Receiving Your Mail Ordered Potted Plants
Your potted plants will arrive in 1 – 2 weeks packaged in a box. Once you receive your package inspect the box for damage. Hold the package upright and open it from the bottom. Pull the box up out of the plant while holding the tree by the container with your other hand. Inspect the plant to make sure it has a good graft union, there are no broken branches, and that the leaves are rigid and in good shape. Our California grown citrus trees are inspected by the CDFA to ensure they are free from the Asian citrus psyllid and HLB. Insects are the most successful organism on earth. Common insects like ants may be present and if so inspect for other common pests. Use an organic horticulture oil such as neem oil regularly to control these pests. Use a hose with a slow flow or dip your plant’s roots in a bucket of water immediately once you receive your plants.
PLANTING OR TRANSPLANTING YOUR POTTED TREE
Site Selection – Choose a location the has at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day and a space that is 6-10 feet and tall.
Materials – You will need planting mix and fertilizer. You’ll also need a shovel and possibly a digging pick or even a compact jackhammer with a clay spade attachment.
PlANTING IN THE GROUND
- Dig a hole 2 feet wide and deep. Mix about half the soil removed from the ground with about 1 cu ft of planting mix and about 1 cup of fertilizer.
- Refill the bottom of the hole with enough planting mix so the tree’s roots will be level with the ground once it is placed in the planting hole.
- Remove the container from the tree’s roots and place the plant in the center of the hole.
- Refill the surrounding of the plant’s roots with the mix and lightly compact the soil.
- Create a berm a few inches tall around the plant’s roots drip zone with the remaining soil that was dug from the ground so there is a nice watering well.
- Spread a layer of planting mix on top of the tree’s roots as a mulch and topdress with a balanced NPK fertilizer.
- Use a hole to flood and saturate the soil around the plant’s roots with water which will also infiltrate the fertilizer into the soil.
Watering Newly Planted
Deeply water your newly planted tree about once to twice a week depending on your soil type and weather conditions such as temperature, wind speed, and humidity. A plants leaf will wilt to shows a lack of water.
Methods of Irrigation
Hose – Watering with a hose is has a low upfront cost, but requires more time and patients. To water deeply once the soil hardens, you must flood the plants watering well and allow the water to drain multiple times so that water saturates the soil a few feet down.
Sprinklers – Place your sprinkler pipes and heads outside the watering well and planting hole with the sprinklers directing wither into the watering wells. Run a sprinkler system with a head that has good water pressure for 15-25 minutes at each irrigation session to provide enough water to saturate most soils a few feet down.
Drip Systems will often need to run for 2 hours to provide deep water.
A Bubbler system with good water pressure can usually deeply irrigate the soil in about 7 minutes unless the water pressure is low.
Measure the amount of water that emit from your irrigation heads per minute regardless of the type of irrigation system installed to help determine how long to run your system.
FERTILIZING YOUR FRUIT TREE
Purchase a balanced specialty fertilizer that will last about a season to feed your tree after planting. Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for quantity. Blood meal and manure are a good source of organic nitrogen. Bone meal is a great source of organic phosphorus, and potash is a common organic potassium input. A soil sample and / or leaf samples will help determine soil nutrient needs.