if the grafted portion of the tree died, then you're kind of out of luck. You need to figure out if the live branches are coming from below the graft union or from above. If from above, there is hope you will see fruit, if below, I would still not give up hope. Citrus trees are very easy to graft. You can do a T-bud graft and turn them even into coctail trees bearing a variety of citrus. I wouldn't pull them out, because obviously the root is fairly established, so the little tree has an advantage. I'd just graft whatever variety you want on the rootstock. grafting links: http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/8001.pdf Here is a link that might be useful: video of T-bud grafting

The books in my library include: - Gardening for Beginners: How to Grow Vegetables in Arid Climate by Cromell, AZ Master Gardner Press - Desert Harvest, A Guide to Vege Gardening in Arid Lands by Nyhuis - Desert Gardening Fruits & Veges by Brookbank - Gardening in the Deserts of Arizona - Mary Irish I have more, but you get the picture. Thanks for explaining, that the "pots get hot and that kills the roots." Frankly, that never would have occurred to me, that roots in the ground stay cool, while those in the pot get much hotter. I have moved the pots so they get a bit less sunlight. Since I can't (yet) get the plants into the ground, my plan is to wrap the pots with reflective material (cheap space blankets) that will reflect the heat away from the pots and thus keep the roots cooler. All other suggestions and ideas are welcome. Thanks!!

Good nurseries in the Tuscon area: Mesquite Valley Growers (18 acres)on far East side; Catalina Heights Nursery and Harlow gardens, more east/central; Desert Survivors, west of U of A campus; Moon Valley Nursery, 3775 W Chandler Blvd, Chandler. Links for you about growing citrus in your special triangle (Tuscon, Phoenix, Yuma triangle). http://www.azcitrus.com/ http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/growingcitrusincontainers.html A very good reference book to have on your shelf for growing citrus. A little biased toward Florida, but still very good for us here in S. Calif. and AZ (again, copy and paste this link, as GW breaks the link at the first hyphen): http://www.amazon.com/Citrus-Selecting-Varieties-California-Illustrated/dp/0962823643 Attend the Arizona Cooperative Extension Citrus Day, a great educational opportunity for you in your area (we have a similar function at UC Riverside here in S. California, in February). Here is the main page for U of AZ Extension and Citrus (copy and paste this link, as GW breaks the link at the hyphen): http://extension.arizona.edu/programs/citrus-management Be sure to check out their "Event Calendar" for future citrus classes and presentations. They hold Citrus Clinics in various areas in January And, Pima County's extension site: http://extension.arizona.edu/pima You have a great citrus fertilizer available to you, that is especially formulated for your soil and citrus, Arizona's Best Citrus Fertilizer. Many, many great cultivars for you to choose from. Any mandarin is going to probably do just fine for you. Satsumas are famous for handling low winter temps in stride. Gold Nugget is even more cold tolerant and produces ripe mandarins at a different time than the satsumas, so you can extend your mandarin season. Several grapefruits also do well, Rio Red, Oroblanco/Melogold pummelo hybrid (my favorite, as they as sweeter and less bitter), and Cocktail pummelo hybrid (yet even sweeter, and one of my top 5 fav citrus). Lemons tend to be less cold tolerant. Eureka is the standard, but I would the Improved Meyer which has some orange or mandarin in its genetics. It is more cold tolerant and is a little less acidic than the Eureka. Extremely prolific fruit producer as well. Tangelos, Minneola is the standard, but you might want to consider the Page mandarin. It's not really a mandarin, but a cross between the Minneola and the Clementine mandarin, so that makes it 3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit. It is an absolutely outstanding citrus cultivar. Just meltingly delicious. Worthy of a spot in everyone's citrus collection. You can buy anything on semi-dwarfing rootstock. In fact, most citrus comes on semi-dwarfing rootstock, harder to find it on standard rootstocks. I would recommend that over truly dwarfing rootstock (really only two, Poncirus trifoliata 'Flying Dragon' or Cuban Shaddock), as the trees will mature more slowly on dwarfing rootstock, than on semi-dwarfing, and be slower to produce fruit for you. You can keep the trees crotch pruned to a managable size very easily. I have a "No Ladders" rule in my orchard :-) No climbing a ladder to pick a piece of fruit. Too old and bones are not up to that kind of tumble anymore. My rule is no tree can be taller than what I can reach up and pick. And, I'm only 5'5", so that's not very tall :-) Semi-dwarfing trees will only grow to about 10'-15' anyways, so very little pruning is needed with citrus. Do learn how to crotch prune correctly, though, as citrus produce fruit on new wood, at the tips, so if you go at your tree with shears and not pruners, you'll have a lovely, round tree with zero fruit :-) Here is a decent article about pruning citrus trees in AZ, with the exception of leaving dead wood. That is absurd. Always prune out dead wood, as it is a source for infestation and infection. Just protect the branches and trunk from too much sun. Very easy to do. Just paint exposed branches with the cheapest flat latex paint cut in half with water. All evergreen trees need to have protection from the sun on their branches and trunks, especially when very young: http://ezinearticles.com/?When-and-How-to-Trim-Citrus-Trees-in-Arizona&id=1386215 An excellent article on how to correctly prune all fruit trees, including citrus. This is how to crotch prune fruit trees: http://www.crfgsandiego.org/Presentations/Fruit%20Tree%20Pruning%20Central%20Leader%20and%20Modified%20Central%20Leader.pdf Good luck, definitely reach out to your local extension folks to get to their Citrus Day/Clinics, or any classes put on by your local Master Gardeners about citrus. Let us know what you end up with, and how you fare! Patty S.

Hi, Atheen. Got your message a few days ago, but often have trouble keeping up with mail from Houzz. Tim was referring to directional pruning. This pruning cut will produce a branch that grows to the right. If the cut was lower, a branch would occur in the axil (crotch) of the next lower leaf and grow left. If higher, above the highest leaf shown, it would yield a branch that grows away from the view point and to the left. I think I'd tend to do the pruning in 2 stages. The trees are really lanky, and you want foliage close to the trunk. It's best for the tree if you 'chase' the foliage back to the trunk in stages, rather than simply pruning the tree hard and hope it back-buds. I'd tip prune it a week or so before moving it outdoors. The pruning, along with added photo load and air movement will force back-budding that should offer a lot of good pruning opportunities. Once you see the new branches erupting, you can prune back to just above those branches. In 2D, it appears that you have about 5 branches growing from very close to the same spot on the smaller tree. This is going to cause a lot of thickening in that part of the tree. If what the picture shows is how things really are, you should think about removing a couple of branches from that area to prevent the unsightly thickening common to citrus with that branching issue. Once the new branches start grow, you'll have a lot of pruning opportunities. If you tell yourself that your focus needs to be on getting the tree whipped back into shape, you won't wimp out on the pruning. ;-) Al