Greetings All

I am From Houston, TX and having a very disappointing time with Various Citrus varieties

- Navel Orange




- Cocktail Grapefruit




- Meyer Lemon




- Rio Red Grapefruit




- Owari Satsuma




- Pummelo (Hirado)




I am not fertilizing regularly. I used the Bayer Advanced for Fruit, Citrus and Vegetable Insect Control and no use

Just disappointing since this is my second set of citrus and the same behaviour (Lost around 4 a couple of years back)

Any help is greatly appreciated and i can take more pics and upload if required. What is required to grow them and get that lush green leaves



Thanks All ....

Looks like not enough fertilizer or water to me. Leaf miner control is difficult but with enough fertilizer and water won't make much of a difference. I recommend a drip irrigation system on a timer and at least 3 doses of fertilizer a year. Got plenty of sun or mostly shade?

Email me and I can forward you 2 presentations on how to get better results.

I agree with Mr Texas response. Citrus are heavy feeders, requiring a good amount of nutrition, especially new starter trees. Newly planted citrus trees are normally fertilized 6 times a year during the growing season, using a fertilizer with an analysis of either 6-6-6, 8-8-8 or similar analysis. What ever fertilizer you select be sure it also contains all the trace minerals. Follow the recommendation printed on the bag.Further the leaves shown in your pictures have been damaged by the citrus leaf miner. You can find a lot of information about this problem on this forum. Use the search function and type in the words "leaf miner'. - Millet

Let me add my two cents in addition to MrTexas' and Millet's recommendations. Our area is notorious by its clay soils that may keep too much moisture and not allowing enough oxygen to roots. My Meyer that was planted too low in ground had very similar appearance for three years or so. I would suggest to rise your plants by a few inches and remove mulch beneath them.

Good luck and do not give up!

I agree with GT. You can always plant in a raised bed to help with drying out the roots. I have done that with avocado and have had great success with my clay soil.

Thanks to all for the replies .. My account got locked and I could not login and had to create a new account

- so to raise the plant do I have to remove it from ground and then replant it ??
- Can anyone recommend an organic 8-8-8 or 6-6-6 fertilizer and where can I buy one

I have plenty of sun in where these are planted

thanks again ...

I reactivated your other account. Let me know you can access it & I'll delete the new account.

I'm no expert but would probably not dig up. I just have not had good luck doing that. Maybe someone with more experience can advise.

You can certainly use organic 8-8-8 (if you can ever hope to find it), but in the case of citrus, conventional 8-8-8 will do so very much better for your already hungry trees. - Millet .

What I do sometimes on small plants (being in ground for a year or two) is to stick the shovel far enough from the plant to not damage roots and start gently cutting off ground a large root ball. Using two shovels may help. The idea is to loose soil enough that you could raise the plant with a shovel (or two). While doing this, toss some soil under the root ball...

Frankly, I could not follow these directions myself - the procedure is very simple but looks like I fail to explain.

Update:

Did raise all trees by almost a feet and saw some new growth
using MicroLife 6-2-4 All Organic Biological Fertilizer

Used Sevin once when I saw the new growth

My Question is Should I use captain jack deadbug spinosad and Neem Alternatively if I see any damages

Thanks for all the help and suggestions