Hi gang. I’ve had this lime tree forever, it often gets to this point and then either produces a few tiny fruits or none at all.
I’ve tried Organic Xtra, sulfate of potash, and another thing a friend recommended that looks like sand? Can’t remember the name. Please, I need help. I’m desperate for limes. My vodka sodas are bland and uninteresting. It’s tearing my family apart. Please help.
by Extremelycloud
14 Comments
Is it a known variety that you planted?
I have a lime tree here in Sydney, so much fruit and I can’t consume it all. It is at the back of a east facing property, so gets all the good sun.
What has worked for me:
– keep the area below the branch line/canopy free of all competing plants including grass
– good fertiliser 4 times a year
– during really hot weather, water 2-3 times a week for 10-15 minutes
– inspect for pests regularly and deal with immediately before they fully take over
– prune after fruiting, for rubbing branches, branches pointing inwards, branches that are too low (don’t want the fruit touching the ground) and branches that are too high (can keep the pests under control more easily)
Having the same exact problems with my eureka lemon, it pushes out great foliage but has only flowered for me once. Apparently using fertilisers too high in nitrogen can make the plant prioritise leaf production over fruit but that doesn’t make sense to me either, cause aren’t they meant to be heavy feeders anyways?
Same here. Every one else in the region produces an absurdly large amount of lemons and limes. Our trees produce one lemon and one lime a year
Are you noticing many bees? Mine are buzzing like crazy with the change in season. If not you could try pollinating by hand with a little paintbrush, there’s guides on YouTube. It’s clearly flowering so either there’s no pollination happening or it’s dropping fruit from stress before they form, leaves look healthy though.
> It’s tearing my family apart
I think we’d be great friends!
Jokes aside, what’s your watering situation like? Your feeding routine sounds fine but the tree might be aborting juvenile fruit if it’s dry.
Citrus like a deep watering. Can you put the hose on a low spray or low sprinkler setting once a week and let it trickle in for say an hour? Might need twice a week in the heat of summer.
Good luck and wishing you abundant 🍋🟩🍋🟩🍋🟩🍋🟩🍋🟩
Needs to be pollinated.
Mine only started producing after 7 years. Also citrus are thirsty trees and need consistent water.
If you get a mass of blossoms but they don’t turn into fruit, you have a pollination problem, as in no bees or pollinators around doing their job. I’d suggest it could be dioecious but you mentioned it can grow some, so it’s not a male-only flowering plant. If they start to swell and grow but something goes wrong and none of them turn into full fruit, it’s maybe a soil nutrient problem. It looks healthy from the pic you shared.
I had the same problem. Turned out to be ants. I put ant powder down to stop the ants and now my limes grow like they should.
Can you add some flowers like marigolds to encourage more bees? I have pots with lavender, wattle, roses and gravilliea in the same patio space as my lime/lemon-grafted potted citrus tree and those flowers seem to attract bees to the space and I get lots of fruit. I still cant get my native finger lime to fruit though!
I have the same issue with my lime… the only time it ever produced fruit was when I threatened it. I told it I would dig it up and bin it. I got 8 limes, that year. Nothing in the three years since. Time to threaten it again. It gets water and fertiliser at the prescribed times. I think it’s just a bloody minded bastard.
Apply Potash at flowering and fruit set.
Refrain from adding too much nitrogen at this stage as it just promotes leaf production over flowers.
Also – Check your soils Ph because if it’s way to alkaline (which is often the case in Perth soils) the tree can’t sequence anything you feed it. This can be awfully confusing to a novice gardener and many experienced gardeners also look past the fact that the soil is the key to a successful garden.
Also, The only plant that l grow beneath a citrus tree are nasturtiums as they act as trap plants for aphids and leaf miner, they are shallow rooting and as they breakdown provide invaluable green manure to your tree.
Looking good! My mom’s citrus plant took 3 years. Maybe check the soil it should be fertile. Water morning and afternoon