Citrus Trees not blooming?

Hoping some can throw some light on this I have quite a few I have bought 4 fters some fruited last year this year most have not. Any suggestions would be appreciated thanks Dana trees are grapefruit, lemon, orange.

I have a lime tree that really hasn't bloomed for the last 4 or 5 years since I bought it. I spoke with a local horticulturist and it appears that I have not been fertilizing enough. Usually, citrus' will take about 2-3 years to establish before blooming. So, try fertilization with an citrus fertilizer and follow the manufacturer's instructions and see how you do next year.

Good luck.

You really have to fertilize those trees until they are really established and large. You still have to after that but not as much. I suspect you have sandy soil so you have to fertilize more than someone with a good loam.

Hit them with an all purpose fertilizer after danger of the last front has ended. Then hit them every 3 months until winter approaches. You dont want to fertilize at least 2 months before a freeze as tender growth is effected more by cold.

Your zone is not listed on your profile so I am guessing you are zone 9a.

I agree the trees need to have some active growth to produce buds, but I've had numerous citrus that bloomed and even set fruit right in the pots from the nursery. so obviously it doesn't take much.
The ability to bloom seems related to tree age - and THAT is apparently a function of the age of the scion, not the time from grafting. Seedlings can take years to bloom, so another possibility is that you've either got a seedling or possibly that the rootstock has taken over.

These trees have lots of ne growth growth's not the problem i bought citrus fert and gave them some. Put in stakes last year I have a seedling I brought home its 12 ft tall never has bloomed

These these in the ground or in pots?
What kind of soil do you have? Is it sandy?
Do these plants get lots of sun or are they in a shady position?

Dont use the spikes. Use a grain/pellet citrus fertilizer. Make sure you dont put it all at the base because the feeder roots spread out.

Your leaves should be a dark green color.

Plants are healthy looking there in the sun I have lemons there going for it orages and grapefruit aren't

Anywho.....
I will assume they are in the ground and in a sandy loam. Use a granular citrus fertilizer 3- 4 times a year with a spread inside the canopy and slight outside it. Water heavily if you dont get rain for over 2 weeks.

Beats me. If you're getting healthy growth on the trees, they get plenty of sunlight, and the scion wood (growth above the graft) is of a known fruiting variety and hasn't been replaced by suckers from the rootstock, you should be getting blooms, even if the blooms don't set fruit. Are you getting blooms?

Actually, I re-read the title and realized you specified no blooms. So that is a puzzle. I've seen citrus - oranges, lemons, kumquats, various hybrids - all bloom AND set fruit even in containers. I've seen established citrus at Kanapaha garden bloom AND set fruit even in mostly-shaded situations.

Bought these trees at lowes I don't know either other trees here are full Well maybe the fertlzer will do the trick thanks for all your help

I lost half-a-dozen lemon, lime and orange trees from over watering (in containers, indoors all winter under a grow light). I learned that the large containers just do not dry out, even though I used cactus/citrus soil (fast draining). I have only two Lisbon lemon trees left, dwarfs, in containers, which have been cultivated to withstand quite cold temperatures. They are four years old, and although they bloomed nicely, the little lemons fall off and none was edible. I use Osmocote every 2-3 months, and a soil acidifier as needed. The lemon trees are outside now; both bloomed heavily, but only one is growing green lemons the size of my thumb (the largest I have had to date). I have no idea if I will actually get edible lemons this year or not, we will see. The citrus trees are very difficult to grow indoors in New York, and one started to defoiliate just as I put it outside for the summer (it then stopped dropping leaves). With heavy rain everyday for 10 - 12 days, the trees could easily die. Growing citrus in containers is not easy in a climate where they have to be constantly moved indoors and outdoors every late fall and spring. So far, $1800 on trees, pots, soil, fertilizer and bug spray, and only two lemon trees survive. It is really discouraging. The trees are enjoying 13-hour (direct) sunlight days and warm temperatures. So time will tell. I have learned the hard way that over watering in containers is lethal, especially indoors, and that once a month seemed to work just fine with a nice large 24" X 48" grow light overhead 12 hours a day. Any comments, welcomed.

This message was edited May 22, 2011 1:11 AM

This message was edited May 22, 2011 1:11 AM

This message was edited May 22, 2011 1:12 AM

Sorry mine are in the ground here all my stuff goes right in. We have clay here but thru the years and help from worms the ground here has gotten alot better. I fertilized all the trees really good. So will just have to wait till next year

I'm in NC but my 2 apple trees and one plum tree didn't bloom at all this Spring. Also, I have 7 different varieties of fig trees and only 2 have some figs set on them. Chalk it up to global warming (or cooling???)

My figs are doing fine had a great crop of peaches no plums no mangos

There are apples that will do well in Florida, apples that will do well in Washington State, apples that will do well in New York, etc. - but with VERY few exceptions, they are not the same apples. This is one of the species that is VERY dependent on winter chilling hours. After the trees have received sufficient chilling hours for that variety, they will bloom at the first opportunity - which makes in difficult to grow low-chill varieties in areas where you may have late frosts (like anywhere on the East Coast). OTOH, trying to grow high-chill varieties in the South is a big gamble, with the odds strongly stacked against the grower. Plants may not bloom - which is just a temporary (1-year) problem. OR they may not even break buds at all, which is a permanent problem (trees don't survive well without leaves :o( ).

Just to complicate things, the number of chill hours isn't just the total number below a certain temperature - because some chill hours can actually be negated by spells of warm weather that occur before the chilling requirement is satisfied.

Don't be misled by the nurseries: you really can't go by "zone" because it is just an indication of minimum low temperatures. That's important for many species, but not so much for apples.

The same is true to some extent with plums AFAIK, though frankly I haven't had as much experience with them

-Rich

Plums mine bloomed like crazy only held 3 fruit I hit it with pot ash hoping this will take care of the problem

As of this week (1st of June) I have itty figs on most of the fig trees now. I think I and Pepper will be happy this Summer!

Here's a picture of Pepper under my old black mission tree waiting for me to pick a ripe one.

I have 3 different kinds of figs here just did get black mission so there small but brown turkeys tasty and a maroon fig too the name was gigantic but can't wait next year to try the black mission

Danasplants,
well good luck with your black mission, It looks like I will have just a few on my new tree and had a few last year too. I think black mission is my favorite but Celeste tastes very good. Now if you want to aspire for size, take a look at my no-name Greek fig (below). It is doing well this year with lots of new main crop figlets just showing up.

Paul

Wow that is a big fig I am looking for the white greek too, there all good

My two lemon trees have been outdoors since May 1 and are still flowering, producing half-a-dozen lemons which still survive. We had rain in New York City Metro area for 14 days, but the trees survived just fine so far. They were trimmed this winter, which may have helped. The soil in the big pots just does not dry out, even with fast-draining cactus/citrus soil. My green Lisbon lemons are now larger than my thumb, and still haven't fallen off the trees, so I'm hopeful. I had to kill the ants which overwhelmed both trees last smmer and nearly killed them. The long, warm, sunny days seem be the trees favorite.

Lemons here you go. These are pondarosa they get huge not much juice but a ton of zest

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