you know what is sad. I have trees that look worse than that and I do my best to care for them. Maybe I should neglect mine.

We all know you will have them in tip top shape in no time.

Mike.

Don't prune them other than to cut out the dead branches; until they are healthy... as they will be under your care, they need the carbohydrates that are stored in the limbs and trunk to help them recover. It is natural to think that if you prune them back, the tree will have fewer branches into which to put its energy; I say it is natural to think that, but for citrus it is wrong. As the plant gets older, it will have more carbs stored in limbs and trunk and can survive more shock.
The old adage: It is not what we don't know that is the problem; the problem is what we know for SURE, that just isn't true!

John. good to hear from you.

Thanks for the advice. I had not intended to cut any branches off with foliage and I am glad you reconfirmed I shouldn't.

But what I plan to do is cut off the dead branches with sharp Bonsia cutters only at this point, and then flush the mix with lots of fresh water to rid any salt build up tomorrow since I can do it outside with temps in the 50's. This way if I fertilize it won't be in vain.

Thanks again John for your good suggestion.

Mike! You certainly have a way with making me laugh and smile! I wish you were around here more often:-(

Mike

hey mike. Glad I could bring some humor. the funny thing is I have Gardenweb open in my browser all day at work. I need to get to know more local gardeners and see if I can get some freeby citrus.

mike

Hi Mike. More citrus, huh? LOL

I'm surprised more people didn't jump on your thread, come to your aid.

You help so many others, WOW!!

You grow much better than I but I'll offer some suggestions, anyway.

For now, CLEAN the soil. There's a lot of debris lying around the top. Rid felled foliage, weeds, etc.

Take outdoors, tilt and shake trees.. Unless your temps are under 30, you'll have to mess your floor, but it's easy enough to clean. :)

Trees should be thoroughly showered. Hosed off. Then given a hearty drink until water seeps out of drainage holes. Use room temp water with 10 drops of Superthrive.

I wouldn't prune yet, but you can remove dead stems and tips w/brown ends.

Once you see new growth, (late Feb/Mar) or when temps are warm enough to bring plants out, you'll need to unpot. The soil is a little too peaty, 'even though, as you know, I add some Peat w/my citrus mix.' Current soil is a mess. Hopefully liquid allows roots to absorb since the mix looks too clumpy/hard.

Before repotting in fresh, well-draining soil/medium, you should either prune roots and/or repot in a larger container. Remove dead/dying roots.

After your citrus are repotted, use half-strength fertilizer w/additional nutrients/minerals. Iron, etc.

BTW, I mist religiously, so from now until you take outdoors, mist daily. If possible, shower once a week.

Don't forget to continue inspecting for insects. Since you've recently acquired them, one never knows. Eggs could be hiding, waiting to hatch.
I believe you already know keeping an eye out for bugs is important from day one.

Place your citrus in a semi-shady spot to start, then gradually place in brighter light until they're ready to spend the summer in full sun.

BTW, as of now, you could add a little slow-release fertilizer along with Superthrive. Be sure fertilizer contains the correct NPK for citrus.

Set in a brightly-lit, semi-humid room with good air circulation.

Before you know it, your new/old citrus will be as beautiful as your others.

Hope this help. Toni

Hey, Mike! Hey, Toni!

Toni, I did respond to Mike, but I honestly think he knows exactly what to do with these trees.
Check here: Adopted Citrus trees, what to do? Pics.

Mike has all the mixings for a superior mix later this Spring, and he has Foliage Pro.

Josh

Hey Mike, I am happy that the "orphans" found their way to you. I am also a "sucker" for "orphans" and "abandons". We do what we can do. I know you know what to do so I'll just provide moral support and enthusiastic "good mans". It's been a very busy year and my plants had their ups and downs ( I recently gifted 2 of the Meyers to friends). 2012 should be a fun one.
Stay healthy and active.
timrod98

Hey Tim, it's so good to see you still around and thanks a bunch for your support. Any time you need helps, I am just an e-mail away buddy! Stay healthy.

Hey Josh:-0)

Tony: Thanks for all you did. Wow. Talk about some great suggestions. Between you and Josh and others from the past and present, I should have these things looking better by months end, and tip top shape by the spring.

Keep your fingers crossed! I am still waiting for the pots to dry out before I can flush them. Man, is it taking a long time! 6 days and still counting! I am hoping I don't loose them to rot before spring. To me anything that takes longer than a week to dry out I might as well consider possible dead candidates.
I have them sitting in my sunny cool room for now and they seem to be happy already thus far.

I have cleaned out the weeds, removed the bag from the drainage holes, and sprayed them with a horticultural oil just in case.

I can't wait till I can flush them and feed them some Foliage Pro for sure! I can't wait until I can plant them in a much more porous mix and watch the take off.

Thanks for the support. I will be back with more pics very soon>:-)))

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm a sucker for rescue trees myself, so I can totally empathize (remember my standard that lost all its leaves, which is doing fine, BTW in 511, thanks to you guys!).

So in regard to the continued moist soil problem you mention above (6 days and counting, you say?), since you're not able to transplant right now (and I hear you about root rot being your primary concern), how about this as an idea to bring down the perched water table to a level below the current roots. Why not place the entire pot in a bigger, but more importantly TALLER pot filled with potting soil with a wick placed at its drain holes? Could this possibly help to remove water from the roots? Just trying to recall Al's posts on PWT and thinking outside the box... Best of luck!

Tim

Hi Mike,

Those are the luckiest citrus on the east coast!!

They have found the best home and will be well taken care of without a doubt!!

I would agree to clean them up amd let them adjust, then start to prune and cut back in the spring. As well as root pruning. They are probably in shock and still stressed form the conditions that they were in. Give them some time and fertilize, then come spring i would give them a "make over" LOL...

Great find Mike!!!

I know they will do well in your hands!! Lucky Trees!!

Please keep us posted on the progression of these beauties!!!

I know you will take great care and see many blooms!

Take care,

Laura

Morning Josh, how ya doing this cold, grey day?

I'm sure Mike knows what to do, but he asked so thought I'd respond. :)

Sometimes people need to hear everything will be fine. I suspect Mike is concerned, so thought I'd jump in.

I should have clicked on the link you posted before responding. Sorry about that.

Morning Mike..hey, woke at 6am again today..lol

Mike, I hope you didn't think I was telling you what to do...Did you? I feel bad now. Please don't take it personally, okay?

Mike, forgot to ask..what size containers are citrus potted in?

Six days and soil is still wet? Looks dry on the
picture.
Much to consider. Temps of room, soil, pot size, etc.

Keep us posted on their progress, and again, please don't think I was telling you how to grow plants, hugs, Toni

Hey Tim!

What another GREAT idea! You see, not always do we remember everything we need to do to make our plants survive through the worst times.
I too have a weakness for abused and abandoned plants and I love to see the rewards of my diligence with care and that of the support of others. Thanks for that. ia m right on it tomorrow.

Laura, thanks for the moral boost too. I don't know, they may have to need a little luck to get through besides the regular routine of care.

Laura, I think the wick idea will dry them out a lot faster so I can finally flush them without fear of root rot! I appreciate your kind words and as we all know, you are not that bad at growing fine citrus either!I will take pics tonight and keep you all posted. Thank you as it is ALWAYS good to see you in these parts:-)

Yes Toni, again thank you for your suggestions and I always appreciate what you have to offer. I never take anything you say personally. I especially appreciate the fact that you knew I would have a hard time with that mix and suggesting I use a much better medium by the spring was good. Thank you for your input :-))))

They are in 5 gallon original nursery containers. I was thinking about looking around for some nice Italian Terrotta pots by the spring. They might like those.

That's the thing. The mix is dry ontop to about 3 inches down, then after that it is still wet which is why it has has been a concern. the root ball area is not drying out which leads me to believe that the wick method will help:-)

Josh, Thanks for the vote of confidence. You made some good points on the container forum. Much appreciated.

Mike

Howdy, Mike! ;-)
I think you'll have no problem with these, unless they're too far gone...which they don't seem to be.
So, have you slipped them out of their pots to look at the plastic lining yet?

Also, update pics on the pruning of the dead twigs.

Josh

Mike, you are quite welcome! :)

In Josh's last entry, he mentioned plastic lining..Do the pots of your adopted citrus have inside lining? Toni

Well everyone, here is what I saw when I pulled the tree out of the pot!

Plastic choking the roots and blocking the drain holes. Also the mix looks very aged. In case the whole root ball were to fall apart, I made a fresh batch of the 5.1.1 mix for an emergency.

The root ball held together so a pulled the plastic off then put the plant back into its pot. I then flushed very thoroughly and then top dressed with my mix since pulling the weeds took a lot of top mix with them. Here is a few pics now and I will post the finished product later.

Thanks for looking friends!

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Citrus # 1

These are Washington Navel Seedless.

Ok, I am done for now with this one. Now I need to work on the second one soon. I will post that one too:-)

Here it is cleaned of all weeds, dead branches pruned off, cleared of plastic bag around the roots, fed fertilizer, flushed with fresh water, and a bit of top dressing until I repot.

Is it me, or does it look like it is coloring up nicely already?:-)))))

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Mike

Citrus # 1

These are Washington Navel Seedless.

Ok, I am done for now with this one. Now I need to work on the second one soon. I will post that one too:-)

Here it is cleaned of all weeds, dead branches pruned off, cleared of plastic bag around the roots, fed fertilizer, flushed with fresh water, and a bit of top dressing until I repot.

Is it me, or does it look like it is coloring up nicely already?:-)))))

{{gwi:1003}}

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Mike

Yep, already looks better, Mike! ;-)

Great work and thanks for taking the progress pics. I know it's a pain to stop to get the
camera while you're trying to work quickly on a tree.

I like the thick rootstock trunk on this one!

Josh

Hi Eveyone

I just noticed this post, been busy looking after my own, lol. Glad to see you've got a new batch of orphans (I wish someone drop a orphan or two at my house). Strange that nobody seems to pot these trees in a decent mix to start with. That last one of mine was in hard clay it was like cement.

Anyway I think you got to them just in time, I'm sure they'll be doing well by the summer.

On another note my grapefruit is pushing some new leaves out now, despite te gloomy weather. The Bears lime had a couple of slugs (now dead) nibbling the leaf ends, and my Red lime is sitting happily outside in the fresh air.

Regards
Nick

Hey Nick, I knew you would see this eventually. Good to see you! How are your trees Nick>?

Here is another update of mine.

Trees no# 1........... and......2

Tree # 2

I had a hard time getting this one out of the pot. It had two plastic bags and somehow the roots had grown right into and entangled one of them, and that bag was wrapped around the other bag stuck to the bottom of the pot. The bag severed HALF the roots while trying to take the tree out of the pot.

So I definitly sprayed the old soil off down to bare roots and carefully extracted the bag. I was able to dig deep into the root mass and clear all the old soil away spreading the roots out.
I also had a bunch of mix prepared ahead of time just in case which proved useful. Ready at the helm sort of speak.

I had fun with this one.
I have always wanted to try a root pruning pot that supposedly encouarges LOTS of air to the root mass.I would like to commpare teh two eventually.
I also used the 5.1.1 mix.
I kept the roots wet at all times while preparing the pot.
I made a dome of the fresh mix in the pot, then filled in all around the roots with my fingers and a blunt stick wiggling the new mix into and between all the roots.
I used a strong stream of water to do the rest.
I also trimmed back a few branches to try and encourage it to reshape itself and compensate for root loss.

I then gave it a nice shower and set it aside into my plant room. Now, we wait and see how both these plants fare.

By the way, In order for me not to be so concerned about the one I had to leave in the mix that I felt was staying wet far too long, I used a wicking method which seems to be doing a lot already. Here it is a day later, and those wicks are still very wet!

Tree # 1.........with the wicks and still in the old soil mix......

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Tree # 2........... The old soil mix that I replaced, severed roots and pruned pieces.

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Now the new pot and new look for tree #2.......

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Now I have '4' Navel Orange trees. This is mine I have had for more than a few years.

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Thanks everyone ...

Hey Mike, your orphans are looking great. Orphans now adopted and have a caring foster-parent.. :)

What type of pot is that? The pot in the second to the last picture? Looks like it has vertical slits.

Toni

Hey, Toni and Mike!

Mike how are the trees doing? Do you think that the wick is working?

That's a nice cat, too. They always sneak into pictures, don't they?! Ha!

Josh

Hey Josh! Thanks for asking buddy! You are always interested in my success and trees and I appreciate that!

You wouldn't BELIEVE how well the wicks are working! They take all they what would be standing water level right out from the bottom half of the pot. It gives me a secure feeling to know that once those wicks feel dry, I can water again in that type of mix.
This am, they were still moist saving me the aggrivation of guessing when to water when the top few inches looks and feels dry.

They are looking better. I will post new photos soon:-)

I LOVE my cat! He thinks he's a dog and talks to me.lol
He even knows when I am pulling up in the driveway. He greets me everytime I walk through the doors and follows my every move into every room.
He even has a way of getting into my pics. I wish I could capture his piercing blue eyes for you.

Toni:

That second pot is an 'air pruning' pot. I have a friend that owns a Hydroponics supply store and wanted me to try one to see how impressed I would be with it's root system with time. We shall see. It certainly dries the mix out evenly and allows air to the root zone! This pot is very light weight, even just after a watering. I love it!

Hope your well kiddo.

Have a great day all!

MIke

Mike, I have nothing to add to this post, other than the fact that I think you should change your avatar to TheCitrusWhisperer. :-)

You seem to have mastered this!

-km

Hey! I grow citrus pretty frequently here in sunny FL. The first thing I would do is to get them outside. If you plan on keeping them inside, be sure to mist them often so the leaves won't keep curling! They seem to have some kind of nutrient deficientcy so be sure to fertilize!

Oops, nevermind! Wrong Thread!

Meyermike... I am TOTALLY down with Citrus Whisperer; personally I would be honered by such a title.
I know you are younger than I; so you might want to also accept the "other" aspects of being the "Citrus Whisperer" Folks will talk; rumors will be spread...but in the end, YOU will be the Citrus Whisperer; I would be proud... and I would be happy to say the Citrus whisperer is an old friend of mine.

Km:

Thank you so much for that. It is a very big title to give and it is certainly an 'Honor', but I must admit I could of could of never had mastered the trick in knowing how to grow citrus in a container if it wasn't for the many friends that I have made here through the years, and being mentored by a very special man that taught me how my plants and how my soils work together.:-)

I wish I could say I was a 'Cat Whisperer' since I can't seem to control him.

I hope I have at least mastered this skill with my trees, but there is always a new learning curve and room for improvement that comes out of nowhere at times.
I hope that I have been able to help you in some way too.
:-)

John:

What can I say. You are too kind. I have am thinking of a title for you since you seem to have mastered Lemon Meyer in the field and grow the nicest fruit I have seen.

Mike