Hello everyone,

About two weeks ago I received a 2-3 yr old Gold Nugget mandarin from Four Winds Growers and had some questions about it. Right out of the box many of the leaves were curling and yellowing with several leaves having lines chewed threw them.
















The second and fourth pictures show more of the top of the tree where most of chewing damage is occuring (brown areas). Another thing that seems odd to me is that some of the older, bigger leaves towards the bottom of the tree are curling in a different way and are rather mis shapened.

The tree is potted in a 4:1 CHC to peat moss medium that just a couple of days ago got a mild addition of slow release fertilizer and has been potted for about two weeks now. I have sprayed it twice now w/ "Safer Garden Spray 3 in 1 (insects, mites, fungus)" about a week apart a piece (at sunset). I live 25 miles west of Chicago, IL, home of crooked politicians, Chicago Fire soccer, Derrick Rose, and the soon to be great youngins on the Blackhawks.

Any ideas or suggestions? I'm sure I'm leaving out key information so just feel free to ask and I'll provide it!

Thanks for everyones time and thoughts,
Joe

Actually, for a tree shipped across the country, your tree looks to be in decent shape. The tree was shipped bare root, and some leaf curl is to be expected, but the curl on your tree seems quite normal. The one leaf has not been chewed, just damaged in shipment. Be sure to keep the medium moist, until the root system develops new feeder roots (it is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to over water a 4:1 CHC medium). Also insure that your fertilizer contains trace minerals. All in all I would say Four Winds Growers has sent you a nice tree. - Millet (1,310-)

Thanks Millet I was figuring I might be overworrying. I contacted the people at Four Winds also and they were nothing short of extremely helpful! I hate to use this time to plug Four Winds Growers but they really have customer service down to a science and if you think the GNM looked good I should post some pics of the Eureka lemon they sent me, it is prolific to say the least!

As for watering I have just been a little bit worried lately because the weather has been so crummy here the past few weeks (60s, cloudy and rainy almost every day) and even though they are all protected from direct rain by an overhang above my balcony they have been getting alot of water lately. Also, I have been using Dynamite All Purpose with micros 18-6-8 and have used some seaweed fert w/ watering ever few weeks. I would love some suggestions for another good water soluable fert to use mainly (then only using the seaweed fert every month or two).

Thanks again!
Joe

With a 4:1 CHC peat moss medium, you could water your trees 10 times a day without any worries of over watering. Remember, it is NOT the amount of water that causes damage to a tree's root system, it is the lack of oxygen in the root zone, that causes all the problems. Over watering becomes a problem, when a citrus tree's root system is growing in an older medium that has compacted to the point of having reduced air porosity, or even a new medium, that does not have adequate drainage and soil aeration. When such a medium is watered, the water fills all of the remaining air pockets driving out the oxygen, and the lack of air remains for a longer and longer period of time depending of the tightness of the medium, and therefore, the tree suffers or dies from lack of oxygen (root suffocation). A 4:1 CHC/peat medium has an abundance of available medium oxygen, even seconds after a complete and heavy watering. Actually, if there is a watering danger with a CHC/peat medium, it would be under watering, because of the fast pass through of the irrigation water. The pass through can be so fast, that the chips do not have enough time to absorb the liquid. Many times, I set my CHC trees in a larger container and let the root system soak for a couple minutes (you could soak the tree for a much longer period of time if you wish.) Further, I fertilize my trees with every watering at 300 PPM, as does the Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP) at the University of California at Riverside. This is not a problem with CHC, however I might not fertilize a "traditional" medium as often, depending on several contitions that could be present with such a mediums. The very best of luck to you and your tree. - Millet (1,308-)