Waterlogged citrus

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ourarka

Waterlogged citrus

Post by ourarka »

Last summer I planted out a small (4-5') Eureka lemon in a sheltered spot near the house, with a view to protecting it from the frost in winter. I have grown citrus successfully in an outdoor shelter the past few years in pots, but this one is in the ground. The pop-up cover for this works fine .... except it wont quite stand these excessive winds that I've had meaning it has had to come off .... until I can find a more permanent fixing method. Fortunately we have been frost free, but this has meant the tree getting far more rain that I would have liked and the ground, even though it is a raised area, is pretty waterlogged. Don't know what the rootstock is, but just wondered what its chances of surviving this wet weather would be. How long can they have wet feet until they really start to moan?
Westport007

Re: Waterlogged citrus

Post by Westport007 »

unfortunately!not very long.all citrus need sharp drainage and minimum of 50F in winter and long hot summers to ripen the wood.With a good guess,coupled with our low winter tempretures in british isles I'd say 2 weeks.Why not dig it up and plant it in a pot with sharp drainage to protect it and if you can bring it inside.Best of luck!!! icon_salut :D
doncasterpalmguy123

Re: Waterlogged citrus

Post by doncasterpalmguy123 »

If its survived this long then i would say its got a poncirus trifoliata rootstock. If your gonna experiment with it outside then to give it the best chance possible in this country i would mix as much sand for about 2 ft circumference around the rootball and to quite a depth so it drains super fast and when it freezes there won't be frozen water around its roots. But for now, id get it out the ground and pot it up in a greenhouse. I would plant it back out with the sand in the planting hole as suggested in about late may to june time. :D
ourarka

Re: Waterlogged citrus

Post by ourarka »

Well, it was an 'almost throw away' last year so we'll see. I have managed to reconstruct its protection, so it should stay much drier and frost free from now on. The drainage is pretty good there - very raised area with lots of grit/pebbles dug in. Fingers crossed ...... we'll see. It looked very sorry for itself a year ago but after being in that spot since April, it's never looked healthier. My other partially covered potted citrus(es) have fruited better than ever this year, despite being outside the whole of our horrible Feb/March last year, with just a little overhead frost protection.
doncasterpalmguy123

Re: Waterlogged citrus

Post by doncasterpalmguy123 »

ourarka wrote:Well, it was an 'almost throw away' last year so we'll see. I have managed to reconstruct its protection, so it should stay much drier and frost free from now on. The drainage is pretty good there - very raised area with lots of grit/pebbles dug in. Fingers crossed ...... we'll see. It looked very sorry for itself a year ago but after being in that spot since April, it's never looked healthier. My other partially covered potted citrus(es) have fruited better than ever this year, despite being outside the whole of our horrible Feb/March last year, with just a little overhead frost protection.
Do you know what citrus species it is? :D
ourarka

Re: Waterlogged citrus

Post by ourarka »

doncasterpalmguy123 wrote: Do you know what citrus species it is? :D
Pretty certain it was labelled as a Eureka when bought ....
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