Growing Citrus Fruit

Growing Citrus Fruit

Imagine living near the Mediterranean or in the countryside not too far away and you probably imagine citrus fruit - oranges, lemons, mandarins. You may also imagine the fantastic (even intoxicating) scent that is produced by the flowers on these trees.

You may be lucky enough to havesome established trees growing on your patch. Ifnot, you will undoubtably want to plant some near one of your favourite sitting places, where you can enjoy the blossom in the spring, the colourful fruit in the winter, and the green foliage all year round.

Citrus trees cannot stand being waterlogged, and therefor require a free draining soil. They are also susceptible to more than the lightest frost, particularly lemons, so even in southern Andalucia, you are unlikely to find them above an altitude of 800m

Watering

As stated above, citrus trees do not like being waterlogged, and this is particularly true if the water is against their trunk.
Thetraditional method of watering therefore is to have a shallow trench around the tree, roughly at the limit of reach of the branches (this is were the shallow roots that require the water are situated), and fill this with water approximately every 3 to 4 weeks. If the water remains in the trench for more than a few minutes, either your soil is not free draining enough or you are over watering the tree.

Pruning

The fruit will grow on small twigs that are usually horizontal, so strong vertically growing shoots are not of much use. Prune to encourage the smaller shoots and to keep the centre of the tree open.

Problems

Citrus fruits suffer from insects which maybe leafminers, living inside the leaves, or attack the outside and cause them to curl. Where citrus trees are grown commercially, there are sprayed with and insecticide several times during their growing season.
If however, like us, you prefer not to sparay, justgive your newly plantede trees moretime. They appear to develop an immunity, or at least the problem does not appear so obvious, after the first few years.
Wwe have seen trees that have been neglected for some time (as far as spraying is concerned) producing a good crop of tasty sweet fruit.