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.
