As I am new to growing citrus and living in a rental right now, I have been trying to grow an Orange and Grapefruit tree. The leaves and the trees look great and are about 5 ft tall. Every year I go through the same thing, they bloom profusely and get the baby fruit on them, but then all the fruit falls off. They even rebloom and the baby fruit fall off after a few weeks. I have tried multiple fertilizers, pots, growing mediums to no avail. Being in pots, I let them winter in the sunroom which is cool but protected from any frosty nights. But the rest of the time they are outdoors. I see everyone with these trees filled with fruit, anyone have any ideas? Depressed with no fruit :-(
Citrus trees usually drop over 95% of the flowers and will only keep the fruit that it can support. There are 2 main drop periods, one right after bloom and one in June (called June drop, but somtimes it is late May). The period between flower and June is a critical water period for the tree, water stress during this period can significantly increase fruit drop. Don't over-water, but do not let the tree dry as much as you can during other periods. I have been watering my inground trees once a week during this period if we do not have rain. Normally I would not water my inground trees at all unless we had been several weeks without water. We have a sandy soil here that dries out pretty fast.
i have had fruit do the same thing it is true that there is a high rate of fruit drop. the more fruits that hold the smaller the fruit and the less fruits that hold the fruit will be larger.and have been told with fertilizer if you fert to soon it will make it drop fruit and start to go into growth. i am gonna wait till any of the fruits that held this year get to be marble size till i fertilize.there will always be differing opinions on when to fertilize so pick the time that works for you. good luck
I have a Ponkan mandarin tree that only had about 35 flowers. The tree is in it's 5th growing season since planting. It has had problems, like sooty canker, but grew well last summer. I still have about 20 fruit on the tree, which is an amazing fruit set percentage, especially since about 5 of the flowers were male (and if it does not drop many more). I attribute this to 3 main factors: 1. The tree is healthy and has plenty of leaves to support the current crop--in essence, it was under-flowered. 2. I have maintained a healthy supply of water, but not too much--I water after 7 days when there is no rain. 3. I sprayed 1% urea on the tree shortly after bloom.
I would not withhold fertilizer in an attempt to increase the chances of your tree setting fruit. Withholding nutrition, is opposite to all of the published research. To increase your fruit production, be sure to fertilize your tree with a complete fertilizer containing higher nitrogen and potassium percentages. DO NOT let the soil become overly dry from bloom to a month past fruit set. Spraying a 1 percent Urea or Potassium Nitrate foliar spray just before bloom. Both work, I prefer the Potassium Nitrate foliar spray. Lastly, a 10 percent foliar spray of Gibberellic acid during full bloom, GREATLY helps "pollinate" and set the fruit. Gibberellic acid is how the citrus industry produces many of the seedless varieties of mandarins, and other varieties. All of these procedures work,provided you are growing a healthy tree. - Millet
