Citrus Update 1/14/2012

With the new year I have grown my citrus garden a little bit. On my last post I showed you a video update of most of my plants, but I wanted to follow up on how my citrus plants are doing.

I have also decided to move them around to a sunnier place of my sunroom.

So lets take a look at some picture highlights of my citrus.

Meyer Lemon Tree Buds

 The first few pictures here are of my Meyer Lemon Tree. The buds are continuing to grow and I keep finding tiny ones all over the place. As you can see in this picture there is one large one and a few others following right behind.  I hope that these open up in the next week or so.  As I mentioned earlier in the post I have moved them to a slightly better spot where they should get more sun.

I still have something chewing on the leaves but I'm determined to catch it tonight and get rid of it.

Meyer Lemon Tree Buds

Meyer Lemon Tree Bud

If you look at this picture above you'll see that there are actually three buds there. The big one, a tiny one and another larger one above hiding behind a leaf. This is not the same cluster of buds as the picture below.

Meyer Lemon Buds

Meyer Lemon Leaf Sprouts

 These two pictures here are great as you can see the tree is trying to grow some new leafs and another cluster of buds as well.  I am very happy with the Meyer Lemon Tree. It has grown well, (took about 4 days to settle into new soil and climate), but now is doing rather well. I honestly wish it was in more of a tree form as apposed to a bush form as the leafs get tangled a bit, but its ok.  I'm sure the new growth will start to grow the plant upwards a bit.

Meyer Lemon Tree bud and leaf

Look at this tiny bud. I found it yesterday. I know you can't tell in the picture but this is about an inch off the ground. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it does.

Small Meyer Lemon Bud

 Now we're moving on to my Navel Orange plant. I forget which variety, but this is a smaller Navel than the orange you see at the supermarket. Also, this variety tends to fruit at a much younger age than the traditional Navel. This plant is currently about 12 inches tall and as you can see there are some nice buds forming. Personally I don't think the plant is large or old enough to support a fruit, but it will be nice to see the flowers bloom.

Navel Orange Buds

Navel Orange Buds

Ok, so I snuck in the LEMON guava plant in this update. I know it's not a citrus, but it's close enough.
This plant is almost 19 inches tall and is growing well. I will make sure to put a stick in there to keep it upright as it is starting to get top heavy. There are signs of buds near the top, which I forgot to take pictures of, but I think those are just new leafs. I could be wrong. So for now you can enjoy some leaf shots and mid section shot as well. The plant is very healthy and will support colder weather than the citrus plants. Its fruit is the size of a large grape and they are supposed to taste like lemon/guava but a tad sweeter. The lady at Logee's highly recommended it. So I can't wait to see it grow further.

Lemon Guava Leaf

These are the two buds on the Lemon Guava plant. I'm going to have to keep en eye on them. I'm not sure if these are going to be fruit or new leaves. I'm sure that in a week I'll be able to see some more growth.

Lemon Guava bud

Lemon Guava bud

Lemon Guava Leaf

Lemon Guava plant.

 One shot from above of the navel orange plant. The plant is just starting to show signs of adapting to the new soil and climate.

Navel Orange Buds.

My Nagami Kumquat plant is doing well although I haven't seen much change in it. This one is almost 24 inches tall and has 4 fruit on it. You can see each of them in the following pics. Two have a lot of yellow and the other two still have a lot of green. I have moved this plant to a sunnier spot hoping the sun will help it ripen. I've been told that at this stage they won't fully ripen until early February. That's ok, I can wait. Also this is meant to be eaten whole, skin and all. The skin/rind is supposed to be sweet and the flesh/fruit inside is tart which makes for an interesting flavor. Depending on what stage of ripeness you get it the better it tastes. So it might take some trial and error to know exactly when to pluck it for best flavor. The Kumquat does not ripen once its off the plant so you must pick it when its fully ripe or when it tastes how you want it to.

Nagami Kumquat Fruit

Nagami Kumquat fruit

Nagami Kumquat fruit

Nagami Kumquat fruit

I am really enjoying growing my citrus and plan on maybe getting another plant at Logees today. I have my eye on the Miracle berry as supposedly it makes all things sour taste sweet! But, if I do go I'll be sure to update you guys on what I get or don't get.