Tauranga's Favourite Garden Stop
Indulge in growing your own source of Vitamin C.
There is nothing quite like the taste and satisfaction of eating the fruits of your labour and what’s more these juicy winter fruit can help beat winder colds. These fruit trees are extremely versatile, can be grown easily in pots and have beautiful scented flowers.
There is an enormous selection of citrus available today. We have both large growing trees and dwarf Citrus available year round.
Decor’s recommendations include;
View the full list of fruit trees at Decor Gardenworld
Plant your citrus in a warm sunny position protected from cold winds. Citrus need well draining soil. Dig in plenty of compost. Alternatively, citrus grow well in pots. This means that the plant can be moved around the garden to make the most of the sun during different seasons.
In the garden: Plant the citrus tree in the ground as deep as it is in the pot/bag. Add Ican Premium Compost or Ican Premium Planting Mix and Ican Slow Food along with some sheep pellets to your hole. Back fill the hole with soil and water in well. Mulch with compost or bark around the base to protect the feeder roots and retain moisture but make sure not to cover the trunk with mulch. In pots: Use a good quality mix like Daltons Tub Mix. If it is a large pot place a few handfuls of stones of broken plates or bark at the bottom of the pot to ensure good drainage. The pot must have drainage holes.
When plants are young protect from frosts. This especially applies to limes. Cover with frost cloth. Remove all fruit produced in the first year to promote growth of the tree so it can support the fruit in years to come.
Citrus do not require much pruning. All that is needed is shaping of the height and width after fruit harvesting. Remove suckers.
All citrus are gross feeders and require fertiliser application in Autumn and Spring. Apply Tui Citrus Food around the drip line (not to close to the trunk) and water in well. For citrus growing in pots feed with Ican Fruit Food or Ican fast Food which is a liquid feed and is great for all your pots.
Note: do not fertilise citrus at time of planting. The first fertiliser application can be made about 6 weeks after planting.
Citrus are pretty easy to care for but there are a couple of problems that may appear and are easily remedied.
Scale; this is a sucking insect which is easily identified by the black soot which they attract. To prevent this spray with Grosafe Enspray Oil 99 throughout the year. The oil will also deal to aphids and mealy bugs. Verucossis is a fungal disease. It can be identified by brown blisters or scabs on the leaves and fruit. Use Grosafe FreeFlo Copper throughout the year to prevent this.
Harvest these juicy fruit when ripe. For excess fruit make marmalade's and jams.
To see a list of fruit trees for sale at Decor Gardenworld, please click here
Get stuck into your edible garden with these helpful guides:
