I have a limequat that we purchased 3 years ago. First year it fruited decently. Last year meh. This year has tons of leaves but the blossoms dropped and no fruits are growing at all. I did give it a bit of bone meal when I saw the first flower buds, and a little bit of fish emulsion after that.
Limequat quitting?
Is this planted in the ground? Or a container?
I would be concerned about water.
Citrus need to have regular water, especially when they are small, and their roots have not spread out very far. If in a container, it is big enough to hold a good reserve of water?
Fertilizer needs to be applied well in advance of the blooms so the plant can circulate those nutrients, and so the bone meal can break down. To apply it when the plant is already in bloom is a bit late.
Continue the fish emulsion so the plant gets a good reserve for next years blooms and fruit, and spread the bone meal as soon as it warms up after winter. It won't break down in the cold, but will as soon as it is warm enough for the microorganisms to get to work. If the plant is in a container, and you bring it in through the winter, then I would apply bone meal perhaps in January and February to get ready for April flowers.
Thanks! Yes, it is in a container, and comes inside for the long Iowa winters. I generally err on the side of too little water, so I'll try to be more generous with it.
Yesterday I noticed a flush of tiny new flower buds, so I wonder if these will bear fruit?
They sure might!
I have a lot of citrus, and find they are not great at going too dry between watering.
Of course several of them were old when we bought this place, so are probably 40+ years old, with very wide spreading roots. Once a month in summer, very deep soaking is fine with them.
But all the ones I have planted over the time I have been here have all required careful attention to keeping the root zone moist, and knowing where the root zone is! In a container, this is pretty easy, but in the ground...be nice to have X-ray vision sometimes!
Sure enough. The second round of blooms was fruitful. We will have probably 50-60 fruits from this little 3' tree.
Wow! What a productive little plant!
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