28-02-2004, 07:03 AM
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citrus questions
The message
from contains these words:
I bought a mandarin orange plant and a grapefruit plant in the summer.
Unfortunately when I went away, they were either over watered or under
watered, because when I came back, they dropped their leaves. After a
little dormant period, they have started to shoot again. I looked
closer today and see that they are shooting from the bottom of the
"trunk".
Now I should explain that I am new to all this (if that wasn't obvious
already). Three quarters of the way up the trunk there is a faint
diagonal line, so I am wondering if this is the graft? I have read
some books and they say when repotting citrus, to make sure the graft
is above soil level. Reading that made me think the graft was quite
low, so I'm not sure; these are a foot high. Does the graft rise as
the plant grows?
On both?
Graft marks stay at approximately the same height, moving upwards only a
little, and most of the growth there is outwards. Grafts tend not to be
a faint mark though.
I know apples for example are grafted. I hadn't realised citrus was.
The thing is, these new shoots are below, what I think may be the
graft. Without waiting months for them to flower and fruit, do you
think that what I am growing is not what I am expecting? What are
citrus grafted onto (and why?).
I've never heard of citrus being grafted, but I've never seen a
commercially-grown one, so that's not to say they aren't.
Is this the best place to ask citrus questions? I saw a couple of UK
gardening groups in Usenet but this seemed the biggest. I thought I
would ask here before posting to the international rec.gardening
group. I visited yahoo groups but that found 120 groups matching
"citrus" though most seemed to have nothing to do with fruit! The ones
that did had only 5-7 members!
How many 'members' depends rather on when and how you access the group.
If you look using google, I expect you'll find many more contributors.
Actually, you might do well to post there as well, as citrus trees,
though grown here since (about) Tudor times, are seldom found outside,
and not the commonest potted trees. Continental and (for instance)
Californian or Floridian gardeners might have a better idea.
I take it you haven't overwintered the trees outside?
However, if your trees grow leaves on top as well as from the base, wait
until they are quite large and then taste them. Citrus leaves taste
somewhat of the fruit they will bear. If the flavours of the top leaves
and the bottom leaves are the same, grafting is unlikely.
--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/
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