The Role Of Calcium in Your Organic Fruit Tree Fertilizer

THE ROLE OF CALCIUM IN FRUIT TREES - San Diego Fruit Tree Care Tips
OCTOBER 25, 2015 NALANI

Recently I have had several new clients – all describing the same problem. No fruit. In better cases a severe lack of fruit production -- but not enough to write home about. These clients were previously diligently applying fertilizer, yet no fruit was to be picked. 

The answer turned out to be simple. Calcium. Or rather, a lack of Calcium . Further inspection of their fertilizer resulted in the realization that all these people were using fertilizer with good NPK but no micro nutrients. And that would include no Calcium. As soon as Calcium was introduced to the fertilization package- the tree had the ability to begin fruit production which stimulated flowers on the next appropriate fruiting cycle of the tree (species specific).

But let’s back up for a minute. Here is some stuff you need to know about Calcium and how it works with plants. Calcium stimulates enzyme production. Enzyme production is responsible for cell division which is the beginning of the fruit growing. So without enzymes the fruit never begins to develope. Basically Calcium stimulates fruit production. Calcium is also responsible for elongating fruit (making it bigger.)

Cherimoya
Cherimoyas need Calcium to help hold the fruit on to the branch through the fruits maturity.

Because calcium helps to strengthen the cell wall and reduces the cell wall degrading, fruits and veggies high in calcium often have a stronger thicker peel. These fruits are also firmer. e.g. Apple – crunchy. Fruits that are high in calcium also have a delayed ripening time which means that they store in your house off the vine for a longer period of time.

Calcium is extremely important to fruit trees as it increases root and leaf growth, as well as increases fruit yield. Calcium Reduces disease by building resistance, and maintains fruit quality, firmness,and flavor. It is good to note that in large orchards the application of calcium in the spring was shown to substantially increase harvest size.

I started my clients on some high mineral organic fruit tree fertilizer- Fruitmommy COF (and within several months the fruit appeared. It’s that simple. Give your trees all the nutrients they need to do their job and they will do it. In this case the problem was lack of calcium- but it is important to note that Calcium is not the only micro nutrients  a plant needs. In fact there are over 75 different micro nutrients plants need to thrive. That is why picking a high quality, high mineral fertilizer is so important.

Notice the off color of the leaves of a micro nutrient deficient citrus tree.

There are also several other factors that could be considered when dealing with a tree that is not producing- things like a pollination issue or too much wind or rain during the flowering cycle. As long as these external issues have been addressed you can begin to narrow down the issue to nutrition. In fact 9 times out of 10 the issue I see with new clients’ trees is lack of nutrition.

If after reading this article you feeling like lack of calcium me be playing important role in your own gardens productivity problems, send me an email at nalani@fruitmommy.com and we can speak further on how to increase your harvest size. Or checkout the website Fruitmommy.com and discover the multitude of things you can do to improve your own health and health of your garden.