Friday, May 28, 2010

Revitalized root pruned citrus and forbidden fruit

So, remember a while back I decided I really needed to prune the roots of one of my potted citrus plants because I knew it was root/pot bound?

Well, I think it seems to be doing a-okay!

In fact, better than just ok it seems.  The pic from above was from 2 weeks back and presently, it's glorious bursting out in its full foliage, fuller than it's been in a long time and maybe even when I first got it!


Talk about revitalization the plant!

It even has some flowers! (not photographed b/c they were getting old and wilty)

Since this grapefruit tree is doing so well, I am tempted to root prune the navel orange tree now, especially as the fruit I was so excited about:

Got either knocked off by the wind, or I suspect birds or squirrels (gah, squirrels, I really hates them). So there's nothing really stopping me from root pruning except some worries about the heat as it's a bit late in the year.


But if I don't do it now, or sooner, rather than later, I'll have to wait until next spring and if it's root/pot bound I'd rather give it the opportunity of all this sun to soak up and strengthen itself for the winter now with the potential to flower away this winter/coming spring.  Past reading seems to indicate that prune then shouldn't be an issue, so I've had good luck with the grapefruit, why not expect the same with the orange?

Randomly, as I have a proclivity for living green mulches (ok, groundcovers...) so I don't have to mulch the wood chips/ pebbles/hay/etc way (though some of those ways are necessary) I decided to add some sedums to the citrus pots in hopes that their covering the surface will keep moisture in relatively well , assuming that they both decide to not compete for water... granted sedum root structure is shallow, I'm relatively unworried.  If anything I think if the sedums do well, they'd look pretty spiffy hanging off the side of the pot and maybe this way too I will be inhibiting the little weeds that keep cropping up in the pots.

After summer's over I'll most likely take the sedums out of the pots and replant them in the sedum pathway where I originally got them from because I've found these sedums get very leggy and scraggly looking inside, rather unattractive when I eventually need to take the citrus in.

Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend folk!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! And I didnt know we could successfully grow citrus here.

persephone said...

Hey Melissa! Yep, citrus do rather well here, but if you live where there are squirrels and the like, those beasties will try to get them I tell you! Hopefully, I'll get some fruit yet some day from these guys!