INTRODUCTION
LOCATION AND PLANTING
WATERING
CARE AND FROST PROTECTION
FERTILIZING
SOIL
SUN AND HEAT
INTRODUCTION
Citrus varieties of all types are well suited to the Arizona deserts, and home growers as well as commercial orchards are growing some of the best tasting citrus anywhere in the world. Standard oranges, pigmented oranges such as blood oranges or cara cara oranges, mandarins, limes, lemons, pumelos, grapefruit, kumquats, tangerines, tangelos, limequats, calamondin, Thai (kaffir) limes are just some of what you can grow in your own backyard.
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LOCATION AND PLANTING
Full sun is best though container planting is possible and will make beautiful patio trees.
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WATERING
Keep moist when first planting but eventually adjust watering so you are watering slowly and deeply once a week in the summer and twice a month in the winter. Established citrus prefers the top soil to dry slightly between waterings.
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CARE AND FROST PROTECTION
Kumquats are the most cold hardy of the citrus with limes being the least. Young trees should be covered during chances of frost or freezes. Don't use plastic, a better product is frost cloth but burlap, sheets and blankets will also do. Remove what ever covering you choose the following morning once the temp. rises above freezing. Limes and lemons make good container plants and will grow and fruit on a patio. Limes due to their frost sensitivity are especially suited for container growing and can easily be protected on cold evening by bringing under the patio or indoors for the night.
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FERTILIZING
Fertilize three times a year with commercial slow release fertilizers, once in February, May and September. Organic fertilizers are great too.
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SOIL
Citrus is well adapted to our desert soil and unless your soil is very rocky or you are container planting you can plant the tree in the same soil that you removed from digging the hole. A layer of mulch several inches deep out to the drip line is recommended to keep the roots moist and cool in the summer. If your soil is very rocky mix mulch with your soil at a rate of 30% mulch to 70% native soil. For container planting use a fast draining soil mix, again cactus/patio mixes are best or a good potting soil amended with sand and or perlite.
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SUN AND HEAT
Plenty of sun is required for proper fruit production and high heat is the key to sweet fruit. Young trees or trees pruned to tree shape exposing the trunk will have to have the trunks painted or wrapped to prevent sunburn. Use tree paint or a regular white house hold latex paint diluted 50% with water. Some leaf scorch is normal towards the end of unusually long or hot summers and cannot be avoided. This is more noticeable in younger smaller trees which could benefit from afternoon shade during the hottest of the summer months but not required in most cases.
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