Updated 6/10/25: Oviedo, FL Zone 9B/10A

I currently have four citrus trees on my property. I was debating whether to create an individual plant documentary for each or all of them in one post. Well, growing and caring for citrus trees are stressful and a challenge for my patience; so all the citrus trees are potted. I will have it all documented in this post to make it less stressful for me. 😂

Post Outline:

My Citrus Trees
- 1.1. Kaffir/Makrut Lime (potted and about to give up on this tree)
- 1.2. Calomondin (still alive and in the ground)
- 1.3. Meiwa Kumquat (still alive and in the ground)
- 1.4. Vietnamese Pink Lime (died)
- 1.5. Red Orange Navel (rehomed to Hoa’s Nursery)
- 1.6. Sugar Belle (rehomed to Hoa’s Nursery)
- 1.7. Nules Clementine (rehomed to Hoa’s Nursery)
- 1.8. Unknown Mandarin (rehomed)
Potting Mix
Fertilizing: What and When
Leafminer Control
General Information
My Taste Reviews of Other Citrus Fruits

1. My Citrus Trees

1.1. Kaffir / Makrut Lime

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Seller: I purchased my grafted Kaffir/Makrut lime tree from Hoa’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida.

Description: The Thai Kaffir aka Makrut lime tree has strong fragrant leaves commonly used for culinary purposes in Thai and Vietnamese cuisines such as Thai curries and Vietnamese steamed escargot sausages. The Kaffir tree is one citrus tree I must have in my edible garden. You can search for recipes with the use of these kaffir leaves in my blog search box. I have to confessed that my current tree is tree #5 or attempt #5. I rehomed four kaffir lime trees to my friends because I didn’t know how to take care of citrus trees well. I hope I will be able to take care and grow this tree for some years this time.

1.2. Calamondin / Calamansi

Seller: I purchased my Calamondin trees from Hoa’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida and from Nick’s Edibles in St. Cloud, Florida.

Description: Native to Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. Calomondin is the citrus tree that Vietnamese would display during the Tết New Year season. The sour fruit is round about the size of a quarter. It’s a keeper in my garden. I use the fruit juice to make calomondin made for my kids, for my meat marinades, and in a few of my recipes.

1.3. Meiwa Kumquat

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Seller: I bought my Meiwa Kumquat tree at Hoa’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida.

Description: Out of all the kumquats available in United States, it may be the sweetest kumquat variety. But compared to the Chinese Rongan Honey Crisp kumquat, it is not even near as sweet. I have the Meiwa kumquat tree two years and no one in my family likes it. It is sweet but not juicy sweet and has a pulpy texture. I never regretted rehoming my Meiwa kumquat tree. I rehomed the Meiwa to Victor McDaniel in Oviedo, Florida.

1.4. Sharanui Mandarin

6/10/25: I am so disappointed to discover citrus greening on my Sharanui tree that I bought in March 2025. I used a lighter to burn the little pests. There is no cure for citrus green and the tree will eventually die. I am debating whether to take the tree out and dispose it before it spreads to my nearby citrus trees or not.

1.5. Vietnamese Pink Lime (Chanh Đào)

Origin: The Vietnamese Pink Lime (Chanh Đào) is native to Vietnam. My friend Luke in Orlando gifted me this Vietnamese Pink Lime seedling tree. If I give up growing or taking care of this tree, I will give it back to him. Luke does not sell fruit trees. He is a rare fruit tree collector.

Description: Vietnamese Pink Lime tree is known as “Chanh Đào” in Vietnam. This very rare lime tree has a sour fruit with a beautiful pink flesh. Luke’s mature fruiting size Vietnamese Pink Lime tree came from a friend in Houston, Texas. The VPL tree is easy to propagate by air layering. Tree grows true from seeds. Luke has an air layered tree that is bigger in size. I care less about the size or about the fruits. I took the seedling tree and want to document its growth progress. What I love about the VPL tree is that its leaves are smaller than common lime tree but has a strong citrusy fragrant that I can sniff out standing near the tree. Kinda like the fragrant of the Thai Makrut lime leaves, but I think the leaves of the VPL has a stronger scent. The leaves would be great for Vietnamese culinary uses. I will update on the growth progress of this tree once a year.

1.5. Red Orange Navel (Cara Cara)

Seller: I purchased my grafted Red Navel Orange tree from Hoa’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida. 1/3/24

Description: Red Navel Orange AKA Cara Cara is my kids and my favorite orange variety. Red Navel is much sweeter than the regular Orange Navel. I love how my young tree already had three large fruits on it when I bought my tree. Collage below is when my kids and I had a taste of the Red Navel oranges for the first time.

1.6. Sugar Belle

Seller: I purchased my grafted Sugar Belle tree from Xain’s World Nursery in West Palm Beach, Florida. 2/3/24

Description: Sprouts Farmers Market near my house was selling boxes of Florida grown Sugar Belle citrus fruits. I bought a box home for my kids to try. It was somewhat easy to peel for me, but not so much for the kids compared to a Clementine. The flesh was firm and sweet, although not as much sweet like Noble’s Juicy Crunch tangerines. Overall, I do like this citrus variety and will give it a try. Sugar Belle cultivar is also known to have a high resistance to citrus greening. That’s the main reason why I want to give this variety a chance in my garden.

1.7. Nules Clementine

Seller: I purchased my Nules Clementine mandarin tree from Growing in Grace Nursery in Kissimmee, Florida. 2/8/24

Description: I have always wanted to grow a Clementine citrus tree. It’s an easy-peel citrus fruit commonly sold at the markets. I spent an average of $150 buying bags and bags of Clementine mandarins for my kids every year. I hope this tree will produce well. Ummm….I gave up growing this tree and rehomed it to Hoa’s Nursery. It grew healthy and beautifully but I ran out of patience with this tree.

1.8. Unknown mandarin (rehomed)

Seller: I purchased this unknown variety mandarin tree from Van’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida in 2018 for $75. I am not sure if Van is still in business or not. She is an elderly lady.

Description: This was my very first citrus tree I grew being a newbie at growing fruit trees. This mandarin was sweet and juicy with about three seeds per fruit and has green skin at ripen stage. I grew it in the ground for a year. It fruited the first spring in 2019 nicely with about a dozen fruits. My kids loved it. I didn’t know about the leafminers at the time. I thought the damaged infected leaves on the tree means it was sick. So I stripped off the leaves and gave the tree a hard prune like a stick. It never seemed to recover or maybe because I ran out of patience with the tree. So I rehomed it on Facebook Marketplace.

2. Potting Mix

I do not have luck growing citrus trees in the ground. I find it easier to manage water drainage and fertilization when I grow my citrus trees in a pot, at l ast for now since they are still young. The following is my potting mix recipe for all my citrus fruit trees. I find it easiest for me to just pour all the ingredients on my driveway, mix it up, and and fill it in a 25-gallon pot.

2 bags Miracle Grow Citrus Potting Mix
8-quart perlite
1 scoop worm casting
1 bag mushroom compost or Kellogg’s Cow Manure
2 scoop or quarts paver base coarse sand

NOTE: I learn not to add peat moss for potted citrus trees since citrus trees prefer well draining median.

3. Fertilizing: What and When

What fertilizer I use and when I use them:

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I use Sunniland Fertilizer for citrus and avocado trees and mix it into the potting mix when I first plant my new tree in a 15-gallon pot. I am supposed to use a foliar spray as well but working on doing that starting this year. 🤔 I am still learning how to feed and care for my citrus trees. To be updated.

Fertilizer recommendations from other citrus growers:

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4. Leafminer Control

I have been growing citrus trees since 2019 and luckily have not had citrus greening problem. The problem I do have is dealing with leafminer. I tried neem oil. It is only effective for my citrus tree if I am on top of the spraying schedule every two days. I went on a vacation for two weeks and came back to find my Kaffir lime leaves all infected with leafminer infestations.

I did some online research and stumbled upon ISCA website (http://iscatech.com/collections/cirtus-pests). This online company specializes in making and selling leafminer lure boxes (trap box). I bought one starter kit to test it out. It works! The pherome in the lure box eliminated at least 90% of the leafminers problem. My citrus trees can now produce healthy leaves and flowers again. The lure box comes with a pherome that needs to be inserted into a foldable triangular trap box. The pherome secretes a smell that attracts the leafminers to fly into the trap box and get trapped inside a sticky glue trap. This has been a lifesaver for my citrus trees. I hung a box on the high branch of a citrus tree. Each box covers a large area and can last up to three months depending on environmental condition.

The only downside is that I learned not to place my potted citrus trees with the lure box near the sprinkler head that will shoot water into the trap box. I now put my potted trees on my patio or driveway away from the sprinkler system and hand water the potted trees at the base of the tree to avoid water getting into the lure box. When water consistently gets trapped in the lure box, it doesn’t last three months. I am hoping to convert my sprinkler system into into a drip line system.

5. General Information (that I need to remember)

Once citrus trees roots are established and are root bound, I do not have to up pot my trees. I can take the tree out and prune the roots and put it back into the same pot with new potting mix.
Pruning citrus trees will encourage more branching and flowering.
Pruning my citrus trees after fruiting cycle or end of winter is the best time
Light Requirement: All citrus trees need full sun
Watering: I need to water my citrus trees once a week during the winter time, twice a week in spring and fall, and three times a week in the hot summer time.
tbd