This is my biggest challenge and the most rewarding of all my gardening projects. I have a backyard home food garden. Every year, I like to experiment and try new things. A friend have given me some seeds of a meyer lemon and I was hooked. I grew Citrus Trees in pots for the past 9 years. I have been trying to get my plants to bloom and had many challenges.
Some years, I would get a few blossoms and they didn't amount to any fruit development. It seemed like my plants would get ready to bloom in late summer, when I was only weeks away from moving them back indoors for the winter and the buds would just drop off. I was determined to get my Citrus Trees to bloom. I have a Lemon, Orange, Key Lime, Tangerine and a Clementine Tree.
I tried using citrus slow release fertilizer around the drip line several times during the growing season. My tree grew very healthy leaves and no fruit. I read that Citrus trees may take up to 7-10 years to begin to develop fruit, I was so patient. Since I was growing these trees in pots, I needed to replenish the soil so I used fish fertilizer, compost and manure over the years. I have tried adding sand and peat moss to help with aeration of the soil.
I used coffee grounds to help with nitrogen and egg shells for calcium. I even tried Epsom Salts. What it came down to was the timing of the fertilizer. When I fertilized my potted citrus trees in February, which seemed to be the perfect boost it needed after the winter dormant season. In March, I had hundreds of blooms on every tree! I will continue to fertilize again in early Spring, early Summer and stop fertilizing at the end of July. A good rule of thumb is to fertilize about 3-4 per year with a Citrus Fertilizer during the 'growing season." While the tree is in bloom, it is known to be incredibily hungry for nutrients.
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