ESTABLISHED TREES SIX YEARS AND OLDER

WATER: Citrus trees in general require watering about once a week. The amount is about a 1/2 inch of irrigation or rain. This is very important for proper tree & fruit growth especially during our dry months of March, April & May.

FERTILIZATION:With the sandy soils in Florida fertilization is the most important aspect of raising and caring for your tree. Just like your trees like to eat. A properly cared for tree will be resilient to many of the insects and diseases. A tree in stress will become a target for almost any bug or disease that comes around. The amount of fertilizer applied is also very important. Too little and your tree will still be hungry. Too much and you could kill your tree. A good formula to follow is the Height of your tree times the spread of your tree divided by 15. This will give you the amount of fertilizer to be applied four times a year. Application should be done starting in February, May, August & November. When you fertilize, Spread it out on top of the ground from the trunk out to the drip line and water it in.

TRIMMING:Citrus tree trimming should take place in February. In trimming your tree, remove all dead wood. Trim the tree so that sun can reach the trunk of the tree. Accomplish this by raising the canopy up to about three or four feet off the ground. Do not thin your tree this is a citrus tree not a peach or apple tree. When you trim the canopy of your tree, make the tree symmetrical again, and top it off at 10 to 12 feet tall.

SPRAYING:Spray your tree in April & October with Malithion and Volk oil. These two sprays can be mixed to together and applied at the same time. Follow the label instruction on the proper amounts of spray to add per gallon of water. The spray should be applied thoroughly to the point of run off covering the entire tree. Do not eat or juice the fruit for two weeks after applying the spray solution. These two sprays will take care of about 90% of insects or scale that feed upon your tree.

TRUCK PAINTING:As a preventive measure; we recommend that you paint the trunk of your tree at least twice a year. Paint the trunk with a mixture of 1/2 pound of Powder Neutral Cooper in on gallon of water. This will help prevent Foot Rot the biggest killer of mature trees.

These are a few of our most asked questions. Remember a healthy tree will withstand almost anything. But a tree in stress will develop more problems than you can handle.

If you will follow our fertilization and spray schedule your tree should never develop any serious problems. But if it does develop problems help is just a phone call away, or feel free to post your questions on our Massage Board