About The Long Island Gardener Expertise Do you know the wrong fertilizer will keep your plants from blooming?
Do you know that too much Nitrogen can kill your grass, even if it does not burn the roots? Do you know that Roses need a LOT of Nitrogen to bloom -- and why is that?
There's some complex chemistry in those plant foods. The secrets behind N-P-K are the key to the ultimate lawn, the the biggest flowers, the most fruits and vegetables. And if you don't get it right, you could be sorry.
I'll show you what you did wrong, and how to fix it.
Experience Homeowner with gardens indoors and outdoors, lawns back and forth. I wrote my first gardening column for our college newspaper, teaching roomates about the right way to feed those windowsills gardens. Today I look for challenges. Organic Fertilizers are the key to proper feeding of all our plants. Can you make your own fertilizer? Some people think so -- but there are side effects. I have been there, done that for 54 years and there is nothing like the voice of experience when it comes to Horticulture and Fertilizers.
Publications Numerous and sundry but only in college did I write about plants.
Education/Credentials B.A., Botany and Mass Communications.
Question I live in Oklahoma and cannot find any fertilizer for my blood orange tree and my lime tree.Can you advise me on where I can purchase some thank you, Jackie Bender
Answer University of Florida recommends you fertilize Citrus 6 times a year. Most authorities agree you must steer completely clear of potting soil with built-in pre-mixed Fertilizer. You'll pay through the nose for that little perq, and it is not going to cater to any particular plant.
Blood Orange is a Citrus sinensis variety capable of producing extra doses of anthocyanin pigment, which turns its flesh the trademark crimson. You probably already have a general culture resource, but for those reading this who do not, the Floridata website posts basic care and feeding info for Citrus trees:
Floridata specifies that Cool nights are needed to develop the color in this fruit. But my understanding is that you MUST follow those Cool nights with Warm days. Citrus plants also need dry spells to mimic the Mediterranean climate that yields the most delicious Blood Orange and concentrates the fructose that makes them so tasty.
You are right to be selective about the kind of Fertilizer you use on your Citrus plants. Cheap, common Fertilizer that people can use on plainer plants -- their Pachysandras or Begonias -- is not going to cut it with tricky Citrus trees. Good Fertilizer costs money - you do get what you pay for. Time release is critical since you are growing this in a container instead of Mother Earth -- with fewer microbes living in that pot, organic amendments will find their nutrients unlocked at a slower rate and may not be produced at the rate optimal for the plant. Slow release fertilizer will be similar. Even better, look for ways to amend your Soil and support your local potted microbes -- Citrus plants are highly dependent on mycorrhizal Fungi to unlock nutrients for optimal growth. A megadose of the wrong fertilizer -- like the premixed stuff they build into the overpriced bags of dirt mentioned earlier -- can wipe out your mycorrhizae. So will anything ending with the suffix '-cides' -- pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides.
Professional growers look for bags with low, gentle nutrient doses in ratios around 8-3-9 and 8-2-10. For Oranges, there should be a healthy dose of Magnesium (ideally around 3 percent) in the nutritional analysis. Note: Nitrogen raises the Orange oil production in the peel; Potassium lowers it. Fertilize accordingly.
Palm Fertilizer is a very adequate substitute for 'Citrus' fertilizer. The reason: it often includes trace elements -- a dozen or more -- like Zinc, Iron (preferably Chelated), Magnesium, Boron, Copper etc. A monthly sprinkling of Epsom Salts will bring you up to speed on Magnesium Sulfate. But a product called 'Azomite' produced out of pink Clay deposits by an outfit in Utah practically packs the Periodic Table into a bag you can order on the internet. This special Clay, unique to Utah, chemically translates into NaK2Ca5Al3Si21O706H2O. There is a sales piece on the internet that explains some of the history of this amendment:
The guaranteed analysis is 0.-0.-0.2, but remember, this is a trace minerals source; you do not need much of this -- a small bag will be plenty for at least a year or longer and will supply Potash, Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorine and Sodium -- 67 macro and micro elements. You can buy as little as 2 lbs of Azomite for $6 plus s/h from the organic Utah retailer, Wheatgrasskits.com:
Peatmoss is often recommended as a growing medium, but I dislike it for 2 reasons: it's sterile and it's way too water-retentive to raise a really healthy Citrus in. People like it because it tilts the Soil pH down. That's hard to do in South Florida -- Soil there is basically made of seashells and thus highly alkaline. If you use Peatmoss as a base, it must be heavily amended with things like Composted Manure, Greensand and Cottonseed Meal, then cut by maybe half with a generous amount of Sand or Perlite. Some growers add Composted Pinebark. You want to set up the right pH and a steady, constant production of macro- and micro-nutrients in your Soil, with highly efficient drainage.
University of Florida posts several research papers on this topic. One, titled 'Controlled-Release Fertilizers for Florida Citrus Production' for a study about a decade ago, looked at some new Scotts products:
'We evaluated several coated, controlled-release fertilizers manufactured by The Scotts Company for their effects on mature orange tree growth, fruit yield, and juice quality. The analysis of each material in our trial was 16-5-16, where nutrients were contained inside prills covered with either a resin or a polymer coating. The Scotts Company refers to these as Agrocotes. One was a proprietary resin-coated N-P-K technology and the other a patented 'Poly-S' N and K technology. Nutrients are released from the prills following water vapor penetration through the coating, dissolution of the nutrients inside, and gradual diffusion of the soluble nutrients back out into the soil.' The full report is here:
Best results were reached with the resin/Poly-S Fertilizer, which they note 'served as the forerunner to the suite of materials that The Scotts Company now markets as CitriBlen. This fertilizer is the first material composed of mostly coated nutrients that is made and marketed specifically for mature Florida Citrus as a one application per year N-P-K fertilizer.' Trouble is, purchasing CitriBlen in Oklahoma is probably going to be very difficult. Scotts provides a distributor contact number; maybe you'll get lucky - 1-800-492-8255. The CitriBlen is an 18-6-11 formulation.
The bottom line here is that you don’t need to look for a specific fertilizer for your Orange Tree. You underestimate the size of your Green Thumb. Don’t fall for marketing hype and Madison Avenue doubletalk -- they’re out there to make you feel (a) desperate to buy their fertilizer and (b) not so sure you know more than they do about gardening. If you have a Citrus tree in your house in Oklahoma, where Corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, I totally believe you know what you’re doing. You are capable of assembling a PERFECT Citrus fertilizer ALL BY YOURSELF from SCRATCH and feeding it to your tree all year. The hardest part here is going to be dealing with day length and footcandles AND temperature control. Not N-P-K. I know. I’ve dealt with it. Miracle Gro is for beginners. Find out what you have available locally (you have GOT to have a LOT of stuff, you’re in Corn Country). Tell me what it is, I’ll give you the analysis. You’re in the driver’s seat. Round it out with trace minerals. And watch for big, fragrant buds and Oranges all Summer.
Yes, I know you were expecting a 2 sentence answer. I’m sorry. Some answers are just not that easy. In this case, easier DONE than SAID. That’s a promise.
Thanks for writing. Any questions, send a followup.
