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Originally Posted by Bob
Cool Emily,... my 1 1/2 year old dwarf key lime flowers and sets small fruit and then for some reason they all drop and I loose them. Interesting to see how yours does in the future and in comparison how mine does this year. Have you smelled the flowers? The dwarf lime has the best smelling blooms of all my plants.
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Bob, a citrus tree will only set as much fruit as it thinks it can support, so it is normal that 98% of all citrus flowers drop without setting fruit. There are 2 factors that can help your tree in setting fruit-- fertilizer and water--especially during the time just before bloom until mid June. A foliar spray of 1 to 2% Potassium Nitrate along with a good slow release fertilizer about a month before bloom will provide the nutrients the tree needs to set fruit. As for watering, do not let the tree dry too much, but you have to be careful about overwatering as well. If you have a good fast draining media with lots of air spaces, overwatering will not be a problem, but if your soil has lots of peat moss, it can be difficult to maintain the right amount of water.