Citrus in Western Australia

All of WA is ideal for growing citrus - you just need to make sure you get the variety that suits your climate as most citrus won't tolerate frosts. If you live in a cold part of WA,  grow in pots and move your tree to a warm spot during the winter months. 

• Pick a warm, sunny spot if planting in the garden. All citrus must be grown in full sun otherwise they will not fruit and will be susceptible to disease and insect attack. 
• Citrus don't like heavy soil and need to drain freely around the lower root system. Once they get waterlogged the leaves go yellow, drop off and then gradually die back. Improve soils with quality compost, like Baileys Soil Improver Plus before planting. 
• Citrus make great potted plant. Use Baileys Premium Potting Mix and have the pot raised off the ground to allow for drainage.
•  All citrus trees are surface feeders and do not like root competition from trees or shrubs. They need to be fed little and often every three months. Use a quality all purpose granular fertiliser like Baileys Soil Matters Garden. 
• Citrus can suffer from trace element deficiencies of iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc. For this apply a foliar feed to the tree every two months on top of the granular fertiliser. Baileys Vitaplant is perfect. 
• Citrus are shallow rooted, so one of the keys to success is applying a 50-75m layer of a fully composted mulch, like Baileys Moisture Mulch to citrus year round.
  
• Citrus generally do not require a great amount of pruning. Complete to keep the tree to a manageable size, remove diseased, weak or rubbing branches. Remove any shoots coming from below the graft on grafted trees. These are called suckers and will weaken the strength of the tree. This removal promotes growth of the grafted variety only.
  

• Citrus leaf minor - curly leaves with squiggly lines shows your tree has been hit with Citrus leaf minor.  Spray new growth with an organic oil based spray such as Eco-Oil. Ensure good coverage to top and bottom of leaves and spray every 5-14 days whenever new growth is present  
• Gall wasps - these insects lay eggs in the stem causing swelling.  Best treated by cutting the swelling off and throw in the bin so the eggs don't hatch and cause more troubles. 
• Fruit fly will attack citrus so prepare for their arrival with traps, baits and netting if required.
  
• Don't leave fallen fruit on the ground or hanging branches where the fruit touches the soil, you are asking for fungal diseases to enter the tree.
  
• If your citrus is dropping it's leaves it may be waterlogged, over-fertilised, heat stressed or have a disease such as collar rot.