A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 I seem to kill a lot of plants (citrus)

Hello,

I live in Tampa, FL. I purchased some lime, lemon, and orange trees from a local gift store here and repotted them with Miracle Grow. I watered them once a week, placed them on the porch with some sunlight, and everything seemed fine. They never grew though. Now it is 6 months later, and they all just turned brown and died. Nothing but stems left. Any thoughts?

Also, I have a blueberry bush potted on the back porch. It has been fine for six months, but I notice all of the leaves at the bottom are one by one turning brown and dying. The top green stem seems to be ok, but no growth here either. I put down some pine needles for mulch, but that is about it. Any thoughts on this one?

I feel like a murderer, so any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Big Jim

Hmmm.....G-Mom might be able to help you on this question. She's been under the weather, but when she gets on here I'll make sure she checks this out. She's in Florida.

Anyway, nice to meet you!
I don't think I've talked to you here yet!
(Well, I have now!)


Cindy

Well hi, Cindy. Very nice to meet you.

Thanks for reading my post, and I do hope your friend has some ideas. I am wondering if I am underwatering or overwatering. I was watering twice a week, but now I am going to cut back to once every 10 days or until the soil is dry to the touch. I also read that citrus needs less water in the winter months.

Still no ideas myself about the blueberries.

Nice to meet you too!

Big Jim

Hi. I'm an hour south of you in Sarasota. How big are the pots you have these in? I have found them difficult to grow in anything but full sun. Anything less than 7-10 hours of direct sun will make them leggy and susceptable to fungus and insect problems.

Another tip off was buying them at a gift shop. If they were started from seed they will be hard to manage plus it will take 7 years under ideal conditions to get any fruit.

Citrus can be grown in containers but the care is a little more intense than one growing out in the yard. Check out the Hillsborough or Pinellas Extention Office website. They will have some good info on citrus care.

If it turns out you do have seedlings, you might want to consider picking up a grafted plant from a local nursery. You can tell if your plants are grafted. There will be a bump or knot near the base where the plant was grafted on to root stock.

Sorry for being long winded. Hope this helps a little.

Dave G