Fertilizing Citrus

Just before spring is the perfect time to fertilize citrus trees.

According to Tom McCubbin, it should be repeated

in June and early October.

 

Ours is an established tree, as we've had it at least 4 years or so.

It recently got a much needed pruning.

 Measure the trunk of the tree

6 inches from the ground

and use 1/2 a pound of fertilizer per inch of circumference.

The whole bag will be needed.

This is citrus fertilizer that I got locally.

The bonus is that I used it on our avocado trees as well.

It was scattered around the tree past the drip line,

then watered in.

This was the first year we had lemons.

I did fertilize last year, but I think I only remembered to do it once.

Although the fruit got softball-sized in some cases,

 it was dry.

This is how the tree looks now

and I don't recall ever seeing so many blossoms.

I'll have to research more about the black spots I noticed.

Maybe next year's harvest will be more successful.

The fragrance alone is worth growing these,

if they are native to your area.

Lemonade, anyone?