advice on lemon trees in tubs required

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Posted by PhilC on January 30, 2009, 12:48 am
 
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G'day to the group .
Situation : Hot dry  climate in wheat belt Mid West WA


1 Wish to grow Lemon Trees in Tubs  to produce fruit

2 Thus advice needed on type of tub material  old 44's ok ?
Or commercial plastic large ones  or ceramic ? Both very expensive out here

3 Wish to grow about ten trees  which will be later moved  to new home
due for completion  in late 2010  and form  part of a planned garden
Under some shade as summer temps here reach up to near 50  and 30 +
straight days over 40 are not unusual   ground temps  also a killer
unless heavily watered and mulched


Types of soil preferred by lemons in such conditions and any other
advice much appreciated .

Cheers


Posted by Jonno on January 30, 2009, 8:37 am
 44 half drum  OK . Full drum too heavy and too deep.(thoroughly cleaned),
Soil, suggest :Add a good grade potting mix with added cow manure and well
mulched.
A few drain holes and pebbles in the bottom for drainage.Raised of the
ground.
And yess, make sure theyre well shaded in hot weather and well watered, but
not with wet feet...
Liquid fertiliser until establised.
Talk to your nursery man as well as to suitable varieties.




Posted by David Hare-Scott on January 30, 2009, 4:49 pm
 Jonno wrote:

Ten tubs will take many bags, which will take much mixing and be expensive.
I would get good loamy soil delivered in bulk if possible.  Do the sums,
half a 44gal drum is about 100l.


Agreed, tubs, even big ones, dry out much faster than the ground.  You may
need to water daily in extreme heat. And mulch their tops.  And cluster them
together to get mutual shading of tubs.


I suggest a number of different cultivars.  This will give you fruit at
different times of the year and allow for some to do better or worse in
various conditions

David



Posted by Totoblue on January 30, 2009, 11:16 pm
 David Hare-Scott wrote:


If large commercial self-watering pots are out of budget , two things.  I
believe you can buy a kit to retrofit an existing pot (but I suspect they
are probably out of budget as well).

Secondly, you could make your own self watering pot from a recycled
container.  It just requires a hole in the side to let excess water out,
say a few inches from the bottom, then a supported water-resistant mesh of
some sort to keep the soil out of the water.  You could also add a piece of
19mm ag pipe from the top for watering (or just let it trickle down).  The
plant will put the odd root into the water but not enough to get wet feet
and die.