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Garden

Fruiting short-circuits in this Persian lime tree

By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published August 26, 2006

My Persian lime tree bears fragrant white flowers and limes the size of a ladybug. Then it's all over. It has been in the ground about six years and is 10 feet high, with a canopy that large. I would love to know why it never produces mature fruit. I have tried various fertilizers, but I have also tried leaving it alone.

Let's try to eliminate some possible reasons for fruit drop.

* Does your tree get ample water, especially in winter's dry season? Dry soil can cause fruit drop.

* Is it in full sun? Citrus trees struggle in heavy shade.

* Is it exposed to lawn chemicals? Herbicides can adversely affect trees, including citrus.

* Have you ever given it dolomitic limestone? Citrus trees do not like heavily acidic soil, so common in central Florida. Lots of dollarweed, oxalis looks like clover with small pink or yellow blooms and nut sedge around it may indicate acid soil.

* Have you given it only chemical fertilizers? Get a 50-pound bag of Calf Manna from the Manna Pro Corp. (available at feed stores). Spread it evenly on the soil beneath the tree, away from the trunk and out toward the drip line, where feeder roots will be numerous. Water deeply right away to disintegrate the pink pellets (so squirrels and birds don't scarf them up). When they decay into the soil they will give your tree a very thorough, all-natural feeding.

* Are you watering with soft water or reclaimed water? Both have high sodium levels that ravage a great many plants, including citrus.

* Lastly, I have to wonder if you bought a grafted plant that has now reverted to a rootstock plant. Did you have a hard freeze when your tree was young? That can damage the graft. The development of vicious thorns is a sign of reversion to rootstock. Rootstock citrus strains can be very reluctant to set fruit.

Spinach from potatoes

I was glad to read that there's a spinach we can grow here in spring and summer, but I can't find the surinam spinach you mentioned. Where can I get a starter plant? I'm also interested in starting asparagus.

Any sweet potato will give you excellent summer "spinach," though the Filipino white sweet potato produces the most abundant crop. If you can't find a Filipino gardener, try buying the white sweet potato called boniato that you see in the Hispanic vegetable section at supermarkets. It's very similar. Plant one in good soil and full sun, and you should be all set.

I am having decent luck with "Martha Washington" asparagus, which is sold by mail order or in bundles now and again at Shell's Feed in north Tampa.

John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com

[Last modified August 24, 2006, 13:07:02]

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