It's wonderful to grow your own Citrus fruit! From a single Lemon tree to a collection of Oranges, Mandarins and Limes, picking your own fresh fruit is a real treat. As the Citrus harvest season starts in autumn and continues through winter, help keep your trees healthy, well-fed and protected to promote the best quality fruit.
Our top Citrus care tips for Autumn are:
Feeding Citrus trees regularly is the key to promoting bucketfuls of juicy fruit. Citrus are very hungry plants and lack of nutrients can lead to a decline in fruit number and quality. Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food is a complete plant food that has been specially formulated to provide Citrus with the nutrients and trace elements they need.
Apply Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food around the root zone of in-ground and potted Citrus trees every 1-2 weeks during autumn, while Citrus trees are busy maturing their fruit. It's as easy as mixing 1-2 capfuls in a 9 L watering can and applying around the root zone.
Yates 500mL Thrive Citrus & Fruit Liquid Plant Food
In addition to nutrients, having access to enough moisture is important for fruit quality. Citrus trees have a shallow root system and can dry out rapidly. Keep the soil or potting mix moist with regular, deep watering. Applying Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter around the root zone of in-ground and potted citrus will help water penetrate evenly and effectively down into the roots. Spreading a layer of organic mulch, such as bark chips, around the root zone will help retain soil moisture. Keep the mulch 5-10 cm away from the trunk. This allows for improved airflow and helps reduce the risk of trunk diseases.
Remove any weeds and grasses growing around the base of Citrus trees. Weeds steal water and nutrients from the tree and also reduce airflow around the trunk, creating damp conditions for diseases to develop.
Yates 1L Waterwise Soil Wetter Concentrated
Many Citrus trees are grafted. The variety of Citrus we want is grafted onto the root system of a vigorous type of Citrus. This helps promote fast and productive growth. It's important to remove any green stems that grow below the graft (the bump on the lower trunk). This growth is the root stock and will not produce the fruit you want. This root stock growth can also be very thorny and eventually take over the entire tree.
Citrus trees can be prone to Root and Collar Rot diseases, particularly in areas with heavy or poorly drained soil, or when there has been prolonged wet weather. One of first signs of Root and Collar Rot diseases are leaves starting to wilt and shoot tips dying. The diseases damage the plant's roots and moisture transport system. You may also notice dying or blackened patches on the lower trunk.
To help prevent Root and Collar Rot diseases, spray citrus trees with Yates Anti Rot Phosacid Systemic Fungicide. Spray the tree until all the leaves are just wet. The fungicide travels from the leaves down to the trunk and roots, helping to kill Root and Collar Rot diseases.
Yates 500ml Anti Rot Fungicide
Check your Citrus trees for signs of pests. Common insect pests include Scales and Aphids.
Scales appear as raised white, brown or pink-coloured bumps on stems, leaves and fruit. Masses of tiny Aphids enjoy feasting on tender new leaves and stems and cause leaves to curl under.
Scale and Aphids are both sap-sucking insects and excrete a sweet sticky substance called honeydew.
Ants are attracted to honeydew and if you see ants moving up and down your citrus tree, it's likely to be a sign of a sap-sucking insect like Scale or Aphids.
The disease black Sooty Mould, appearing as a black film over the leaves, is another consequence of honeydew. Living off the honeydew, the black Sooty Mould will disappear once the sap-sucking insects are controlled.
Another citrus pest during late summer and early autumn can be Citrus Leaf Miner. The adult Citrus Leaf Miner moth lays her eggs on new foliage and the eggs hatch into larvae that create silvery tunnels in the leaves and cause leaves to twist and distort.
It's easy to protect your citrus trees from Aphids, Scale and Citrus Leaf Miner with regular sprays of ocp-750ml-ready-to-use-eco-pyrethrum-plus Based on natural pyrethrin and vegetable oil, it's a ready-to-use spray that will control common citrus pests like Aphids and Scale and help prevent Citrus Leaf Miner damage.
OCP 750ml Ready To Use eco-pyrethrum PLUS
In Fruit Fly prone areas, citrus fruit can be vulnerable to attack by Fruit Fly, even from when the fruit are still small and green. Fruit Fly lay eggs in fruit, which turn into destructive maggots. To monitor for the presence of QLD Fruit Fly, hang a OCP eco-lure Male Queensland Fruit Fly Trap in your garden. It contains a wick that has been impregnated with a pheromone attractant and an insecticide. Once Fruit Flies are detected, it's time to start spraying with an appropriate control product.
There are several animals and birds that will eat ripening Citrus fruit, including Possums, Birds (like Cockatoos and Crows) and Rats.
Physical protection of trees with wire mesh and netting can help prevent fruit being damaged and eaten. Possums can also be deterred by spraying trees with Yates Possum Repellent Spray. To help reduce Rat numbers in the garden, a Ratsak Trap Station can be used, which contains a powerful trap that will control Rats and Mice.
Citrus fruit won't ripen or become sweeter after picking, so it's important to only pick fruit once they're ripe. Commercial citrus growers have special tools to measure the ripeness of citrus fruit. What home-growers need to do is try one! Pick just one fruit that is the right colour (for Mandarins and Oranges this is bright orange) and taste one. Is it sweet and juicy? If not, wait another week and try again. Sweetness and juiciness can increase over time. Though don't leave it too long. Over-ripe fruit can become less juicy.
View the Autumn Gardening Calendar
Beginner's Guide to Soil & Soil Improvement
Beginner's Guide to Soil & Soil Improvement
