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Citrus make great specimen trees, as well as being fruit producers, they’re evergreen, have attractive glossy leaves, sweetly scented starry white flowers, followed by bright yellow, orange or red seasonal fruit. 

Citrus should be pretty easy to grow whilst they prefer a warmer climate, most varieties can be grown all over NZ; they’re relatively hardy not suffering too badly from pests and disease.  From Waikato to the north where frosts are light, if at all, they require little protection from environmental conditions, whilst south of these regions, it’s essential to carefully select a north-facing, sheltered site with fertile soil.   Tree will need protection from frost and strong winds until they are established. 

Most citrus cultivars are available as full-size trees, dwarf or standard plants, they can be espaliered, or grown in containers - in cooler climates containers could be moved outdoors for the summer and back under shelter for the winter.

Fruiting times depend on the variety, but most citrus will fruit in the winter – spring months.  You can expect a bumper crop when your tree is around four years old.  A good practice with citrus is to pick off the young fruit in its first year, and in years two and three if any branch is very “heavy:” with fruit, lighten it’s load by removing some of the young fruit, this helps your young tree put its energy into growing strong and healthy plant. 

 

Most citrus are grafted on one of two root stocks. The most common used is trifoliata (TR), which will produce trees to around 3m tall, assists with quantity and quality fruit production, and cold and drought tolerance. The other rootstock is Flying Dragon (FD) which will dwarf the cultivar by approx. one third from those grown on Trifoliata, FD has qualities to promote health plants. 

Situation – Full sun, in a sheltered position.  Citrus need plenty of air movement around them, which will help keep problems to a minimum

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Soil - Fertile/rich soil, free- draining – they don't like wet feet or waterlogged soils.  Make a tree circle around your tree and top up with mulch (not touching the trunk), to help keep the soil structure and the weeds at bay.   In containers use only quality potting mix.

 

Water - in the summer months, when these is little or no rainfall, water weekly. 

Feeding – Citrus are gross feeders, feeding twice annually is recommended, spring and autumn with a citrus-specific fertiliser.  Dig fertiliser in and water well. 

Pruning – Citrus require little pruning, prune to shape your tree, remove dead /damaged branches or to open it up to light and allow better airflow.  In warmer areas prune late winter, and in cooler areas prune before the first frosts.