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Foliar spray

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CanadianCitrus:
Hello all!

Winter is rolling around here in Canada (6 inches of snow where I live) and I am trying to give my 3 plants the best chance to thrive/survive the winter. I have 1 Eureka lemon, 1 navel orange and 1 key lime. I fertilize them once a month with a 30-10-10 water soluble fertilizer with minerals. . I understand that citrus are heavy nitrogen feeders. Can I use my same 30-10-10 fertilizer as a foliar spray to try and give the plants some extra nitrogen to help keep them thriving over the winter? Or should I go with something else?

Thanks!

brian:
You might not need much fertilizer over the winter in canada as you likely won't see much growth.  You should be fine using your liquid fert as foliar if you reduce the concentration.  I believe I've read foliar fert is absorbed at 10x the rate compared to through roots, so you'd use 10% of the concentration.  Also I've heard foliar feeding of iron-containing fert isn't recommended.  I've done foliar feeding with a liquid fert that contains a small amount of iron though with no issues.  I don't know what a safe amount is, could never get a clear answer.

CanadianCitrus:
Could I use something like a blood meal that is 12-0-0 NPK in the form of a foliar feed? Obviously I would dilute it, but I wonder if that would work.

Tom:
I think you’d be making a huge mistake to fertilize this late in Canada or anywhere you’d have frost in the northern hemisphere this late in the year.

CanadianCitrus:
I totally agree on the weather conditions with respect to a northern climate. Due to my geographical location in Canada, it gets rather cold for longer periods of time. My plants can only be outside for around 3 months (4 if I am lucky) per year. I have two CFL bulbs (55 and 42 watts) feeding my 3 small plants. My eureka lemon is still budding new leaves and my key lime is flowering.

With signs of new growth still happening and the protection of being indoors, would it still be safe to do a bit of foliar feeding as there is no risk of frost damage?

Many thanks!

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