Pictorial guide to problems experienced with Citrus/Lemon

[mikhurram]

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[Farhan Ahmed]

Nice share

[Syed Adnan]

My problem,

the citrus plants never bear any fruit for the last 5 years , it is about 8 feet high now.

[mikhurram]

some more info on Citrus and pages below were the introductory pages to the images posted at the top.

[ka_khan]

I have a lemon tree about 15 years old.Constant pruning has kept it about 3 feet high.We enjoy its lemons almost throughout the year.Its planted in the shade.It gets light to dark green lemons.I think its some Chinese variety.
I want to know what type of Chinese lemons are grown here and whats the variety with bears yellow lemons.
Have another one in a large pot but its not giving any fruit.What are tips to get juicy lemons?

[mikhurram]

There are various varieties of lemon in the market but the small lemon produced by the Chinese varieties fruit more abundantly if planted in a area having full sun.

It appears that that there might be a problem with the soil in the container. Either you can planted in ground having full sun or replant it in a pot again filled with earth mixed with rotted manure.

[mikhurram]

Syed Adnan » September 17th, 2013, 12:54 pm

My problem, the citrus plants never bear any fruit for the last 5 years , it is about 8 feet high now.

There can be various reasons and i will assume that your Lemon Tree gets sunshine for atleast 5 hours and try to keep my post as brief as possible and in general shall use the generic term fruit trees and this post can be used as a reference as to why fruit trees often fail to flower in hot climates.

Lemon or fruit trees can be stressed by summer drought, failing to develop flowers buds for the following reason. REMEDY; In a very dry summer, keep them well irrigated and mulched

Fruit trees have different fertlizer requirements as opposed to e.g. lawns. Lawns stay lush with high nitrogen fertlizers but for fruit trees using a high nitrogen fertilizer boosts leaf growth at the expense of fruit. Fertlizers with potassium and phosphorus are best for fruit trees.
REMEDY: Use a Tomato fertlizer for fruit trees which would have NPK ratio 4-4-8 plus trace elements or other fertlizer where ratio of P and K is greater than N.

Branches need UV exposure to develop flowering growth so plant fruit trees in full sun for maximum cropping. They are far more susceptible to pests and diseases in the shade too. A fruit tree should get ideally 5 hours of direct sunlight in the middle part of the day - early morning and later afternoon sun is not as intense so not as useful.

Prune for new growth, but too much pruning will result in upright, vigorous unproductive growth. REMEDY: Remove only 20-30% of the tree each year; if a hard prune is needed to reinvigorate or shrink a tree, do it over several years.

Finally there is a Chinese method of inducing growth mentioned by Zahrah Nasir. Following is her advise about using this method in quotes.
"In the process of re-planting your tree you might like to use a method which is extremely popular amongst citrus growers in China. This simple method of growing citrus, all varieties and not just lemons, is that you roll the roots of the tree around themselves, weaving them in and out to form a reasonably tight circle, being careful not to damage them in the process.
This technique is claimed to encourage the tree to take up more nutrients through the maze of fine roots which quickly develop all around this ‘roll’. This method also reduces the height of the tree making fruit collection easier.
Alternatively, if you feel that the soil conditions in your garden are suitable for growing citrus then I suggest you replace the non-productive tree with a new one and, why not add another, plants are often happier, therefore more productive, if they have company of the same kind."