Citrus/fruit tree info.

Today we had Chuck Badger, citrus/grove expert come and demonstrate how to plant a fruit tree.  He also gave us some good information about care of citrus trees particularly, along with a few recommendations for fruit trees that grow good in our area.  

.Feed your lemon and lime tree's 2 X's a year with Calcium nitrate (4-5 lbs. for large trees, 3-4 lbs. for med. trees and a couple of handfuls for newly planted citrus a month after planting.)  

.Feed your other citrus once a year in the winter.  (Calcium nitrate - same amount as above.)

. Watering fruit trees in general - 15 gal water per hour.  He suggested a P-3 adapter with Olsen Ojet (green ) would be the type of watering that would get you to 15 gal per hour.  Ask at Grandgettos in Encinitas for help with the adapter.  

.Fruit trees don't like to sit in water.  So don't build the land in a bowl around the tree to hold the water into the trunk.  Water should have an ability to drain away from the tree.  When planting fruit trees have them sit a little high on the landscape.  The tree will eventually settle.  

.Buy Mary's decollate snails to eat the regular garden snails that ruin landscaping.  The same goes for the fruit trees.  

.dig your holes a good bit bigger than the rootball of the tree and back fill with the broken up original dirt.  Fill in around the tree with the original dirt.  Water really well after planting.  

.The 5-gal. trees adapt to transplanting easier than the 15-gal. or larger trees.  

.There is a little finger-sized indention above the rootball (5-10 inches up) where the root stock is grafted with the scion  (the main trunk).  When planting -  face that indention to the north to keep sun from burning it as it grows.  

.Any branches that grow off the the root stock is considered a "sucker" and should be removed when pruning.  Those branches don't produce good fruit and deplete the main trunk (scion) of good nutrients.  

.Pruning can be done any time of the year for citrus'.  Dead wood is good to cut out on citrus' anytime of the year.  Pruning on other fruit trees should be done every year.  

.Recommended fruit trees for our area:  Plum - Santa Rosa; Peaches - Red Barron; Apricot (don't give a lot of fruit) - Moorpark, Royal or Katie; Apple - Anna & Fuji; pomegranite - any kind grows well.  All the citrus' do well here, particularly Rio Red Grapefruit, Washington Naval orange.