Thread: Fruit, Nut, and Vine Grafting, Tree Propagation, Tree Care

Growing Citrus is a easy way to make a tree pay for itself in a couple of years. Container growing Citrus is super easy & rewarding.



The picture above is a St.Ann Satsuma and it is three years old. I bought it as a one year old, didn't let it fruit the next year, and let it fruit last spring. Well as small as it is (they don't grow very big) we got 18 large Satsumas off it this last cycle. You can eat these starting in late August. Owari Satsumas have ripe fruit by the time the St. Ann is done. Owari & Brown Select are the main two Satsumas around here. Both can be grown in pots with potting soil. A 25 gallon pot full of potting soil is very easy to move with a dolly. Now Owari trees can take freezing temps once mature. Here 20-22 degrees and they survive.



Now these trees are Ponkan Mandarins and fruit mid November - mid January. These are about done. I will pick the smaller fruit to share with friends to take the load off the tree. Ponkan's skin is so easy to peel and the fruit is so sweet especially late they can not be squeezed for juice with a Power Juicer but are fantastic to eat right off the tree. The first picture the tree is younger than the second so I thinned the fruit. If you thin citrus you are rewarded with exceptional quality fruit. These can be grown in 25 gallon pots and moved with a dolly. All you do is prune them to keep the size small, the fruit still gets big.



This is one of my Page Mandarin trees, both loaded with fruit this cycle and are the orangest orange flavor of any Citrus. I grow these for fresh squeezed juice from November till I run out of fruit. At the time of posting this I just strip picked all the Page Mandarins left for Power Juicing. I use a distilled water jug to fill with juice and freeze till I run out of what's in the fridge. Not the best for fresh eating as harder to peel, lots of seeds.

In summary having a St. Ann, Owari, & Ponkan (all can be pruned to keep small) starting mid August to mid January, 5 months you can have fresh citrus to enjoy. Roll in the garage when a freeze is on the way or greenhouse if you have one.