Growing fruit trees

[DavidSheets]

We have a few acres of land and gave planted some fruit trees but are having issues with many of them. I live in central Florida, near Orlando. Trees I've planted are: apple, orange, grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, banana, etc. all obtained as potted trees from 5 -10 gallon in size from a local Lowes. All looked great when I got them. I'm not sure how to look at a tree and know what it needs. None have died, but they all look worse now, and produce very little fruit, and some have produced nothing. They have gotten larger. I've had them from 1-3 years, purchased at different times. The orange, lemon, and grapefruit all have drip irrigation. The bananas have a pop up irrigating them, the rest get watered by rotors in the yard. The apples only get rainfall. All were watered in regularly by hand when planted. All are over a year old, in the ground. I will include some pictures.

[JONA]

Welcome DavidSheets....look forward to the pictures.

[DavidSheets]

Here are some pictures of the fruit trees. I had to lower the resolution of the images to get them under 4mb, but hopefully you guys can zoom in on them enough to see the issues.

All were fine when purchased and planted. Most took a season or two to start looking bad.

[DavidSheets]

Here are the remaining images, as only 8 can be uploaded at a time.

[DavidSheets]

All the trees were purchased from local Lowe's stores, which come from Simpson Nursery in Monticello Florida. They are all supposed to be varieties that will grow in central Florida. I'm pretty certain that it is not the nursery, lol, but rather that I am missing something. Maybe not enough, or too much water, missing proper fertilizer, or fertilizer type, or schedule, or insect control, etc. I just don't know how to look at a tree and see what it needs, so any help any of you can provide would be helpful. All of the trees still green and growing, though some, like the apples and peach have very few leaves.

[imafan26]

A few questions
All your citrus trees look a little yellow.
Have you done a soil test?
Do you live near the ocean?
What are you using for fertilizer and how often.
Citrus trees are heavy feeders and like a slightly acidic soil. Mangoes are less fussy about feeding but when they are young, they need to be fed. Citrus and mangoes need well drained soil and while they like a good deep watering, they hate wet feet.
Yellowing can be a sign of nitrogen deficiency. It usually starts at the bottom leaves but will progress and become more global if not corrected.

Overwatering can cause leaching of nutrients and may damage the roots so that nutrient uptake is impaired.

Unfortunately underwatering can cause similar symptoms, leaf yellowing, curling and dropping.

The bananas look like they are getting a lot of wind. They need a fertilizer that is high in potassium. They are not getting enough water. Bananas need an inch of rain a week. We usually build a well around the banana clump and let the hose run until it fills which can take anywhere from 20-45 minutes. P.S. I have red clay that holds on to water. When amended with compost to improve tilth, it holds on to a lot more. That has to be done every other day. Bananas grow best in wet valleys and uplands. They don't do as well in saline and alkaline soils.

http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/GardenPubs ... _trees.pdf

In Hawaii only low chill apples can grow and they are tart. Peaches can be grown in elevations over 1000 ft. I do have a Bartlet type pear and it does fruit. It is still mostly a pet since for the first few years it produced one or two fruit. Amazingly it gives about a dozen fruit now, considering I really don't take care of it.

[DavidSheets]

I live in central Florida, around Orlando. Soil is sandy.
How often should I fertilize?

[DavidSheets]

I did a PH test, and it appears my PH is about 7.5, or maybe higher.
What PH would be good for the fruit trees that I have?
It looks like 6.0 should cover them all pretty well.

What do you guys say?

[applestar]

Do you have your trees grouped according to needs? That would help when taking care of them, especially if you are going to need to fuss with the soil.

I think they could all use a mulch circle out to the dripline, especially if you have sandy soil.

My understanding is that citruses and tropicals need somewhat acidic soil.

[JONA]

Apples would appreciate around 6.5.
Agree with Applestar that they could do with a mulch around them too. If you are not giving them irrigation it would help them a lot.
Only apply mulch only after heavy watering though. Otherwise it can act as a thatch and keep water out!.

[imafan26]

Sandy soil will need more water. I use citrus and avocado food. It contains micronutrients and sulfur so it is an acidic fertilizer. Mulching will help to retain moisture, but I prefer to mix some organics with the soil before planting. Mulching is a good idea but try to use an acidic mulch like pine needles and avoid things like chicken manure and immature composts since they will be alkaline. You can also give the plants a boost now with miracle grow for acid loving plants every two weeks.