Pruning & Feeding

Pruning & Feeding Citrus

Citrus are a beautiful tree and, just like us, they’ll need regular feeding and the occasional trim to keep them happy, healthy, and looking their best. Most of their care is pretty simple, but when it comes to trimming and fertilising, things can get a bit more involved, so we’ve created this whole separate guide for you.

Fertilising Your Citrus Trees

If you’re new to having citrus, or your trees just happen to be struggling, the first thing we’ll ask you is “What do you feed them and how often?”

If you can’t remember the last time you fed your trees, don’t worry; you’re not alone.

Life is hectic and it’s super-easy to forget, especially when your trees generally look happy. Then one day, you might notice they haven’t produced much fruit or they haven’t put on much new growth even though it’s summertime.

That just means it’s time to give them a little attention.

How to Fertilise Your Citrus Trees

Citrus trees are what we call ‘heavy feeders’ and we’ll typically say “A little bit – often” is ideal.

We recommend feeding your citrus 3 – 4 times a year.

• TIP: A good way to remember this is just by doing it at the start of every new season.

In the long term, fertilising creates a nutrient rich soil bed your trees can thrive in for years. That said, before planting, you should work on creating a good foundational soil for your tree to get started in.

When it’s time to feed, remove any mulch and spread your fertiliser evenly on the soil beneath the leaf canopy, but not directly against the trunk.

• Tip: Keep the base of your tree free of grass and other plants. This makes it much easier for you to work, and for your citrus to get the nutrients it needs.

Amounts will vary, depending on the size of your tree and which fertiliser you choose. When in doubt, check the instructions. Often, there will be a recommendation for the amount to use per square metre of tree.

• TIP: For more established trees, don’t be afraid to use up to half a bucket of organic fertiliser.

Don’t worry about digging the fertiliser into the soil. Just water well once you’re done and all that goodness will seep down to the tree roots.

Choosing the Right Fertiliser for Your Garden

Good old-fashioned blood and bone or the classic chicken or cow manure are great starting points for feeding.

A product we stock and recommend is called Organic Life, though you can also use similar products like Dynamic Lifter, Who-Flung-Dung, etc.

These are what we consider ‘complex’ fertilisers. While many of them are created on a base of manure, they also contain trace elements and minerals to kick your citrus into gear. Because they’re organic, they’re nice and easy for your tree to absorb and, if you accidentally overfeed, they won’t harm your trees roots like some chemical-based fertilisers might.

• Tip: We often recommend alternating the type of fertiliser you use. Much like us, your citrus trees will appreciate a little change in diet.

Fertilising Citrus in Pots

Potted citrus also require regular feeding 3 -4 times per year, much like citrus in the ground.

You can use the same products mentioned above and spread a light covering over the entire surface of the soil, careful to avoid getting it right up against the trunk.

Alternatively, liquid or chemical fertilisers are another option you can use. These products often have less odour which is ideal for apartment balconies if you’re concerned about neighbours complaining.

There are liquid feeds, like Richgro Black Marvel, or for granular, slow-release pellets, you can try Scotts Osmocote Citrus.

• Tip: Granular, or ‘bead’ fertilisers like Osmocote are typically heat-activated and will usually need the hot summer weather to really kick in.

Keep in mind, you may need to switch up the diet for your potted trees, especially if you’re not seeing much result with liquid or slow-release foods.

Pruning Your Citrus Trees

Unlike many other fruit trees, citrus don’t actually need annual pruning to encourage fruit production. They can be left for a few years at a time and still produce a good amount of fruit pretty reliably.

Sounds great, right? Music to our busy ears! Of course, that being said, there are a few still reasons you might need to prune your trees.

• To help maintain a neat, easily accessible shape
• To keep the tree a certain size
• To improve airflow and reduce deadwood on the inner parts of the tree where sun can’t reach

When considering pruning, it’s important to think about fruit production so you don’t accidentally remove potential fruit.

Minor trims can be done at any time, taking care to avoid trimming during heatwaves. However, the best time to prune is immediately after a tree has fruited. This gives it plenty of time to recover and still produce the following season.

Getting Serious with Major Pruning

Once in a while, there may come a time when you have to hard prune your tree. This is typical with an old or neglected tree, or one that’s been heavily plagued by insects or diseases.

• Tip: You can find more info on Citrus Pests here and Citrus Diseases here if this is the case.

If the tree is old and ugly and hasn’t fruited well for years, you might just want to attack it with a chain saw and hack it right back to the main fork.

Sounds a little drastic, we know, but the tree was useless as it was, so you kinda have nothing to lose, right?

Doing this means you’ll definitely lose the following year’s fruit, but it might just give your old tree a new lease on life which is a win-win for both of you.

• Tip: The best time for this kind of prune is late winter to early spring so your tree has a nice warm spring and summer to recover.

Once it starts to re-shoot, fertilise it well and water regularly. Often, the tree with comeback better than ever and continue producing fruit for many more years.

If you’re a little nervous, check out what our boy, Mark (and Costa!) have done to our grapefruit tree! Hopefully that gives you a bit of courage.

Pruning for Hedging and Topiary

If you’re a little bit creative and feel like doing something a bit fancy, you’re in luck; citrus are very adaptable and can be trained and pruned into a variety of fun shapes. Most often, we’ll see them pruned into standards (or lollipop shape) which lends to quite a formal topiary aesthetic.

You can also plant citrus close together and, with regular pruning, you can create a lovely, dense fruiting hedge.

If you’re planning a citrus hedge, remember that citrus trees can vary pretty wildly in growth habits. Some will be naturally taller than others, while some will be more naturally dense.

For a more consistent screen, consider trees that will grow to the same full height, like Meyer lemons and Tahitian limes.

• Tip: For a better effect, plant young trees closer together. It’ll be easier to control their shape from a young age. It’ll take time, but the resulting hedge will be much denser.

Espaliered Citrus

As living spaces get smaller, espaliered citrus is becoming a much more attractive optons for smaller gardens, courtyards or balconies.

• Tip: What even is espalier? It’s when a tree or plant is pruned and shaped flat against a supporting object, like a wall, fence, or lattice.

Espaliered trees are a labour of love and patience. All varieties of citrus can be used, though we usually recommend starting with a full size (non-dwarf) tree as they tend to grow a little faster.

Getting started is just a case of tying the new growth back against your lattice or trellis, and pruning off any forward growth that can’t be tied back.

This creates a relatively flat plant and keeps the fruit right up front for easy access.

If you like the idea of this, but dread getting started, don’t fret! We have some ready-made which you can find more info about here.