Gold Coast Gardener

February 19, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

If you’re like I am you probably enjoy having fresh citrus and although citrus canker and other problems have reduced the number of trees in many areas there are still a lot of people that have dooryard citrus. This time of year there are some things you need to be doing to insure that you get a good crop of fruit for the upcoming season.

Many citrus are now getting ready to start their spring flowering season and it’s time to fertilize with a good quality citrus or fruit tree type fertilizer. Follow manufacturer’s directions as to application rates and scatter the fertilizer evenly out as far as the drip edge of the tree for best results.

Also you might see some new growth beginning to emerge and that growth is very attractive to many types of citrus insect pests such as aphids, whitefly, or scale insects. Monitor your tree during the next four to eight weeks as the new growth emerges and if you see pests build up you may have to apply some pesticide treatment or wash the tree with a garden hose with a strong stream of water to rinse off many of the pests.

If you have young trees, there’s not a whole lot you need to do in the way of pruning, but if you have older mature trees that were damaged by last fall’s hurricanes you may need to finish any pruning that was not done last year to get the tree shaped well for the upcoming growing season. Trees that were pushed over by storm winds and were pushed back up and re-staked need to be fertilized lightly, but more frequently to help root systems to establish more quickly.

It’s OK to fertilize citrus every three months if you have one that’s suffered a lot of damage.

If you live in an area that is outside the citrus canker quarantine and wish to plant new citrus, new citrus can be planted at any time of the year. Make sure it’s planted in areas that receive at least a half a day or more of sunlight and it should have excellent drainage since citrus often times develop root diseases if they are flooded by heavy rains especially during the summer months.
If you have older trees with crops from last year still on them, there’s no reason to strip off the fruit when you see signs of new growth in flowers for this season. Many people through the years have gotten misinformation that they have to take off the previous crop to insure that they get a good crop for this coming season. Existing fruit on the tree does not interfere or regulate how much fruit you get for the next season. If the tree is fed and watered properly, it will still set a good crop year after year without taking off any previous crop that might be on the tree.

If you have discolored areas on the trunks of the trees that are gray, green, or various patches, many people worry about this, but these are usually patches of algae or lichens. They do no harm to the tree and don’t interfere with the production of fruit. Some people spray the trees with copper fungicide to discourage some of these, but not all of them are affected by copper fungicide so basically you’ll have to learn to live with them and since they do no damage to the tree most people don’t try and remove them.

If you have questions about citrus care this time of year or anytime, contact the Palm Beach County Extension office for some free advice over the telephone. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.