Welcome FJ

we are glad you have jumped into this wonderful hobby. You have made some good choices!

Im going to post some links to another forum and thread that will be of great use to you. youll have to copy and paste them into your browser.

first is the container forum. You will find everything you need about growing in pots.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/contain/

second is a link to Al's post about container soils. In here you will find a wonderful amount of info and the direction for his soil mix, which most here use and highly recommend

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg112015049996.html?53

trees can be put into much larger containers so long as the soil is well draining which both of Als mixes are.

Several people here use Foliage Pro and have had great success. I use plain old all purpose Miracle grow and add a slow release with minors. The use of a bit of white vinegar with every watering is also suggested and found to be effective.

The buddha's hand will recover just give it time and let it rest. Keep a good water habit and give it some ferts.

You came to the right place and we would love to see some pics of you new trees!!

Mike

There is a wealth of knowlage here. Please take it. PLEASE, for i feel slightly guilty for all the help i got in the beginning, am i eager to repay that.
I have selected 3 posts for people starting new, though i will try to put as much info as i can in this post. If it is not sufficient, search the forum thorugh the search box, or scroll pages. There is someone new asking for help in every three pages or so, give or take a few.
Here are other threads:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg1211183927904.html?8
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg0416064414357.html?31
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg112344197872.html?6

Okay. Fertilizer. Mikes is good. I go with something close to that, and he has more expereince than me soo....
Most people here use white vinegar to make the ph of soil more acidic. That is needed. I have used both, but i use lemon juice packets that i pick up (steal?) from a subway near my house. Same idea, getting the Ph acidic.

I water once a week. My standered is i use a bottled water bottle ( i re-use it so no waste :) ) that is 16.9 fl. oz. i think. Sometimes i will water less, and sometimes i will do it less often (especially in winter) just to keep it different. I never water when the soil is more than the far dry side of damp. A wooden dowel rod (similar to a chopstick) is good for seeing if it needs water. U stick it in the potting mix and wait a sec then pull it out, if its wet, dont water. I never go more than 2 weeks without watering. Of course, i do sometimes water it a little more often than normal, but no more than a day. When citrus's roots stay damp, they rot; which has a good chance of killing your tree.
Your the judge on this, but they will try to make flowers and lemons on you real quick. (they are traumitized and are seeking to make offspring because they fear death). Getting those off will encourage leaf and root growth.
If the soil mixes arent in those threads i put, search Al's mixes, ull find them, they pop up everywhere.

I know theres alot, but really, once you get used to it, its not to hard. And its very fun an rewarding. I hope i havent discouraged you, citrus are great. Mike was right when he said you came to the right place. Many, MANY people here are extremely eager to help.
Because i don't know your extense of knowlage with these, i have outlined the basics, if i am repeating knowlage you already have, im sorry, im not trying to make you look like an idiot or something.

We really would love to see pictures of your trees. Heres how, its hard to figure out. Once you get them saved on your computer (through various means) upload them to photobucket, and go to your album. When you see the picture/s in your album you want to post, click on the 3rd choice it gives you for copying your pics, i think its the HTML code, its will change, and it says copied. PAste that code into your post and hit preview message at bottom of posting scree. If you did it right, you will see the pic there. Tell us if you have any more questions, and feel free to search the forum for the answers too.

Wishing you luck
-Andrew

Oh, something i forgot, suckers. Suckers might kill your plant, remove them immediatly. THey are any brach growing under the graft line.

FJ,

Do i read your post correctly that you citrus plants are outdoors? I am not an expert but would think that you need to wait with fertilizer till there is no danger of freeze if your plants are outside.

Good selection! I would like to get bergamot too!
Good luck!

Thank you all very much. As a constant reader of Rose forums, I knew this is the best place to come for my questions. Thank you again for your help. Citrus are totally different beast than roses, although both thorny.

Mike: I spent few hours skimming through container forum and Al's posts. I need a free day to go back and read them more carefully. So far I got the idea that home made potting mix is better than store bought ones and the moisture and drainage is VERY important to potted citrus.

Andrew:
Thank you for teaching me how to check for moisture and when and how to water. I am very disappointed that I cannot water them with my existing drip line. Also the tip about vinegar is interesting. I will read those links soon. I try to post pictures asap.

gleb:

Here in Coastal California, we rarely get frost. If temps get to 32, it will be only for few hours a night for a total of 3-5 nights a year. Every one has at least one citrus tree in their back yard. I have a very mature Mayor's Lemon in the backyard too. I was planning to grow citrus as ornamental in pots wherever I could not grow roses.

My trees were in a wonderful shape on Saturday, but there were sign of insect damage, leaf curling, leaf borers, today. I need to spray with Neem oil tomorrow.

One thing that is not clear to me is if can I keep them in 5 Gal pots for a while, or they need to be transferred to their permanent place, 18 inch pots soon.

Do you guys recommend granular or liquid fertilizers? Can I give them general purpose liquid MC, full strength 24:8:16 or diluted for a first dose, and then give them slow release granular specifically formulated for citrus and avocado?

Thanks again,
FJ

granular slow release i mix into my soil every long time. I feed reguraly w/ liquid, and i would do it half strength mixed in w/ your water everytime, but fertilizer is one of those things that every *gardener* has their own beliefs and practices. But most people here would agree with the liquid i think

You can keep them in the 5g pots for a while. Dont move until your ready, and them. Their root systems need to be big enough to utilize that whole pot, so it doesnt collapse, pack in hard, or doesnt water water perch.

oooh those citrus leaf miners, i have never had them, but i have seen horrible pictures

Thanks Andrew:

I will spray with Neem oil and feed them with liquid fert. tomorrow.

I have to figure out the potting mix thing before I am ready to move them. But how do I know if they are ready?

FJ

Wantto:

Welcome to this hobby. Let me warn you, it can become an addictive obsesion without some foresight as to how deep you may be able to wade in and then retreat to a more sensible position. A third generation manager of a large citrus nursery once told me, "forty three varieties is no longer a hobby". So be careful.

For my advice I implore you to do this one thing before buying anything else. Find out what kind of water you have. Don't go by any thing but a test result. Water authorities fudge their data. Locals are very wrong on how to treat your stuff. I suggest taking a sample and doing a simple pool pH test before ever adding vinegar, sulfur, lime or other chemical which will alter the acidity or alkalinity of your water. Test kits are available for about $4 at a big box store. The test container should have a color scale and you are probably OK if your water is below pH 7.

If you want your citrus to bear fruit, keep the root system slightly confined. If you move it from 3-5 gal container into a half whiskey barrel, there is a good chance it will try to spend the next three years making vegatative growth and not blooming. That is especially true if it already has roots filling its container. In that case, move it up only one or two sizes at a time. I like to go 3->5->7->10->15 gal. But you sometimes don't know exactly until the the old pot comes off and you see if it is rootbound or not. So if I'm moving up from a 5 gal. I have a spare 10 so I can skip 7 if it is all balled up. Some will just root prune and go from there. But you need to learn to balance the root size and the above ground size, or nature will do it for you to your chagrin.

Another thing is sun. The best for any fruit tree is morning sun. But in late spring I have seen sun damage the roots if the tree is in a black nursery pot. Avoid this by shading the roots either by a low second plant or bench or something else. Or use double pots with an air gap. It may be that your climate is not that severe, but in a patio setting, the heat can build when the sun's angle is only slightly off perpendicular to a black pot. Lay your hand on it in late AM and again in PM. But my experience is the pot overheats while you're at work and you get an unusually warm sunny spell. Then your tree will have all kinds of wierd symtoms.