Citrus (Calamondin) problem - wilts

[md0u80a2]

Hi

I propogated 15 seeds from my calamondin plant at the end of last summer.

All grew with most happily stopping at a few inches (I assumed due to dropping light levels) but one took off and is now 8 inches tall with a main stem becoming bark like and big leaves. I have potted it on as I have gone along and it is now in a 6 inch pot in citrus compost.

I water once every 10 days as suggested online, but sometimes towards the end of that period it starts to wilt. I then give water and the leaves come back within a few hours.

Is my pot not big enough or I am watering incorrectly?

thanks

Morris

[starloc]

You cant ever water on a schedule, the only way to water them is to check how wet it is in the pot, feel down in the pot a couple of inches to check if it is dry, when it is water it, its best to edge on underwatering as you know you are not overwatering!, overwatering is the usual way to die for a citrus plant
6 inch is large enough for a plant that size, they grow in stages, they grow roots, then grow leaves, then roots ,in a larger pot it may take slightly longer befoe they grow as they may grow more roots first between growth spurts, but growth will usualy be quicker , i have much larger plants in 6 inch wide pots, 3 foot high seedlings and they are fine

[starloc]

I often water mine when i notice them start to wilt, as then i know they are not overwatered, dont let them dry out too much though

[miss_corerupted]

i have 1 of these just in normal compost. I didn't realise i needed citrus compost!!! will it be ok? what is the diff

[starloc]

Theres loads of compost mixes for citrus, general compost or soil is not so good,

Over 50% of citrus plants die in the first 6 months due to overwatering with a poor draining compost, its not the water that kills them its the lack of air, if there is no air in the compost mix the roots will rot.

They need the pH to be correct to take in nutrients, most times an acid loving compost will work as its close to the correct pH, The main problem is not that though, even citrus composts sold in shops are not particularly good at drainage , you need a lot of air inside the compost, its now normal to grow them in strange compost mixes containing no real compost, such as perlite , CHC (coconut husk) , or the bark chips sold for growing orchids , its best to add between 1/3 and 1/2 of the mix as spagnum moss to prevent the plants being too dry, to water them mix up the citrus fertiliser in a bucket ( at a temperature of about 80F ) and slowly lower the pot into the bucket of water, with CHC and perlite leave it in there for a few minutes (not more than 3 or 4 minutes), then take the pot out the water should stop just rush out of the pot and just drip a litle after a few seconds , you need it so free draining that if you pour water in the top of the pot to water it runs out of the bottom before you can fill the pot up (hence why you need to water in a bucket as you eed to be sure all the compost is wet right through)

Once wet right through though, you need to water only when its dry a couple of inches down the pot, never just pour a little bit on here and there or they will get root rot and die

I have tried a few comercial citrus composts and they all seem to hold too much water

For germination of seeds i use horticultural lime free sand,
Once germinated i use 50/50 perlite and acid loving compost

On larger plants i use all sorts of mixes

Coconut husk (CHC) 100% (in 1/4 inch chips):
Needs to be pre soaked in water for a couple of days, rinse, then soak in a mix of ( per gallon of water ) 1oz of epsom salts and 1oz calcium nitrate , for a day or so, the added salts in the water act as ion exchange resins to remove salts from the coconut husk

Coconut husk tends to need watering every day in the summer, so to make it last about a week i add 1/3 acid loving compost into it, to make it hold a bit more water, perlite does the same as the compost though

You can grow in pure perlite, but again needs watering every few days, mied with 50/50 acid loving compost is better, perlite doesnt dry as much as CHC though

CHC or bark chips, can be mixed 30/30/30 , acidloving compost, chips, sphagnum moss, drains quickly and holds water well as well, but tends to deteriorate quite quickly

You need no lime in the compost, slightly acid pH and realy high pore space in the compost so it drains realy quickly

[drichard12]

starloc posted some sound information worthy of following, Many failing tree's an plants will also responded well to having bottom heat applied to the root system 22C-18C should be good.