I just bought a Kalamansi plant through ebay and am a bit worried b/c it arrived a little distressed. Almost all of its blossoms have fallen off and the branches haven't spread out as much as I'd like.
Kalamansi is what my step-mother (who is filipino) calls it...but I think it's called a Calamodiom or something like that.
Any advice for shipped plants and how to make sure they do alright? I plan to buy another citrus plant from this seller but want to make sure that I can get this one to live before I place another order.
Kalamansi Plant advice
Calamondin orange? http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/55287/index.html
I wouldn't worry about blossoms falling off, shipping is a bit rough on plants and if that's all that happened you're probably in good shape. Branches also tend to get smushed together a bit but as long as they're not broken they'll be fine and they'll spread out more as time goes on. If you have a picture of the plant that you can post, we can give you better comments on whether it's in good shape or not.
As far as caring for it, if it's bare root or in a little tiny pot I would repot it into a container that's the right size for it, then make sure you don't put it right into direct sunlight--it's been in a box for a while so I would keep it in a cool shady place for a few days, then gradually start exposing it to more sunlight.
"...I would keep it in a cool shady place for a few days, then gradually start exposing it to more sunlight"
Ooops. Too late. Oh darn, the black thumb strikes again.
If it's not dead yet it's probably not too late--the problem with putting them into sunlight too fast is that if they've been in the dark for a while their leaves can get sunburned. And the coolness just helps them not dry out too fast if they're a little in shock from shipping. So if you have it in the hot sun now, I would just bring it back out of the sun for a bit, then start gradually giving it more. Not all plants will end up getting wilted and sunburned anyway--your chances of success with the plant are better if you expose it to sun more gradually, but I'm sure there are some plants that would end up doing fine in the sun right away.
Here is the Calamondin plant I mentioned earlier. I replanted it in a larger container and just watered it. I got up this morning and found that the leaves were shriveling up...this darn Georgia heat...but now they've filled back out again and aren't drooping like they were. I'm still concerned about it and am worried about fertilizer needs. The local walmart store only carries all purpose food. I've seen a couple of citrus "stake" feeders, but am worried that they will burn this plant since they're made for much larger trees.
It looks in pretty good shape now, if you find it's wilting in the heat I would maybe find a spot that has a little shade during the hottest part of the day--many plants will say they want full sun, but when you have them in a climate where it gets super hot sometimes they do better if they're protected a little bit during the hottest part of the day.
As far as the fertilizer spikes, I would read the directions on them before you decide not to use them--some of those are adjustable so you would use one for a tree your size, up to maybe 3-4 for a bigger tree but it'll tell you how many to use for what size tree in the directions. If even one spike looks like it's too much for yours, you could try breaking it in half, quarters, etc. Or look at the N-P-K numbers on the spikes, and see if there's an all purpose fertilizer with similar numbers, then you could use that instead. Or as a last option, there are lots of gardening places online that would probably sell you exactly what you need.
Thank you. I'll probably follow your advice on breaking the stakes up. I just hope this baby doesn't die. I don't think I could afford to ship in another one for a while.