Potted Orange Tree Help. Fertilizing

[animefangz]

I purchased a baby orange tree a little less than 2 years ago while in Florida and as of today is has 7 or 11 (I dont remember) small oranges the a little bigger than a dime and it bloomed again. The buds just more or less fell off a a few days ago and a few more oranges are coming in. Because i know i have to fertilize the tree and the fact that more oranges are coming in i was wondering if "Miracle Gro" (something i just happen to have lying around) would work. Here's a link to a picture of it

http://www.coastalfarm.com/images/8oz_Miracle_Gro_Plant_Food.jpg

If this would not work please give me some ideas of what would work.
Also, i live in zone 5 so~, needless to say, this is an indoor tree and i can't use fresh fertilizer...just putting that out there

 

[Raintree]

As rule of thumb I don't fertilize my tropical house plants going into winter. I let them harden off for the season, I'll prune & start the fert again in the spring. If I had an orange tree I would treat it no different.

 

[animefangz]

Ok I'll wait until summer starts until i fertilize it.

Also, anyone else who reads this please still answer because once summer comes i want to know how i would do this.

 

[treemanbrisbane]

Let's talk fertilizer, then.

The main essential plant nutrients are:
oxygen
carbon
hydrogen
nitrogen
sulphur
phosphorus
potassium
magnesium, and
calcium.

Your tree gets the first three from the air and water. The next three have to be from mulch or other organic matter, and your thing about it being an indoor plant doesn't affect that. It needs mulch.

The final three it can gets from the soil, though you can supplement them, too.

When they are fruiting they use more phosphorus. When they are coming into foliage or in a growth phase, nitrogen.

Buying a commercial fertilizer, you'll want to buy one with a ratio slanted for either of these two factors. Also, a little bit of a broad spectrum fertilizer of some sort is often helpful as they usually contain all the trace elements that trees require, in case you're missing any.

 

[Chris Francis]

How do I fertilize my orange tree?

I always recommend to start with a soil sample. That will tell you much about your soil, including nutrient levels and pH. And you can make those adjustments any tome of year so long as you are only adding to the soil what it needs and not overfertilizing. However, you may not have sufficient soil volume available to send enough off to the lab. But, if your plant does not have problems and has never been fertilized, you would likely be fine to use a complete fertilizer to start off with (8-8-8, 10-10-10, 14-14-14). Then, only add what is needed. Your nitrogen will likely disappear the quickest. I clicked on the photo thinking it would be of the tree, but it was not. Your Miracle Gro would probably work fine for a little while. Name brand is not as important as what is in the fertilizer. Look at the chemical makeup. Consider bumping up into a larger pot to give the roots more room (bigger is always better), then you can send some soil off to the lab too.

On a side note, I don't think citrus trees are supposed to be legally moved out of Florida. I think pests are the big concern.

 

[Aristol]

I think there is nothing to do anything speciall with these trees, just let them free as they are for the Winter. As they will need a lot of water an dfertilizers only in Summer, when they will grow even well and quickly.