

Many of us love eating citrus fruits. Considered as the most well known type are the lemon, lime, grapefruit, sweet orange, and tangerine. There are also a number of citrus varieties of each category and some species are only for ornamental use such as trifoliate orange. This particular orange tree is a deciduous tree and the fruit is not edible.

Farmer Lachlan Dobson sits on the wheel of a vintage tractor

Some homeowners love growing citrus trees in their garden and backyard. These trees provide gardens and backyards evergreen appeal with their green shiny leaves that bring beauty to any kind of landscape. In addition to the beauty it adds to your place, citrus trees also produce delicious juicy fruits for some time.

Citrus trees thrive in a consistently sunny, humid environment with fertile soil and adequate rainfall or irrigation. These plants do not grow well in areas where the temperature goes below or near freezing. When winter arrives, the protection that you provide them from any frost is very important.

Citrus trees are usually not difficult to grow and take care of. They do not require a lot of water. However, you need to deeply water the plants at least once a week until it has already grown enough that you can consider it as well established.

Citrus plant’s roots are shallow and can spread quite far from the trunk. A mature and healthy tree should be able to deal with some drought, if so this will influence the fruit production. Apart from adding nice attraction to your backyard, a citrus tree will help keep the moisture in.

However, a fruit disease is now affecting Western Australian citrus trees – citrus canker. It is a bacterial disease affecting citrus fruit trees. It causes lesions on the leaves, stems, and fruit of plants including citrus and other plants in the citrus family.

Read the full story about the citrus canker outbreak right here: