Would one or more of you citrus guru's put an all things fertilizer guide up and sticky it? I have seen where it is sometimes best to fertilizer through foliage spray and other times watering the pot. How much water fertilizer is too much? Let us say I have a one gallon jug and I mix in the fertilizer, do I pour the whole jug of the mixture in one plant, pour it in multiple plants, only until water comes out of the bottom, etc... How often. Winter rates, etc

I guess just a good detailed all-in-one guide, in one spot, here and sticky please.



Thank you in advance for considering.

I don't know about making a sticky fertilizing procedure file, but I will offer some information. The following presumes your tree is in a good draining growth medium. When you water a containerized citrus tree (with or without fertilizer) , water the tree well, so that at least 10 percent of the applied water drains out the bottom of the container. When Citrus Joe and I visited with Dr. Kruger and and his grower at the Citrus Clonal Protection Program, at the University Of California, Riverside, CA (http://ccpp.ucr.edu/), they fertilize their container citrus at 300 PPM nitrogen, and they apply fertilizer every time they water their trees. I also fertilize my trees (100+trees) at 300 PPM nitrogen, and have done so for years, every time I water. I fertilize at this rate both summer and winter, as my trees are kept in a bright warm greenhouse year around. Personally, if I had a tree growing in an indoor residence during the winter, I would fertilize it at 1/2 strength (150 PPM) during the winter, if the tree was receiving good light through a south window, or sliding glass door. - Millet (1,395-)

I have read where you wrote this post before, but how do you get the 300PPM? I assume you are using something that you pour the fert into and the water mixes inline? Like a yard sprayer?

No, I dissolve 246 grams of 25-5-15 fertilizer which also contains trace minerals in a 55-gallon drum full of water (warm water in winter). Then I either submerge the smaller trees directly in the solution for 1-2 minutes, and pour the fertilizer solution into the containers of larger trees and the 5 trees that are planted in the ground. I could also make a fertilizer solution that is 16 times stronger, and use a 16:1 syphon attachment on the hose, but I rarely do that (although I own a 16:1 attachment. - Millet (1,395-)

With this barrel method, how long is the solution good for?

I actually have five 55-gallon barrels at convenient places around the greenhouse, so that I only carry the fertilizer solution just a few steps.. With a lid replaced on the drum the solution will last a good while. If the lid is not replaced, algae begins to grow on top of the liquid. With approximately 100 trees, plus all the other tropicals, the fertilizer solutions don't last all that long before I make up another batch. - Millet (1,394-)

I only have 6 citrus trees.

For small volumes, if you have a ml-scale measuring device and a way to measure liters, it's easy. Look at the N number on your fertilizer -- say you are using a 20% nitrogen material -- that is 200,000 ppm

If I want a 300 ppm solution, 300/200,000 = 0.0015

If I want to mix up a liter, that's 1000 ml of water, or 1000 grams of water. so 1000 x 0.0015 gives me 1.5 grams of the fertilizer per liter of finished solution.

For a gallon, use a bit less than 4 times that

There is still the problem of weighing gram quantities if you don't have a proper balance/scale. But if your box or bag of fertilizer weighs a certain number of grams, you could measure the volume there, and calculate the volume needed to represent that many grams. If you're off by a bit, it won't matter.

By definition 1-ml (gm) per liter equals 1 PPM.

The method that I generally use, to obtain the PPM that I want to achieve, I multiplying the percentage of nitrogen in the fertilizer that I have by 75. Then divide the above result into the desired PPM of nitrogen that I want. This gives the number of ounces of fertilizer that would be added to 100 gallons.

I can use 75 because, when 1 ounce (30 milliliters) of fertilizer when added to 100 gallons (387l) of water, this is equivalent to 75 ppm. Therefore, in using the number 75, it is possible to calculate ppm for any nutrient in the fertilizer. Although, several nutrients are available in a fertilizer, it is customary to use ppm of nitrogen, as the reference for the dosage concentration when fertilizing plants, including citrus trees - Millet (1,394-)

This is what I am currently using, but I have not been fertilizing 1 time per month, more like 1 time every 3 months. The only problem is there is not guide on the bottle for container trees. So I have always used a gallon jug and watered until water come out of the bottom.

http://www.ablackhorse.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=28923

> By definition 1-ml (mg) per liter equals 1 PPM.
1ml=1g, 1g/l=1000ppm.

Sylvan, your correct, thank you for pointing this out. - Millet (1,394-)

829, one application of an organic fish emulision every 3 months, the tree must be starving. - Millet (1,394-)

I understand that now. However, I also us Osmocote and Epsom salts.