As the title says, our meyer lemon tree barely grows and looks quite small and frail in comparison to the mandarin tree next to it. The lemon tree carries fruit almost all the time, the mandarin had maybe mandarin in 3 years?
What could the reason be? We planted then both at similar highlt ~3 years ago, they're getting the same watering and nutrients…?
Please help.
by KJ_Tailor
2 Comments
Lemons are pretty robust and prolific fruiters. Your mandarin needs some care and maintenance though if it’s not fruiting at this size.
It needs significant trimming and shaping in early spring to promote fruiting in the following season. The centre of the tree is very cluttered and needs to be pruned to be shaped like a wine glass. It still may not fruit until next year though.
You also need to remove the grass and other plants around its base to 1m from the trunk and mulch to give it best chance of fruiting. Grass has an allelopathic impact thats likely affecting its roots. Whilst you’re fertilising it, it’s also possible the grass is robbing nutrient from the tree.
You want to mulch that mandarin, a bit of an artful prune, and then fertilize, heavily. I just use ‘peasant fertilizer’, about a liter of urine to a bucket of water. For a small tree, once a month. That’s a heavy fertilization run, but citrus are heavy feeders, do that to a mango and you’ll kill it. Then a few caps of seasol in a bucket of water 3 or 4 times a year.