I put my tree under an Oak which seems perfect, a couple early morning hours of sun and the rest filtered.
How wet do you want to keep them and what ph is best. Also fertilizer schedule would be nice. Thanks for sharing
My tree's leaves are very dark green but the tips of the branches keep dying off and I didn't get much new growth this season.
Thanks Starling, the info you gave is the most detailed I have heard from anyone. Hey one last question can you grow them from
cuttings? I think Waxy could make a small fortune if you could grow your productive one from cuttings?
They actually prefer soil to be more alkaline than acidic, something around 6 is the rule of thumb. Why this should be the case is beyond me, because in the wild their medium is covered in very acidic detritus, so there's something else going on that isn't understood, clearly. If growing in a pot, add a good handful of lime into your mix. As for fertilizer, treat them like any other citrus; chicken manure is excellent and they do respond well to rock flour. If they are grafted they will tolerate heavy soils quite well, most of the varieties sold here are grafted onto Tri rootstock, but I've been told by a commercial grower that this is better suited to colder regions and isn't really ideal for humid tropical/subtropical regions.
You can increase blooming with potash and epsom salts (Magnesium sulfate). Here's a checklist:
a) Place in a spot that is protected from the wind, and is an area of filtered light.
b) ph around 6.
c) Make sure your soil is free draining
d) use fowl manure and rock flour
f)Maintain a consistent soil moisture level. I can't prove it, but I have noticed defoliating after/during periods of flooding.
d) keep the roots cool
e)Try and get a grafted variety. Some seed grown fingerlimes will never produce. My neighbor has one around 2 1/2 M in his yard, it is a perfectly healthy specimen and refuse to fruit regardless of whatever he does to it.
f)The flowers are delicate, and will blow off before setting very easily. Hence the need for a protected spot. In Australia, our native bees which are very small and stingless do a superb job of pollinating them, I'm not sure how well Euro bees achieve the same thing.Waxy doesn't seem to have a problem getting them to set, so it might be a moot point.
g) They will be affected by every pest and disease that affects regular citrus.
They will strike from cuttings, the main issue being that it's very difficult to get budwood in a viable diameter as they are painfully slow growing. Ditto grafting.