Venus! Congrats and happy citrus growing! You will be amazed at how addicting this can be, espcially when you see your trees respond to your good care practices. I would repot in the spring and make sure you build yourself a great soilless mix in the meantime with getting familiar with the link I will provide for you at the bottom of this page. The 'mix' you choose will be the biggest determining factor to your success. It will either work for you or against you. How much you fertilize and with what will be determined by your mix. The best thing you could do for your tree is to make sure you keep the roots happy! The roots are the heart of a plant. It will also help you understand the concepts of growing in containers. Or you could buy yourself a very good soilless mix such as a Fafard brand and try that too. Most if not everything you do with/to your tree will be related to the kind of mix you choose to use. Understanding the concepts of growing in the confines of a pot will help you stay on the path of great growing practices and much success! Here is where I started and good luck! Mike:-) Here is a link that might be useful: Container soils-Water movement

A seedling with it's first true leaves needs the same ratio of nutrients, including the secondary macros and all the micros. All nutrients are equally important to growth and vitality, so suggesting that nothing special need be done for the first 3 years could be very misleading. Nothing special need be done as long as the plant is getting ALL the nutrients plants normally take from the soil, in a favorable ratio and at a concentration high enough to prevent deficiencies, yet low enough that the concentration of nutrients in the soil solution isn't high enough that it inhibits the uptake of water and the nutrients dissolved therein. To me, that sounds like you need a plan if you want to be on target. Leaving it to chance by letting the soil feed the plant might be ok in the yard or orchard, but it's not going to get the job done in pots. FWIW - using large fractions of compost in conventional container culture is usually fraught with water retention problems (as in too much), due to the fact that compost is all fine particles (or it's not finished and you probably shouldn't e using it for that reason). That you have the Rootmaker containers resting on the soil employs the earth as a giant wick, and from a hydrological perspectives turns the containers into mini raised beds - which changes the way water behaves in those containers. You can use soils that are much more water-retentive and get away with it in raised beds, where the same soil in conventional containers would be limiting due to its excess water retention. Al

mrshal07, first, if you can let us know where you live? Zone 8 is marginal for citrus in the ground, but I don't see any mention of putting anything in the ground - just containers - so I am assuming you would be able to bring your citrus inside at least to a garage temporarily, if you have a cold snap? Just need a little clarification regarding your zone and location. That might give us a better idea regarding cultivar recommendations if things are staying outside. If you can bring your container citrus inside during cold snaps, then cultivar selection based on weather restrictions isn't so important. Okay, as far as potting mix, no, I would not suggest a mix of citrus soil and potting soil. Much too water retentive. Putting "something in the bottom" does not improve drainage, this is a misconception. We have a great recipe for either "511" or "Gritty" mix on our forum, so search for that and copy down how to mix your own very well draining and long lasting potting mix. Hopefully MeyerMike will add his perspective on container citrus, as he is one of our most successful forum members with container citrus in a less than ideal USDA zone (Massachusetts). His trees are gorgeous. Fertilizing is usually done with each watering, 1/2 strength during non-growing season (late fall through early spring), then full strength. Most container citrus folks prefer to use DynaGro's Foliage Pro. I also use it, along with a time-release product with an NPK close to 5-1-3 ratio, along with micronutrients, even with my full-time-outside container citrus with very excellent results. As far as cultivars - if you can bring your citrus inside during cold snaps, then I would pick cultivars you like to eat, or provide juice that you would drink or cook with. So, all are good choices. I would make a suggestion for your grapefruit, though, as grapefruits need some significant heat units in order to sweeten up. So, consider a grapefruit hybrid, such as Oroblanco, Melogold, or Cocktail (which isn't really even a grapefruit, but actually a pummelo/mandarin hybrid, but absolutely delicious, and does not need heat to sweeten.) I would consider a Bearrs lime, as it isn't quite as cold-sensitive as the Mexican (Key) lime. And a Meyer lemon would also be a better choice over a regular lemon as it is more cold tolerant that, say, a Eureka or Lisbon lemon. Satsuma mandarins are lovely, but slower to mature, so perhaps consider another mandarin cultivar, there are many excellent choices, such as Seedless Kishu, Gold Nugget, Page or Tango mandarins (or mandarin hybrids). Rootstock are the "roots" that the cultivar scion gets grafted to, which can provide the cultivar with some significant benefits - size control, more resistance to disease, precociousness, sweeter fruit, more tolerance to cold temps, soil issues, etc. So, you'll find most citrus are grafted. For container citrus, you're better off finding citrus grafted to dwarf or semi-dwarfing rootstock. Four Winds Growers grafts most of the their citrus to a very semi-dwarfing rootstock called Cuban Shaddock, which makes them very suitable to container culture. And, they have every cultivar you've listed. They're a great company, grow beautiful citrus, and many of us on the forum have their trees. There are other good growers out there as well, but not many that you can find who graft to true dwarfing rootstock (which would be poncirus trifoliate 'Fly Dragon'), or certainly no one else I am aware of that uses Cuban Shaddock, probably the next most dwarfing rootstock out there. So, I would definitely look for citrus on at least semi-dwarfing rootstock, if you're shopping locally. If your area can support in-ground citrus, I would suggest going to one of your better garden centers, or even better, a citrus grower if you have one, and talk to them about the cultivars that do the best in your area, especially if you plan on leaving them outside. Just remember, if you have temps in the winter that drop below 40 degrees, you need to consider bringing your container citrus inside or at least, into the garage (with sunlight) for short periods, as container citrus don't have the root protects from cold temps as in-ground citrus have. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: Four Winds Growers

Thought I'd post an update, since I got such helpful advice for my trees this past winter. All survived the winter indoors, even though, thanks to a lot of travel, I managed to dry them out pretty badly a couple of times, enough that the Trovita and the Bearss lost some leaves. Still, the Bearss actually bloomed and even set fruit. The Meyer bloomed off and on all winter, but never sent out any leaves and, when I set the four trees out about a month ago, still had not sent out a single leaf, since I received it. It had lost a couple of original leaves, but pretty much looked like it did when I received it last summer. Left two weeks ago for a long business trip and, while away the temps topped out in the mid-90's, unusual for New Hampshire, with heavy rains on a couple of days - basically hot and humid weather. Came back on Friday to find that all four trees are covered in new growth, YES, EVEN THE MEYER! There looks to be new growth from pretty much every leaf junction on the tree. And, it is blooming, again. The largest fruit on the Bearss is about an inch and a half long, so I'm hoping to have my first harvest this fall or winter. Maybe, I'll even have some other fruit, too? All-in-all, the trees look great, and I have to admit that they have not been babied in any way. My next two decisions are 1) should I prune to shape them (rather leggy), and 2) should I repot into larger pots? For #1 I am undecided. For #2 I am thinking maybe mid-July, once they flush out the new growth. I think I will check if they are root-bound and use that as my guide. We are headed into several days of rain. When we get a break I will fertilize them. So, in conclusion, for those who have cranky or 'balky' Dwarf Meyer Lemon trees in pots - don't despair. It took a year, but mine finally has sprung to life. Just give it lots of sun, water as needed and let the tree move at it's own pace. And, thanks to everyone on this forum, who gave me advice and support. I probably would have killed my trees without your help. If anyone is interested, I can take some digital pics and post them. narcnh