Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Off topic of Aquaponics but seeing as though the connection of pee-ponics is well talked about here I thought it would be a good place to ask the question.

I have 2 lemon trees planted in 400mm round pots and they each get a good "watering" alternatively each day most days. They have, what looks to me like Iron Deficiency, although have added a tblspoon of chelated iron to the pots numerous time and it isn't fixing the problem.

Is there such a thing as too much pee for lemon trees, could it be that I am "watering the lemon tree" too much?

Hey BB,

The pH in the pots needs addressing, no matter how much Iron you add, if the pH isn't correct the plants won't take it up. Test the soil pH, but looking at the photo’s I think you’ll find it’s alkaline and could do with the addition of some Iron sulphate (by Manutec, from Bunnings or garden centre)… this should kill two birds with one stone.

It may not be all pH though, the pots may be too small to maintain a decent root zone temp this time of year, especially if they're plastic, and especially if they're sitting on concrete or pavers. If the root zone is too cold, no matter what the pH is, or how much Iron or "Urea" you add, the plants will not green up.

If you transplanted them into larger, preferably terracotta, pots and kept the soil pH good, they'll have half a chance, or sit the pots directly on dirt where the roots can penetrate down into the surrounding soil, they'll be able to get down to a warmer zone and the pH/nutrient availability may be better than that in the pots. When you want to transplant them, cut the roots that have gone down through the bottom of the pot into the soil, one third around the pot at a time, leave it for a week, cut the next third, then the last third another week later, then move/transplant.

Cheers.

Cheers, I thought it may be the fact they are in plastic pots. One is sitting on river pebbles and the other is sitting on dirt, the one on the dirt does not have as extreme symptoms.

Citrus trees need a twice yearly heavy dose of citrus fertiliser available from hw stores. Once in early spring and again in the autumn I think. And they dont like wet feet so peeing on them every day is probably too much
Andrew or Naree should chime in here as they are the citrus experts

At least thats what the packet says....

I'd be thinking pH more than anything, how long have they been in the pots, and how big are the pots?

Mantis they have had a number of different fertilisers, Thrive citrus feed, chook poo, dynamic lifter, and obviously pee. I water occasionally with AP water too but not often.

EB they have been in the pots about 9months I reckon. They are 400mm diam black plastic pots.
Is there a way to test soil PH using the AP master test kit?
Or should I buy a soil ph test kit.

both will make your soil alkaline and lock out the Iron, among other elements.

When I used to have a Landscaping/Lawn mowing business, I'd get people asking me why their palms were going yellow. In 99% percent of cases they were dumping truckloads of dynamic lifter around their palms. Stop the dynamic lifter, apply some Iron Sulphate and a good quality mulch... within 12 months the palms would be looking good again.



That is probably the best thing you can do, especially if the pH is below 7... if like most, the pH of your AP water is between 6 and 7, I would be watering the citrus with it a couple of times a week. The plants will be getting small, consistent doses of trace elements, plus Nitrates, which citrus luurv, and the pH in the pots should come down also.

I wouldn't be peeing directly on a plant in a pot, maybe too much urea all at once.

Cheers.

The pots might be on the small side too. I have a dwarf myer lemon in a half wine barrel and here it is

Citrus are surface feeders and have mainly surface roots. They do better in short, wide pots which are well mulched to protect the surface roots. I agree it's probably soil pH locking out the nutrients. We have a similar problem with pH about 8.5 in the natural clay, and we're always adding compost to lower the pH. You could try a foliar feed of nutrients to address the problem until you can get your soil pH down.

With yellow leaves that still have green veins indicates to me iron def. and this can be caused by alkalinity but also cold weather which prevents the tree from accessing available iron. Depends where in Vic you are, also pots get colder than soil.

Cold would be a good explanation, if you know Lancefield I will say no more. At about 480m above sea level we get very cold nights. We are actually 110m above Sunbury which is only 30 min down the road.

Just spotted this one Bndy... thanks for the refs Mantis!

Will ask Andrew to reply after work tomorrow... he is the expert for knowing how to grow a good tree and has a lot of growers asking advice, so Im sure he would love to add his opinion to the mix

Cheers, Naree.

I have a Meyer lemon which is by the AP system and regularly get applied with humonia. On a different note, I found this I had saved in my favorites. Some good info.

http://www.greenfingers.com.au/services ... encies.htm

Also you may find this of interest http://www.greenfingers.com.au/store/?fertilisers,28

TO MUCH IRON, BORON CAN SHOW THE SAME. TO BRING DOWN PH IN TREES CITRIC ACID.
ADING IRON, DYNAMIC LIFTER IS GOING TO MAKE A SICK TREE A DEAD ONE THEIS ARE ONLY
CONDITIONERS.
MULCH IS A GOOD THING ONLY IF IT IS BACKED UP WITH CONSTANT TILLING SO ROOT DESEASE DOES NOT ACCURE.
TO MUCH WATER, WET ROOTS BAD.
CITRUS CONVERTS N. DIFRENTLY TO OTHER PLANTS SO PEE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT AND AD MORE NITRIGEN AS SULPHATE.
SEE IF YOU CAN PUSH A PEN IN THE SOIL, IF YOU CAN'T RE-POT IT.
HOPE THAT HELPS TO TIRED TO GIVE FIVE PAGE RESPONSE ANDREW.