Saturday, March 15, 2014

Yellow Leaves on the "Bouquets de Fleurs" Citrus Tree

Our "Bouquets de Fleurs" is now forming tiny citrus. I despaired that it would ever form fruit or even flowers, but this year we now have several bunches of fruits.



(Side question...is it properly "des Fleurs" or "de Fleurs". Little Bart says she once knew and now no longer knows.)

Last year, the leaves were getting attacked by thrips and I read that I should just wait it out. The new leaves look fine now.
Pretty sad...yellow leaves.

However, some of the leaves are yellowed. In my horticulture class, I learned that you can tell what nutrient is deficient by the pattern of yellowing. So I will attempt to figure this out.
First stop is UC-IPM and they have "Citrus Diseases and Disorders of Leaves and Twigs".

Now that I've looked at this variety some more, I am wondering if this is not a marmalade citrus. It is a sour orange, as is a marmalade orange. It is listed as Citrus X aurantium 'Bouquetier' group. However, this group is a perfumery variety and the flowers yield Neroli Oil. The fruits can be used to create bigarade and petitgrain oils.

2016 update
This little tree is fabulous for marmalade and for juicing. It is not sweet at all and we use it in place of lemons. Its form is a little poodle-shaped. Kind of cute.

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