Well, you can, but remember when you prune citrus, you prune away the fruiting part of the branch. Citrus produce flowers at branch tips. So, pruning them then prunes away most of your crop :-) I would pose this question to the Four Winds folks. They do so much with container-grown citrus and would be able to give you the skinny on trying to grow a pummelo in a container successfully (meaning you get fruit). I can tell you that in the ground, pummelos get very large. Large fruit, large leaves, large tree. The Cocktail is super sweet, but has a nice grapefruit taste. The Melogold is is a little less sweet, more "grapefruity", but still very, very sweet. I love the taste of grapefruit, but HATE that bitter aftertaste. I can't eat a grapefruit without putting either Splenda or brown sugar on it. I can eat both the Melogold and especially the Cocktail without any added sweetener. Love them. And for me, you get much more fruit and way less rind with these, than you're going to get with a pummelo. Patty S.

Thanks for the tips everyone. It was a huge help to have you diagnose that it was an overwater issue. I repotted them today and there was insufficient drainage in the pot along with the soil retaining a too much water.. The soil in the bottom of the pot was soaked and smelled foul. I repotted with a retail cactus citrus mix and added about 33% perlite. I just dont have the time right now to hunt down all the ingredients for the gritty mix or 5-1-1 so I am crossing my fingers that this will workout. I watered and it drained very quick and I could hear the water running out of the bottom (they are on a rock area). I also added 4 more holes to the bottom of the pot in the ring that was collecting all the water.

I read a lot regarding the different mandarin types and came to the conclusion because the following: - tree almost thornless, rind leathery and bumpy, with large prominent oil glands. Axis hollow, segments are almost separated, not too sweet, almost no seeds. The flesh is orange but not deep orange. Then my mom told me that when she bought it, it came with a tag that said Satsuma ... lol . She bought it and i saw her at her garden, so neglected it had never produced any fruit, she couldnt even remember what kind of citrus it was. I adopted her and now that she sees the mandarins she remembered! So end of mistery. They are not the best mandarins I have ever tried but I am proud of them!

I can't tell if there is any life left in that tree at all. Doesn't look good! 'Black fungus' on leaves would suggest a bad scale infestation. Not sure if that could be so bad it would weaken and kill the tree. Perhaps. You try to scratch a twig and see if there's any green under the outer layer. If dry and brown, then it's dead.