Citrus At Monbulk

Since I killed my Lemon tree here in 1998 by clearing the plants in front of it that were given it the protection from the cold winds, I have done lots of research to look at cold climate varieties.

It is easy to grow most citrus as long as you supply their needs:

The first being good drainage, if you have clay lift them up by planting in a mound and filling the hole with good compost.

No.2 is to give them a good mulch to protect their shallow root system.

No.3 feed them with a high Nitrogen fertilizer, this is one plant that likes the chook poo, just put it on top of the mulch so you don’t burn the roots.

No.4 watch the cold winds till the plant is established, they really can handle any weather once established. 

This work has resulted in us now planting about 28 different varieties, including lemons, limes, cumquat, tangelos, mandarins, grapefruit, oranges & native Limes.

The only one I haven’t  give a go here is the west Indian lime which really is a tropical Lime tree.

We have recently started selling some cold climate Citrus at our market stall, currently we have the following varieties on Trifoliata rootstocks.

  Okito Wase Mandarin Daisy Mandarin Fukumoto Navel Orange Rio Red Grapefruit   More will be available in 2009