On the subject of repotting, I unpot all new plants mo matter when in their growing cycle I get them. I have found so many unexpected situations that I adopted that policy years ago and have not regretted it. For example: A healthy looking plant with unhealthy mushy roots. 2 plants masquerading as one. Healthy roots on the surface but extending no farther than 1/2" into the pot. A ring of roots around the perimeter of the pot around a dead zone in the middle. A hitch hiking slug. Snow fungus. A webbed type of growth around the roots, don't know what it is but I see it occasionally. If everything is OK, I replace the plant undisturbed, if any of the above conditions are present, the plant is better of repotted at any time of the year. At the same time I evaluate for a possible division. An adult Cattleya with 7 leads will not miss the 3 little growths from its seedling days and as often as not, a new plant can be generated. An Oncidium type can have a leafless backbulb removed at that time and quite often it will initiate. I have preferred growing media and will switch all plants to that but not necessarily when I get them. If I get a plant in spike potted in bark and I happen not to like bark, I will wait until it finished blooming and until it initiates the next growth before I make the switch. Nick

Carl I use Better-Gro "Special Orchid Mix" for all my epiphytic orchids particularly Phalaenopsis and they love it. Here in NE Pa I can only find it at Lowe's but an 8.8 quart bag costs only $4.99. I'm familiar with the Miracle-Gro soil used and is crazy that they sell it telling the consumer it's good for all orchids-jeez really aggravating especially for an inexperienced grower or someone new to the hobby who wouldn't know. The potting mix I use is also approved by the AOS. Scott

Hi Liz, Congratulations on your ability to grow citrus in your condo - they certainly seem to love your conditions, as is evident by their fruit yield, so by all means continue with your regimen! I don't see your pics from the Dropbox link. If you try Photobucket, you can hover over the picture and just copy and paste the html link into the body of your GW message. When you 'Preview Message', you should see your photo (just as we will). You ask a very interesting question about the appropriate time to uproot your citrus. One certainly should do so if you see actual decline in your tree's vigor, but you'll probably want to re-pot before you've reached this stage. And, as you are using a standard potting mix that's been amended with bark and perlite, I would argue that you're getting soil compaction with the resulting/dreaded perched water table (unless you've added a wick to the drain holes). So you're probably at just past prime time to re-pot - remember that for plants in a 511 mix, it's recommended to re-pot every couple or so years; therefore, your less free-draining mix will probably require more frequent changing (might now be a good time to consider re-potting into the gritty mix(?), as you'll be able to leave in the free-draining mix for 3-5 years or so). In regards to when to re-pot, I would recommend doing this just before your citrus are in a growth spurt. I wouldn't worry too much about whether you have fruit/flowers while doing this; especially for the Meyer, you'll probably have fruit of varying degree on the tree year-round, so this is unavoidable. Finally, I recall reading that you don't want to 'pot up' into too large a container, which could have the problem of retaining too much moisture. I suspect your tree isn't too large, so you should be able to get away with using an 18" diameter pot. And if you root prune every time you re-pot, you can get away with using the same sized container (this is how bonsai hobbyist can continue using the same small-sized pots indefinitely). Best of luck! Tim

Be careful of water quality. You can get away with it for awhile when using clean potting mixtures but it will catch up eventually. These plants live in fairly open forests in their native environments. They never get direct sun but the woods are always open and airy, often on hillsides and also often near streams. So you get the idea - lots of free air movement and humidity. You don't find them among brush or bushes in the wild (usually), so they love lots of indirect sun ! I don't think you can give too much indirect light - my best plants face SW in central FL and get light through screening from 12:00 on and thrive. They also get fresh rain when we have a downpour. I don't know that you can repot them too many times - as long as the new medium is moist and never fully dries out - they should respond to it ! You pretty much have to repot by the end of the 3rd year as they get a bit scraggy and the soil breaks down too much. They live in heavy leaf litter and light loamy soils in nature, where you can reach down and lift a couple or few inches of soil easily with your finger or a small stick. Hope that helps !