Compost:-
For a soil based compost, use equal amounts of free
draining loam, sharp sand & peat. Make sure the compost contains very little lime. You can
use John Innes No.2 compost as the base and just add another 20% draining medium such as
Perlite.
Watering:-
If you over water your miniature
orange trees you will kill them off. Newly potted trees need
more watering until they are established. If new growth wilts or leaves are dull, then water
more often. Leaves dropping a few days after a good watering means that your tree was too
dried out before it was watered.
Be consistent with your watering
and don't let your tree dry out. You must make allowances for your trees'
changing needs during the season.
Orange trees should never
be allowed to become too dry or too wet. Always water your tree well, this may need to be done daily
in a hot summer but only once a fortnight in winter.
In summer the foliage should be
sprayed daily with soft rain water if available, but if it's not, then bottled water is probably better
for your orange tree than tap water. Spraying will maintain healthy foliage and helps to ward off red
spider mite and other pests.
Conservatory or Orangery, plants
need a moist atmosphere that is relative to the temperature. Dry heat can cause leaf drop and dry out the
branches of your tree.
Pebble trays, part filled with
water, with pots standing on top and above water level will
increase the humidity considerably. This will benefit your trees greatly.
Feeding:-
With newly re-potted trees, wait 6 weeks before
starting to feed them. Once the plant starts to actively grow in spring - summer, regular feeding can
begin. Use any good general purpose fertiliser that contains trace
elements.
Nitrogen is the main requirement in spring and summer. A
number of feeds that work well include specially made Citrus feeds like chempak No2 for Summer and No3
for Autumn. No 2 is a high nitrogen feed and has an NPK of 25:15:15 whereas No 3 is a more balanced feed
of 20:20:20 both having 7 trace elements present.
I haven't noticed any difference
between expensive specialist feeds and tomato plant food to be honest, and the tomato plant food is
easier to find than anything else. This works for me so, you can try them and see for yourself
which feeds give you the best results.
Hard water areas cause a few problems with lime so a few times
in the summer months, use a product called Bio Multitonic that adds 8 vital trace elements to the soil.
These include sequestered Iron, Manganese and Magnesium.
Nutrient deficiencies and excesses can often be detected
simply by watching the leaf size, colour and shape of your tree. When you see changes in the leaf you
need to know what you should do.
