IF YOU HAD TO buy your fertilizer from the big orange box store what would you buy?

Economics are forcing me that way. I don't mind buying several different items to achieve a better fertilizer program. If it matters I also have about fifty blueberries that I need to fertilze too.

From Home Depot

Vigoro 40 lb. Citrus & Avocado Plant Food
Model # 160125
Store SKU # 740055
$16.98 /EA-Each

It gave me large oranges last year. I give small amounts monthly instead of giving a lot once in 3 months. I even spread this under my blackberries.

Thanks Avocado

I like the idea of monthly feedings. HD is only a few blocks away and with money being tight I'm looking for good deals. I have small fruit on some of my citrus now but I'm sure they willl not stay since I just planted them this year.

All of the fertilizers previously recommended, and all of the fertilizers that will be recommended after this post will, no doubt, be beneficial to your trees. After making that statement, if I lived in Florida, and my trees were planted in the ground the sandy ground of Florida, I would purchase what most all the commercial citrus growers in Florida use, and is also the same fertilizer formulations that are recommended to apply on Florida citrus by the Univ. of Florida/Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). These formulations are either 6-6-6 or 8-8-8 which are used for trees 3 years old or younger, and 6-6-6, 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 for trees 4 years or older. Generally inexpensive fertilizer formulations. In ground citrus trees in Florida really don't care much what they are fed. If your interested you can purchase the Univ. of Florida /IFAS's 40-page booklet with the title - "FLORIDA YOUR DOORYARD CITRUS GUIDE." written by Jim Ferguson.

You can get the booklet from:

IFAS-Extension Bookstore,
Univ. of Florida/IFAS Communication Services,
PO Box 110011
Gainesville, Florida 32611-0011

Or by calling 352-392-2411

Best to you and your trees, whatever cultivation methods you you,
Millet (602-)

I recommend Vigoro as well. Get the biggest bag in the store. It will work for all acid loving edible plants (like blueberries etc) as well. I only feed once every 3 months.

+1 for Vigoro (do they sell anything else at HD?) I've been working through a large bag for several years. Here in S. AZ the local wisdum is to fertilize on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Labor Day. I've followed this and always done all right. I am trying out "Arizona's Best" Citrus Food this year - it is supposed to be formulated for our alkaline, hard soils. All the special citrus blends have additional trace elements for various purposes.

As Millet said, as long as you are fertilizing with something appropriate, you'll probably be all right - your trees will let you know.

I'd consider Miracid (30-10-10) for both the citrus and blueberries. Esp if the BB are in-ground. Not perfect, but simple and cheap.

Since it's mentioned, I've used Vigoro for quite a while but I noticed my HD started carrying a different formulation like two years ago. They are both named "VIGORO CITRUS & AVOCADO PLANT FOOD PLUS MINORS" but one is 12-5-8 and the other is 6-4-6.

Just FYI: The 12-5-8 had like 50% more Sulfur than the 6-4-6. But applying the 6-4-6 yields a much, much higher ppm of the Metal micros like Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, and Zinc. Neither product has calcium if I remember correctly.

In my area in Central Valley, CA with low rain & clay, the P & K don't leach out like a sandy soil would. Supposedly our soil contains plenty of P and Zinc. If I were to buy the 6-4-6 I would use half the amount and half a dose of Ammonium Sulfate 21-0-0 (very cheap) which would help lower the soil pH a bit, also. Composted Steer Manure (weed free) is $1 in 1cf bags. Some of all three makes a good partnership IMO being very cheap and all at big-box stores. There is another solution preached, not often mentioned in the citrus forums, that is to go nearly all organic using products that build up soil microbes vs. "killing them off" with the synthetics. But that involves a heavy up-front cost of soil additives and a ton of natural mulch (some say it's cost effective WAY down-the-road) but that doesn't fit into your requirement of cheap now.

You may already know this, but I see this question come up a lot and the answers are always conflicting "use balanced " or "high N" are the two sides. The home gardener folks outside the industry don't realize that's due to the differing soil & climate conditions of Florida vs. CA that I've seen Millet & Manners explain many times.

If you're in a sandy FL soil than Millet's advice hits perfectly, esp that Dooryard Citrus guide. Unless it's a different one, you can download it for free at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_guide_your_florida_dooryard_citrus_guide.

Hope it helps.

I ended up with the Vigoro 6-4-6. I can't say that it has done any good nor can I say that it hasn't done any good. What I can say is that all my plants look fairly well to me and are growing nicely with many sending up shoots from the trunk above the graft point. I am trying to decide what to do with them. I think I will post a new topic with the question so as to expose it to everyone and to stay on topic here.