Why has my Sugar Belle stopped growing?

[FruitGrower]

Citrus plants, in my experience, go to sleep for a bit when planted in ground. It's a combination of root shock, and awareness that they're no longer constrained and will focus on root growth instead of top growth.

The severity of the shock will determine how long it's asleep. If it's bad enough that you get leaf drop, you'd pretty much waiting until next season for anything to happen other than mild leaf growth.

Just be careful not to overfeed during this period, as it can actually make the issue worse.

Too much water can also stunt growth, though I'm not sure how much of an issue that would be with how sandy your soil appears to be.

My experience was similar. Although I didn’t plant in ground, I did up-pot significantly, from 15 to 35 gal. I did that in mid to late January and it didn’t recover till I wrote you in May, more than 3 months later. What’s done is done but next time I would give it a chance to recover. Hope your new one works out!

[FruitGrower]

Citrus plants, in my experience, go to sleep for a bit when planted in ground. It's a combination of root shock, and awareness that they're no longer constrained and will focus on root growth instead of top growth.

The severity of the shock will determine how long it's asleep. If it's bad enough that you get leaf drop, you'd pretty much waiting until next season for anything to happen other than mild leaf growth.

Just be careful not to overfeed during this period, as it can actually make the issue worse.

Too much water can also stunt growth, though I'm not sure how much of an issue that would be with how sandy your soil appears to be.

[FruitGrower]

Citrus plants, in my experience, go to sleep for a bit when planted in ground. It's a combination of root shock, and awareness that they're no longer constrained and will focus on root growth instead of top growth.

The severity of the shock will determine how long it's asleep. If it's bad enough that you get leaf drop, you'd pretty much waiting until next season for anything to happen other than mild leaf growth.

Just be careful not to overfeed during this period, as it can actually make the issue worse.

Too much water can also stunt growth, though I'm not sure how much of an issue that would be with how sandy your soil appears to be.

My experience was similar. Although I didn’t plant in ground, I did up-pot significantly, from 15 to 35 gal. I did that in mid to late January and it didn’t recover till I wrote you in May, more than 3 months later. What’s done is done but next time I would give it a chance to recover. Hope your new one works out!

[FruitGrower]

Delete

[Seanny]

Sounds like we should air-layer Sugar Belle to use as rootstock.

[1rainman]

Sugar bell is not nearly as vigorous or disease resistant as poncirus, sour orange or a hybrid like swingle.

[Calusa]

My replacement Sugar Belle arrived yesterday, and it's going in the ground today. I'll do my best to not screw this one up. 

[Galatians522]

Sounds like we should air-layer Sugar Belle to use as rootstock.

There has actually been some research done on that by University of Florida.

[Calusa]

FYI, for those who know about citrus rootstocks - my Sugar Belle has a US897 rootstock which I understand produces a dwarf or semi-dwarf tree. It doesn't appear that this rootstock makes the tree more HLB tolerant.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1308

https://citrusrootstocks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/US-897.pdf

[Calusa]

It's been two weeks since I repotted the tree and it now has new growth shooting out from almost every node. And the foliage is looking nice and green.

So the original planting in the ground, coffee grounds, etc that apparently over-acidified the soil was the problem. I'm gonna let this one live in that 5 gal pot for a year or so then find a spot in the yard for it.

[1rainman]

Just dig a big hole and fill with potting soil and a little of the native soil when you plant. No bark or mulch. Even when you fertilize it just washes through sand. Sand won't hold nutrients. Then the plant will consume the organic material and it turns back to sand so you have to add compost every year but it helps hold nutrients and water and also root nematodes live in sand. Sand is good for it but the pure sand or nearly pure sand found in Florida sucks for growing things. The secret is massive amounts of compost/potting soil.

[Seanny]

You could grow good trees in pure sand if you follow the rain forest.
Pile up compost and mulch.
Flash flood the top to wash nutrients down.
Don’t do the lame ass drip system unless you do fertigation.

[1rainman]

Speaking from experience the big hole filled with good dirt works really well but after that I was talking about dumping a little cow compost or something on the top once a year. Florida gets flooding rains in summer. Winter you can drop it or flood it.

Plants will grow like a rocket in Florida with good dirt and regular water and fertilizer but without it they struggle. And partial shade is usually best.

[Calusa]

So, as I reported in mid-June my Sugar Belle that I repotted was putting on some very nice, luscious growth and contimued to do so until about 2 weeks ago. Then one side of the tree began to wilt and droop, then a week later the other half wilted. No brown edges or discoloration on the leaves, no insects and nothing obvious to cause this. The tree is now dead. I examined the roots today after I pulled it out of the pot and they look perfectly normal to my eye. Any ideas about this mystery?

[Galatians522]

Wilting and death on one side of a plant is a symptom of fusarium. Not sure if citrus gets it or not.

[Calusa]

Wilting and death on one side of a plant is a symptom of fusarium. Not sure if citrus gets it or not.

This seems quite possible after reading this article. Thanks!

A review of Florida citrus blight and its association with soil edaphic factors, nutrition and Fusarium solani

Blight is an important disease of citrus and is the most serious disease of this crop in Florida, a major citrus producer. The disease affects the xylem of the tree and symptoms are those associated with water stress. Interveinal zinc‐deficiency occurs in young leaves on a branch and eventually spreads until the whole tree is affected. Wilt occurs in areas on the tree. Fruits are usually normal in appearance but reduced in size, and sometimes irregular in shape. Blighted trees also have fibrous dry root rot symptoms and Fusarium solani appears to be associated with those symptoms. In Florida there appears to be a relationship between blight occurrence and shallow soils. Studies indicate that soil moisture stress, unfavourable drainage and poor rooting volume unfavourably affect root growth and development in shallow soils. It is thought that the cause of blight is a complex of factors involving soils and their management and Fusarium solani. Ammonium nitrate predisposes roots to infection by F. solani and it is thought that this might happen in the field when ammonium nitrate fertilizers are commonly used. Ammonium forms of nitrogen are required by the fungus for toxin production. Chemical control methods have not proved very successful. It is suggested that effective control might be achieved by planting tolerant rootstocks in well‐drained soils with timely applications of lower rates of fertilizers. Also irrigation measures that reduce soil moisture stress around the roots should be practised.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09670878209370749?journalCode=ttpm19