Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

11 ft 6 in

In-row spacing

11 ft 6 in

Between rows

14 ft 9 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Fruit · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Full sun: outdoors for summer, under cover for winter.

Watering

Rainwater regularly — moist through summer, drier through winter.

Feeding

Citrus feed every two weeks in summer, switching to a winter feed from October to March.

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

March

Pruning

Prune in spring for shape, and rub out any suckers below the graft.

Overwintering

Overwinter at 7-12°C somewhere bright and cool.

Through the year

• Feb–Mar Bud Break
• Mar–Mar Spring Growth
• Mar–Apr Flowering
• Apr–Nov Fruit Set
• Nov–Dec Harvest
• Dec–Dec Growing
• Jan–Feb Growing

Pests & problems

• Leaf miners Citrus leaf miner tunneling the young growth
• Mealybugs Mealybugs in the leaf axils
• Scale insects Scale insects on the stems and under the leaves
• Spider mites Red spider mite where the greenhouse runs warm and dry
• Sooty mold Sooty mold, following on from the sap-suckers

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
  Hunts Scale insectsMealybugsSpider mites

  The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Hoverfly Syrphidae
  Hunts Scale insectsMealybugs

  Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

  Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
• Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCloverCosmosGoldenrodSweet alyssum
• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum
• Parasitic wasps Braconidae & Trichogramma
  Hunts Leaf miners

  Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.

  Plant nearby CilantroDillFennelLovageParsleySweet alyssumYarrow
• Predatory mites Phytoseiulus & Amblyseius
  Hunts Spider mites

  Fast orange mites that hunt spider mites egg-by-egg, and cousins that clear thrips and fungus-gnat larvae. Sold as a biological control for greenhouses; outdoors they follow humidity — mist and mulch, don’t dust with sulfur.

• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Spider mites

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme