Fertilizers

I have just used osmicote slow release fertizer and so far have had good luck. My trees are not growing very fast, but they look healthy and are producing like crazy. 36 lemons on my meyers lemon I bought a year ago. Probably 100 kumquats on a tree I bought this spring. My soil is half sand and half rotted horse manure mixed with sawdust.

Hello,
I use a nutrient mixture, a fertilizer salt. I will stir it in water and use as manual fertigation

The german Compo group has several of these fertilizer salts, commonly used for tank mixtures in agriculture, but I own a bag and can tell you:

HaKaPhos green has 20-5-10 and all important micronutrients, most as chelates
HaKaPhos elite has 24-6-12 and all important micronutrients, but iron and some others as ph-resistant chelates.


The fit best for feeding citrus

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"If you provide enough heat and light, nothing will kill a citrus tree so easily." Dr. Heinz K. Wutscher, Florida

I am very new to citrus growing, but seem to be having an okay time with my potted Meyer Lemon. This is its third summer with me and it is a very bushy plant about 4' tall and 4-1/2' wide. It is currently covered with lemons, blossoms and buds despite the fact that it was outside all winter this year and was not covered for protection at all (one can only keep that up for so long. . . .) One benefit of the cold treatment is that the scale hasn't gotten to the point where it is too much for hand removal during the months it can grow. See one or two to remove every week or so.

But on to the fertilizer question. I am using a liquid fertilizer made by the Dr. Earth company that is 4-4-4. I apply it at a much more dilute concentration than the label suggests, but use it every other time I water. The plant is in a coir blend potting soil which seems to be suitable. Only problem with the coir soil is that it can appear to be wet even when it is time to water. I also use the Morrison's chelated iron supplement on occasion and that seems to work well even if citrus is not mentioned on the label.

MY MYER LEMONS ARE DOING GREAT
I USE "LUTZ" CITRIS TABS, THEY ARE SLOW RELEASE (1-YR)
YOU PLACE TABLETS AT THE ROOT BALL DEPENDING ON PLANT
SIZE AS TOO THE # OF TABLETS TO USE.
YOU CAN FIND THEM ON THE "NET" AND THEY ARE CHEAP.

I dipped my hands into a lot of areas of gardening before i found citrus to be my passion, and every forum on every gardening product has a superthrive thread somewhere evidence seems to lean toward it making little or no difference, but i think the only way to form an opinion is to use it on your own plants. i have always meant to get round to that but never quite did...

on the subject of fertilizers, i have a quick question. My fig was suffering from iron and mag deficiency, so i bought an iron supplement to give it. I know people sometimes advise using iron on citrus every now and then, once a year is it? when is the best time to give it? and can you just mix it with your regular fertilizer? my current citrus fertilizer has 0.02% iron in it anyway, and 0.1%magnesium and 0.1% copper. will i need to add the iron?

I also use Lutz tablets. In reality, they last 4 to 6 months before completely dissolving. I supplement with VF-11 during regular waterings.