day.

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: No

Finger Lime - Grafted (Grafted) ^9/10

Comments: -

2018: I bloody hate this thing, and if it wasn't a gift with a story, I would let the bloody thing die.

I was told this was the citrus to grow in Australia, as it is hardier than most introduced species and likes our heat better, and to that, I call horse sh*t. This thing is the fussiest, sulkiest, most ridiculous WASTE OF TIME of a tree.

It becomes infested with aphids or mites at the blink of an eye, collapses at the very first sign of heat, and is very prone to root rot in winter (root rot in Brisbane- what?). It dies right back through summer, then starts to grow in Autumn, will be coming along nicely, and then BAM, root rot. I've started to get the feel for when to stop watering it, but ugh, it's a stupid fussy thing that I would dearly like to take the choppers to. 

Never had fruit, it's a pitiful little thing that never gets any bigger, even in my most shaded spot (only 5 hours sun a day in summer!), with the pot itself protected from direct light, thick mulch, good soil, a nice bucket of water- it HATES Brisbane heat. It is most definitely a rainforest understory tree from NSW. My dry humidity is no good.

It does, however, like to be underplanted, and that does help with keeping the surrounding soil moist and free of ants, and stops its roots rotting- the other plants suck up the moisture, I suppose.

The only reason I have persisted with this stupid thing is that the thorny bush sits in front of an unused sliding door, and to move it means risking the massive thorns. I've never been scratched, but every single tradie that has come to do things at our house has been scratched like crazy, so I call it my living security screen. 

2016: Mine is on a rootstock Cox. Recieved as a gift Christmas 2015, didn't repot until January 2016. Seemed fine sitting in the pot it came in, but absolutely exploded with growth once I got it into the new pot- which I am still not sure if that was the size of the container it is now in (70 L) or what it was potted into. I used cheapy bunnings compost, cow poo, a block of coir soaked in seasol and mollasses, a hand full of dynamic lifter, and a smidge of lime. I'm told they don't like very rich soil, but mine has thrived in the mix.

Another thing I have found is that despite everything saying full sun for these guys, mine did NOT like the full sun in my hot, concreted suburban backyard. Instead, I have moved it to a spot that only gets perhaps two to three hours of morning summer sun before it is in shade by 11, and it did a whole lot better there. The sun was scorching the new growth right off, and the leaves were all turning yellow. It is happy and bushy now in more shade, even with very little sun in the midst of winter at the moment. I have it underplanted with an english spinach plant, bok choy, a whole whack of johnny jump-ups, and a succulent as living mulch, and there is a butter bean vine planted in the back of the pot, and it seems to tolerate living with these really well. There is a Salvia in there as well, but it is not doing great in so much shade, so I shall be digging that out soon.

It IS a very spiky plant, though I have never been scratched by it. A little care is needed, but my kids know to be careful, and nobody has been bitten yet!! I have it placed by my front gate, in front of my glass sliding door. We don't use the door as a door, so it is a good security measure, lols.

My biggest problem with the Finger Lime has been ants and APHIDS. The ants persist in wanting to nest underneath the Finger Lime, so I have to flood the pot every few weeks to drive them out again. This has become less of an issue since I underplanted the tree with flowers, etc, as I think the additional root systems around the edge of the pot are keeping the soil more moist than they like. I shall see how this progresses. But they do herd the bloody APHIDS around the tree. Despite wanting to keep my yard as chemical free as possible, I have had to resort to chem aids to rid my poor Lime of the aphids. They tuck into the delicate new growth where I cannot reach them, and so I have had to spray every two-three days for the last four weeks to rid myself of them. The ants will herd them to unsprayed foliage, as well, so you must spray the entire plant if you have aphids, or they will simply reappear elsewhere a few days later. Very annoying.

I was told that I would not get fruit until the tree was at LEAST three years old, but many others seem to have fruit much earlier than that, so I shall see this summer, I suppose.

Planted: 2016

Height 1.5 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Low Sun

Water Given in: Spring

When I Fertilise: Spring

Dwarf Lemon - Meyer (Seedling) ^8/10

Comments: -

Mine is the 'Lots of Lemons', which I believe is a Meyer variety. Not grafted.

This, with my Tahitan Lime, were Christmas gifts 2014. These poor citrus. Goodness me, they have been through a lot.

For some reason that escapes me, I repotted the Lime, and not the Lemon, and it sat in it's original 25L pot for months in my yard- poor thing. I know I fertilised it, but it never occured to me to repot it. It set flowers the first month, and I had one fruit come in nicely (the possums ate the other flowers and have since not touched them. They prefer everything else in my yard) and then three more fruit a month or two later. I hadn't been told yet to pinch out the fruit the first year to help promote growth of the tree, so I let the fruit grow.

The first lemon was delicious. I have never had such a lovely lemon. You could smell them a few metres away while they were on the tree! Lovely! Seven months for the fruit to be ready, but it was delicious!

Sadly, hubby had borrowed one of my hoses for something, and when he replaced them, the sprinkler was moved, and I wasn't aware. So when I was setting the timer on the sprinklers every morning before running off to school, I never noticed that the lemon was now not getting even a speck of the water, and in the heat we had, it dropped all the developing fruit before I had caught on. It looked dreadful, and I pruned it and moved it, and watered it.

And then had aphids, citrus gall wasp, giant brown caterpillars, leaf miner, and citrus swallowtail catterpillars absolutely decimate the poor thing. Fruit flies everywhere! They were breeding in the soil beneath the tree, even!

I should have just let it die, but I didn't. It went into a huge pot with chook poo and compost and coir soaked in mollasses and seasol, some dynamic lifter pellets and some blood and bone, and some lime. I trimmed off all the galls and anything really dead, and underplanted it with garlic, garlic chives, and marigolds. It has a few lettuce seedlings, and even a few carrots towards the edges now. At first it looked woeful, a stick about 30cm tall with a few leaves on. But it has put on so much new growth since, and in the last six months has reached a half a metre, not much, but more wide than tall now, and very bushy and glossy. No more pests, and it looks healthy. We shall see. 

Mid winter 2016 now, and it looks lovely, even though it gets very little sun with the stupid weather we are having. Everything in the pot is doing well, and I occasionally throw on a few dynamic lifter pellets, and a cupful of fishy pond water or two. I will be guarding against the pests with great prejudice this year, and setting yellow sticky traps to catch as much as possible. This tree will live, so help me it will!

Height 0.5 metres

Growing: In a Pot

First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Dwarf Lime - Tahitian (Grafted) ^8/10

Comments: -

I recieved my Tahitian Lime and my Lots-of-Lemons as Christmas gifts in 2014. And wow, these things have been put through the ringer.

Any pest capable of getting something from a citrus, has attacked my babies. ARGH!

This was repotted into a large 70 L tub, with Osmocote citrus soil, cheapy bunnings compost, coir soaked in seasol and mollasses, chook manure, dynamic lifter pellets, and some lime. I think I threw in some blood and bone as well. Plant did well in the mix, and bushed out quickly, and set dozens of flowers in the first month.

Which the possums quickly ate. I mean it. Any time I get flowers, they eat the lot. Any that last long enough to turn into itty bitty fruit either get eaten, or knocked off in the possum's haste to eat all the flowers. I have tried covering with netting and weighting it down with bricks, and they shove the bricks away, and climb under!! So far, in two years, I have not had a single fruit. They also eat all the Lemonade flowers, as well as capsicum flowers, and all my strawberries. Dagnabbit.

Since then, I have had citrus miner, citrus gall wasp, giant brown caterpillars, citrus swallowtail butterfly catterpillars, fruit fly, aphids, you name it, they love it. The poor thing has hung on, and I am about to give it a bit of a hair cut, and move it to a better spot, since it is far enough around the back yard that it gets little attention. I think a season of being centre placed for me to baby it will do it good.

I remove most bugs by hand, so this one has never had sprays. I fertilise every other month with dynamic lifter pellets under the sugar cane mulch, and a good dose of seasol when I remember. It also seems to do well with some of the 'black marvel' rose fertiliser every once in a while. I plan to underplant with a few different herbs before spring to try and keep the bug population down, so we shall see how that goes. And yellow sticky cards, to trap any returning gall wasps I have missed!

I am attempting chicken wire cages to deter possums. Here's hoping for fruit Summer 2016!!!

Fruiting Months January, February, March, September, October, November, December

Planted: 2014

Height 1.5 metres

Growing: In a Pot

First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Orange - Mediterranean Sweet (Grafted)

Mandarin - Honey Murcott (Grafted)

Planted: 2018

Mandarin - Emperor (Grafted)

Lemon - Eureka (Grafted)

Apple - Coxs Orange Pippen (Grafted)

Planted: 2018

Mandarin - Imperial

Comments: - like all citrus fruits

Height 3 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pruned By: 5% in

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Orange - Washington Navel (Grafted) ^8/10

Planted: 2018

Height 0.5 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Low Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Lemon - Meyer

Comments: - great in cooking

Fruiting Months April

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 25 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Low Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Mandarin - Okitsu wase (Satsuma) (Grafted)

Comments: - Will update photo soon

Growing: In a Pot

Mandarin - Afourer Murcott (Grafted)

Comments: - Fruits bought from Woolworth are large 8cm, tastes very good.

Planted: 2018

Growing: In a Pot

Mandarin - Emperor (Grafted) ^8/10

Fruiting Months May, June, July

Planted: 2002

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Mandarin - Imperial (Grafted) ^7/10

Fruiting Months March, April, May

Planted: 2002

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Mandarin - Hickson (Grafted)

Comments: -  

Planted: 2018

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Dwarf Kumquat Meiwa (Grafted) ^6/10

Planted: 2017

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Kumquat - Nagami (Grafted) ^8/10

Planted: 2018

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Orange - Valencia (Grafted) ^7/10

Planted: 2016

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Lemon Grass (Cutting) ^9/10

Planted: 2016

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: No

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pummelo - Flicks Yellow (Grafted) ^8/10

Fruiting Months April, May, June, July

Planted: 2017

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Orange - Washington Navel (Grafted) ^8/10

Fruiting Months July, August, September, October

Planted: 2016

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Lemon - Eureka (Grafted) ^9/10

Fruiting Months May, June, July, August

Planted: 1998

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Orange - Lanes Late (Grafted) ^8/10

Fruiting Months April, May, June

Planted: 2016

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pummelo Tree - Nam Roi (Grafted) ^9/10

Planted: 2017

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Lemon Myrtle

Planted: 2008

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: OrgXtra

Pest Control: No sprays used.

Finger Lime (Seedling) ^8/10

Planted: 2014

Height 1.5 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Orange - Valencia Seedless (Grafted) ^8/10

Planted: 2008

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Pest Control: Pest Oil

Lemon Grass

Planted: 2016

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination