hi everyone .
i have two citrus foods ,but don`t know which one to use.

1 Citrus tree food for summer.


2 Citrus food concentrated.


Pic`s of my lemon trees


coming up to 3 years old


coming up to 2 years old.

btw today it was quite sunny about 22C , and one of the leavers turned white .did the sun burn it ?

thanks for the help

The white leaf is from sunburn. You have to acclimate plants to direct sunllight..starting in outside shade.
Can't read the labels but a good fert is a ratio of 5-1-3 (25-5-15) or close to it, with micro nutrients. Some people have good luck with azalea food.

Myself, I would not use any of those fertilizers. They are actually citrus fertilizers intended for trees growing outside in the ground. For trees planted in the ground, the actual fertilizer that you use is really not all the critical. If I ABSOLUTELY HAD to choose one of the two formulas that you listed I would take the 5-7-7. The summer formula has a very high phosphorus content in relation to the nitrogen, and a very low potassium content in relation to the nitrogen. Also, most of the nitrogen in the summer formula is from Urea, which I really don't like. The formulation of a fertilizer when used to feed a CONTAINERIZED citrus tree, is much more critical than when used to fertilize a tree growing outside in the soil. Know that citrus trees ALWAYS, ALWAYS absorbs fertilizer nutrients in the ratio of 5-1-3 ALWAYS!! In otherwords, for every 5 parts of nitrogen absorbed by the tree's root system, the tree will always take up only 1 part of phosphorus, and then 3 parts of potassium. For CONTAINERIZED trees, this ratio must be respected as close as possible. Lastly, for trees as small as yours, I would also only fertilize at 1/2 the recommended rate untill they get a little more size to them. - Millet

Millet,

Does the 5-1-3 ratio hold for foliar feeding as well? Been meaning to ask you this for a while.

Kent

I haven't found any sound scientific reasons or articles as to why the ratio 5-1-3 is all encompassing but would go for it based on experience of Millet alone. Our scientific understanding is not robust.

Different cultivars require different nutrition, some would be more leafy, have different dry matter analysis. Different stages of plants require different nutrition, like vegetative juvenile versus blooming or fruit production, certainly would require different nutrients to build up different plant parts, after all, composition of flowers or fruits are dramatically different than the leaves or roots. Different environment and rootstocks can influence as well. Even the soils, some of which will absorb more P than K tying them up and becoming unavailable unless you apply more.

Even if you get the correct 5-1-3 ratio, chances are, not all of the nutrients will be available for that citrus plant at that ratio. Also the effect of time. It may not be necessary for the plants to have an uptake of 5-1-3 all the time, it could take more N at certain point, then more of K depending on seasonal availability and so forth with P so that in the whole season, we have averaged out to 5-1-3 ratio which means that we may not need to place a 5-1-3 all the time as long as the overall would have averaged to 5-1-3 at least on a monthly basis.

We usually should put back only what we have taken out. If we harvest the fruits and account for the leaves that have fallen and the nutrient ratio is 5-1-3 then we should put back 5-1-3. Different cultivars have different nutritional analysis which put us back to which affect which. Did the fertilizer affect the leaf tissue and fruit nutrition analysis and so it became 5-1-3 or was it 5-1-3 regardless of fertilizer that is why we have to put back 5-1-3? And definitely not all cultivars are 5-1-3 nutritional ratio. My problems would be confounded 45 times over, now that I have a 45-in-1 citrus tree, LOL!

Some nutrients can be applied in excess ratio as long as you stay below toxicity levels at given soil or potting media conditions. Plants know how to selectively utilize different available nutrients up to a certain point, giving you some flexibility with your estimates or errors or some leeway.

The most problematic when it comes to inaccuracies are the minor but essential nutrients, it would seem that there is a very large leeway or variance in the value of presence of minors, not necessarily to be nailed down at exact ratios.

But with all these whining about our own lack of knowledge, iId go with Millet's proven experience of being close to 5-1-3 ratio.

Hi Joe, I must agree with a lot of what you write in your thread. Like I said, for citrus trees growing in the soil (ground) outside in a yard, I do not think that citrus are really all that fussy about the fertilizer used. However, for trees in an enclosed environment such as a container, and to an extend for production trees in a commerical grove the fertilizer formulation becomes more important. As you state, the loss of minerals can vary greatly in relation to the amount of production, soil, climate and the agricultural practices used. An approximate estimation
of a yearly loss of the main elements per acre, in a mature orchard producing 12 tons of fruit, is as follows: N=160 lbs.; P205=30 lbs.; K20= 106 lbs. These are the amounts of nutrients per acre that must be replaced by yearly fertilizing where there is a satisfactory presence of elements in the leaves. Fertilizing should respect this ratio when the tree's mineral content is satisfactory. Obviously, in cases of overdosage or deficiency of one or more elements this ratio must be changed to a more approprite one. The replacing element ratio depends on SOIL and CLIMATE. However for trees growing in a soilless or mostly soilless constant medium in a container, the conditions do not change as for trees growing in the ground. A good book that discusses the fertilizer ratio requirements of citrus can be found in the 642 page book titled simply "Citrus" also subtitled "The Genus Citrus" by Giovanni Dugo and Angelo Di Giacomo. Their work is quite scholarly, and can become rather difficult reading in some sections. Take care. - Millet

hi everyone thanks for all the replies.
The citrus concentrated food says it`s for a citrus plant not a tree.
it say`s on the back,
dissolve 5ml in one litre of lukewarm water,every 2 weeks.
cut the dose in half during winter time.
is this ok or is it too much?

it is very hard to find good citrus food in the UK,only a few here and there.

i went to a few nurserys yesterday, and saw a few trees .
A 4 ft tree was £35, 6 ft was £50 .
if i buy the 4 ft one , how many years will it take to reach 6 ft ?

Thanks everyone and keep up the good work
Without you guy`s i would be lost.

Sonoma, your foliar feeding question is a good qustion, I don't know the answer to that. - Millet

Hi Lulu

I saw the trees in Cuffley ,past Enfield
i saw the 6 ft one for £50 ,not a bad price. on the net they go for over a hundred. got my 5-5-7 fert from B&Q
My mate went to Columbia Road on sunday , and saw loads of them there.

Do you know if the Columbia Road ones were as well priced? As for Enfield that should be ok to get to, not sure how I would get a large tree home but I'd like to have a look....if I get to Cuffley where will I find the citrus trees?!!!!

I just think this is great that 2 people from Uk can comunicate here .

Hi Lulu . i think they are the same price at Columbia Road and in Cuffley.
The nurserys in Cuffley, i don`t know what the name of the road . best to go there and ask people where the big nurserys are.

Thank you Eddie, I might drive up tomorrow and have a look, its not really that far at all.

Hii am from the uk born but live in auckland new zealand. i bought the
global citrus food for summer and winter.seems to be working well for
me.i am using the winter food.i also bought their book and had a good
read of that. from what they say,they put more emphasis on the minor
trace elements.they are essential for good fruit production.they need the 7
minor nutrients and quite often ferts dont contain them in enough quantities.
especially magnesium.
I bought some citrus fert the other day for citrus in the ground and it
has a balanced npk with added magnesium but no trace elements.
The global oranges formula is producing results for me and i think its
because it contains all trace elements at high strength.
winter formula= 20/20/20
summer= 24/14/14
Itsalso very hard to find a fert that is high in nitrogen but not high in urea,
which millet says is not suitable for citrus.
I found an organic one based on seaweed and humus which is perfect
=10/4/6 plus trace elements but you will need to feed it more because
of the lower figures.cheers
p.s my 10 month old boy has been driving me nuts while i have been
writing this thread,there is nothing he wont put in his mouth!!!