I'm new to citrus growing, container or not. I love lemons, especially. Juicing for cooking or spritzing over veggies and the like, using the juice for baking and the zest as well.

I posted earlier about the lemon trees I bought this year. No response. Oh well. Thought I'd ask another question and see if anyone more experienced would be kind enough to offer some advice.

I was told at the nursery (been in business for 40 years) that citrus loves to be fed, but also not to overlook foliar feeding them. I have a 5-1-1 fertilizer that's said it's guaranteed not to burn. How often should I spray the plants?

I am told that at least once a month they should be fed via the soil. I have a fertilizer specifically for citrus for that.

I have two Meyer, one Eureka and one Sambo. The Sambo is the biggest, probably about 5 feet tall right now. I transplanted them all last weekend, and they are doing great. Not showing signs of any shock. They seem to love their new containers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am sure some people will reply to your qerry but let me put my 2 cents worth.
I would say read the label to your fertilizer. You can not go wrong following the manufacture's recommendation. That's what I always do with a twist.
If the recommendation says once a month, I do it twice a month but I cut the recommended dosage in half.
That way more nutrients can be absorbed by the plant because the fert can be leached out with your weekly watering.

If you search the forum for "Potassium Nitrate", you will find that a lot of people use it as a foliar spray on their citrus a couple of months beforet the tree blooms. I did it this year for the first time on my citrus trees look better than they ever had. I bought my KNO3 off of ebay. It's also known as "Salt Peter".

Phillip

There are some limitations to consider when applying foliar nutrient sprays. There is a limit as to how much the tree canopy can absorb. This implies that one application is not enough to provide all the nutrient needs for the tree. Pushing the limits may cause spray burns and loss of the foliage. This may be aggravated in that not all forms of nutrients can be readily taken up by the leaves. Phosphorus uptake is a problem with foliar feeding. In the case of nitrogen, this element can be applied as ammonium nitrate or urea. However, the source of urea has to be very low in biuret content (less than 2%) or else this compound can cause severe leaf chlorosis. Research conducted in California, indicates that a minimum of three applications of nitrogen may be necessary to provide the nutritional needs for an orange tree. A tree may only be able to tolerate up to 0.35 lbs of elemental nitrogen per application under ideal canopy conditions, that is, a thick canopy of healthy leaves. Often fish fertilizers are applied as a foliar spray at the rate of 1 ounces per gallon of water. Fish fetilizers would apply some NPK as well as some of the micronutrients. - Millet

I had read somewhere about the Potassium Nitrate (Salt Peter). Must have been in my research before getting the trees.

What I have to foliar feed IS deodorized fish emulsion, as suggested by the nursery. It was never intended to be its only food. The citrus expert there said that the plant needed to be fed through the soil, but not to overlook foliar feeding, which most people do. And recommended the fish emulsion. The nursery has been around for over 40 years and this person who told me about my trees and their care has been around a lot longer than that! LOL! She was sweet. I guess she knew what she was talking about.

Something that may be normal, but I am finding odd:

The new growth on the Meyer's and Eureka tree have new leaves that are kind of standing up, like they want to fan out, but just haven't dropped. I keep waiting, but they haven't moved. Is this normal. Is the tree needing something I'm not giving it? They are good sized leaves, but new and lighter in color than the rest of the leaves of the shrub. I'm posting a pic of the three shrubs, the two Meyers and the one Eureka.

My new growth is yellow also, I have ordered some epsom salts, apparantly that is what it needs. There is a good thread on this site regarding epsom.

All new growth on citrus is a light green color. The growth is faster than the transfer of nitrogen by the tree. This is the normal coloration for new leaves. In approximately 4-6 weeks the leaves will darken up on their own, they do not require additional nutrition, unless the entire tree is showing a deficiency. It is not wise to add this micro nutrient or that micro nutrient in a hope to correct a presumed deficiency, as this can cause a worse situation. - Millet

Thanks for the advice. It makes sense that the new growth would be lighter in color. The leaves are perfectly healthy, just not are deep green as the others. I will wait for 4-6 weeks and see what happens. The tree is getting the nutrition it needs, so all is probably normal. It was just nice to read that perhaps there was nothing the matter with it. Time will tell. I'll keep my eye on it.

Thank you.

Philip, it all depends on what you are calling yellow leaves. All new citrus leaves are of a lighter yellowish green color, a chartreuse coloration, but are not an actual yellow color. Iron, manganese and zinc deficiencies show up on new leaves, while nitrogen and magnesium show up on older leaves. Iron deficient leaves have dark green veins on an otherwise yellow leaf with no border area around the vein. Manganese deficient leaves also have dark green veins, WITH a green border area to the sides of the veins, on an otherwise yellow leaf of normal size. Zinc deficiency looks like manganese deficiency but substantially dwarf leaves. However, unless the new leave are actually yellow, I doubt there is nothing wrong. - Millet

Your information on leaf color and it's relation to nutrient deficiencies or NOT, was very helpful.

Some of us, new here, who don't know better, would think that the new growth of the leaves with the lighter green color (not yellow) would mean that there's a nutrient deficiency going on. Obviously, not the case.

Of course, if the problem persists and the leaves start showing any symptoms you described, then that is the time for action.

But it was very helpful to know what to look out for. Thanks for the wealth of information.