Hi, I'm Tricia, a California organic gardener.
Citrus trees are very beautiful, and they produce tasty fruit like these mandarins.
However there's not many places in the United States where you can grow citrus outdoors,
but that's ok. If you're in zone 7 or lower I'm going to show you how you can grow them indoors in containers!
The easiest citrus to grow indoors is the meyer lemon,
however also easy to grow indoors are the lisbon lemon, the washington navel orange, and the barris lime.
Citrus need 8 to 12 hours of light per day to produce fruit.
You can grow them as a foliage plant with about 5 hours of light per day,
but if you want fruit you may want to supplement the light with either full spectrum florescent lighting,
or a professional grow light.
Either way you need a southern or southwestern exposure.
Before repotting your tree, place it in your desired location for a couple of weeks to make sure it's happy.
If it is, pot it up, if not, find another location.
Today we're gonna be potting up this meyer lemon. Meyer lemons are the sweetest of all lemons,
and are actually a cross between a mandarin and a lemon. For a 2 to 3 year old tree, choose a pot about
five gallons and about 12 to 15 inches tall with good drainage.
Citrus likes light soil. I've got some peet moss moistened.
I'm going to add potting soil,
and then perlite.
A third, a third and a third.
Avoid potting soil with wetting agents because that will keep the soil too moist.
Slide the tree from its container,
examine the roots carefully,
trim off any that may be dry,
and fluff them up if they're matted or encircled.
So plant the tree with the crown just above the soil line and the fibrous roots just below.
Now we just want to water the citrus plant.
I like to add some Thrive Alive B-1 to the water which will help encourage root growth.
As you water, watch for settling. Make sure there's no air pockets.
If so you can just pull up on the tree a little bit.
Citrus are heavy feeders. Be sure and fertilize with a citrus fertilizer
like this E.B. Stone Citrus and Fruit Tree Food or the PhytaGrow by California Organic Fertilizers.
Be sure and read the label and follow the directions carefully.
Citrus like high humidity. If you're going to put your plant inside the house,
make sure you have a humidifier or a tray with rocks that you can put water in and you can put the plant on.
Make sure the pot never sits in water, however, and spray down the foliage once in a while. That will help too.
If you live in a climate where you have warm summers and cold winters,
you can grow your citrus outside in the summer and bring it inside in the winter,
or overwinter it in a greenhouse.
When making the switch from indoors to outdoors or vice versa,
put the plant in the shade for a couple of weeks.
The best time to make the switch is when the temperatures are about the same inside and outside.
Give the tree a quarter of a turn every week to make sure that the tree gets even light all around.
Repot your citrus every couple of years and do some root pruning at that time to make sure
that the plant doesn't get root bound.
Your citrus needs deep infrequent watering.
They like to be moist, but not soggy.
A moisture meter is the best way to tell when your plant is going to need water.
You want to water when the top two inches of soil are dry.
You can prune your citrus anytime of year to control it's shape or size.
So you can grow citrus no matter where you live!
So grow citrus and Grow Organic for Life!