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Now you know a Meyer Lemon can be a bonsai tree. You can grow one in a 12-15 gallon container I personally would look at a 25 gallon container. They can very easily produce more Lemons than you can eat in a 25 gallon / 5ft tree.Originally Posted by SuperDave336
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I’m going to up pot my Owari Satsuma into a large pot this year. Think I’ll jump straight to a big one.
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Prune it to the size you want and it will keep that size. I cut mine back every year. Thinning the small blooming branches helps fruit size increase.
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Propagating More Fig Trees
SuperDave336 sent me some awesome Fig tree cuttings and since the loft in our home stays very warm during the winter months I decided to do the "Fig Pop" propagation to them. Fig Pop Propagation was invented by a Fig enthusiast and if done correctly works 100% of the time.
I start out by mixing a Rooting Medium. My favorite is Coco Coir (Coconut Fibers that have been buffered to a neutral PH then pressed into a dry brick) mixed with Perlite and Vermiculite. The hydration to the coconut fibers is till you can almost squeeze water out in your palm. It's best to hydrate the day before than right before using. Your Pruning Shears should be disinfected with Alcohol before using on the cuttings. I have rubber bands, Rooting Hormone, a small Artist's paint brush, plastic Poly bags, a trash can, and another container to put the finished Fig Pop's in so they stack the way they will stay.
Clonex is my "go to" rooting hormone as it really works. Never dip you paint brush directly into the container always pour a little out for use. I use a disposable drinking water cap as a little goes a long way.
I first fill a Poly bag as deep as I think is needed for the length of the cutting to bury 2 nodes of the cutting and leave a 3 inches of dirt under the bottom of the cutting once inserted. My little shovel is a piece of 1-1/2 PVC cut on a 45 degree angle. After shaking the bag to pack the medium I trim off the excess top of the bag and make a hole in the center of the medium for fig cutting insertion using #3 Phillips screwdriver.
Over the years of doing this process I have learned a aggressive score on the fig cutting yields the fastest & strongest root growth. You can see in the picture I scraped off bark all the way to the wood on both sides of the cutting base. The cuts are then painted with Clonex. The picture has a old fertilizer scoop with Clonex in it but I switched to the cap as the scoop kept rocking around. Any thing works that keeps you from dipping your brush directly into the bottle.
I place the rubber band around the cutting and the top of the bag sealing in the moisture then just lay the Fig Pops on the table till stacking in the eventual rooting container.
You want to have whatever container you plan to use full so the Fig Pops are standing straight up so when the buds break the new growth grows straight up. I've tried this with other types of fruit trees and it doesn't work, only on Fig cuttings.
A teaser for later, I am Topworking 3 Mayhaw trees very soon so here is the scion graft wood harvested and bagged up for the fridge. A post to follow soon.
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Woohoo, they look great. Hope they all root and grow amazingly for you.
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33 of The Fig Cuttings are Ready to Pot
A little over 3 weeks to have 33 fig tree cuttings ready to pot. The heavy scoring of the Scions is the secret to the fast rooting. I Fig Popped over 60 cuttings and almost every one has roots showing just not the amount of these.
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Not Slowing Down Today 33 Figs are Potted
I save exhausted potting mixes just for task like this. You can't have fertilizer or even compost on the initial up potting of the rooted fig cuttings as it will burn the little roots. The is the potting mix I grew bell peppers in last spring. It is very used up nutritionally speaking.
Up potting like this I like to lay out the cuttings then place one in a pot as I write the variety on the side of the pot. Keeps me from making any kind of mistake.
Getting a pot laid out on the opposite side for easy working.
I mark the Variety on the side as I place the cutting in.
Till each cutting is in a pot ready for the next step.
From this point I can run thru and pot up all the little trees very quickly.
Lots more to do, I expect by next week another 30 or so should be ready to up pot.
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Top Working Citrus Trees
For fresh squeezing citrus fruit my favorite is the Page Mandarin. I have 2 Page trees already but one hardly fruited last year as the tree was still in shock from being thrown in the tornado several feet landing on it's side. Citrus trees don't like just being moved around this particular Page tree went into shock and stayed there. I had a container with a Key Lime (fast growing root system) and a Persian Lime (slow growing root system). The Key Lime just aggressively grew chocking off the slow growing Persian Lime. I have another Persian Lime (my preferred) that is on a fast growing root system and produces more Limes than I can possibly use. 2 Valencia Orange trees were grown for a later spring citrus but they are processing oranges and taste like cheap orange juice sold in the grocery stores. I need more Page trees so I can squeeze and freeze enough Page Mandarin juice to last a year.
The first picture is the Lime tree container with both trees rough cut preparing for Topworking. The second container is a Valencia orange that I already rough cut.
This is another Valencia tree that I have already Topworked the 2 grafts growing well but the root system pushing more Valencia shoots. To direct all the growth to the existing grafts I need to cut the balance of the Valencia wood off.
After cutting the tree trunk in the desired spot the ragged cut needs slicing smooth. I use an old Butcher knife for that. If you look at the pictures closely you can se I shaved cleanly the bark all the way around. This extra detail really helps the bark callous over well.
Splitting the bark with my grafting knife first to insert the Page Mandarin Scion I prepared for grafting. I then insert the scion to a depth leaving a bit of the tapered cut on the Scion above the tree trunk.
Here is a larger trunk that I put 3 Page Scions in. It shows the shaving of the bark smooth well.
How to prep all the Scions for Bark Grafting no matter the tree. Using first years growth is always desirable but I have almost 100% success with 2nd years growth. I like to make the tapered cut on the opposite side of the buds on the Scion I want to grow.
I had a hard time getting the phone to focus here but you can see I do a back cut on the opposite side of the scion to ensure some Cambium Tissue contact when the Scion is inserted.
I extra step I developed on my own that really ups the success rate is scraping gently along the backside bark on each side edge exposing the bright green Cambium tissue increasing Cambium contact dramatically.
My preferred way to finish this type of graft is with Electrical Linerless Rubber Splicing Tape. You stretch it while applying and it self vulcanizes sealing the grafting work as well as starting the compression of the joint.
My go to sealant is Grafting Wax. Bugs leave any joint I graft alone as well as greatly reducing infections in the joint. here I'm using a Candle Warmer for scented candles to warm the wax enough to be applied to the tops of the grafts waterproofing them.
I like to use Rubber Bands to apply the balance of the compression needed for a good graft job to take. Rubber bands on the exterior of the graft reduces solar heat transfer and they breakdown in the sunlight over time just when it's time to remove them anyway. I use to apply them under the aluminum foil of Topworking jobs on Pecan trees but now overlay the Rubber bands so they rot off or loose their tension after a few weeks. Once the grafts are growing out I will post a follow up.
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