I am thinking I put in a pot that is too big. I am going to repot back into the old pot. Any suggestions would be great. What can I do to prevent shock?

If you are talking about using outdoor soil in your container, that's something that can cause real problems for your plant. Outdoor soil turns into something entirely different in the confines of a container....something that does NOT work. Sand, too, can even be a problem. The sand and small particle size of soil will eliminate the large and medium sized pore spaces within the volume of the container. That's what can lead to some real problems for the plant.

I'd suggest a combination of a good soil-less (typical potting mix) potting medium, plenty of perlite, and plenty of bark fines. You'll end up with something very porous and fast draining, both of which are essential attributes for any good container mix.

Using a container that is too large can often cause problems. That's true even if the potting medium is a good one....so I agree that that is something you should take care of. Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you; hopefully you've caught the problem before it's too late.

This is probably a dump question, but how do you know when your buying soil-less medium? Also what kind of bark fines? I potted my other two citrus (Meyer Lemon) in Miracle Grow Citrus mix. Is this a good type of medium to use. It said on the bag it contains sand, perlite and what I have read alot of people use for their soil. Thanks for the help/reply!

This is just an excert from one of the post on Bark Fines from Al, hope this helps you.

Pine bark is often sold as 'soil conditioner', and when it is called 'soil conditioner', it's often fine enough to be suitable in container soils. You want a fine product, not the bark that is in big 1/4" + pieces. You want 1/4" and smaller pieces for container soils.
Pine bark is sold under many names. Look for the bag to say bark mulch, pine bark, pine bark fines, composted pine bark, fine pine bark, premium landscape mulch, soil conditioner - you get the picture ... If it is pine or fir bark, and it is as fine as what you see in the picture, then it will work very well.
Type in this in search.....
RE: Soil Conditioner = $0.25 / cf @Lowe's
and you wil see a picture there at that thread...
Take care.
Mike:-)

Also, it will say on the bag weather you are buying ...Potting Soil...or..Soliess mix right on the bag!

Mike
I had no luck finding the Pine Bark Fines. I did find regular Pine Bark Mulch. I tried to pick out the very big pieces. It is not very fine though. I combined it with perlite and container soil. I used these three ingredients 1/3 each. The mix I came up with is very light and drains very well. I think this is what I was after? Think this will be ok? thanks for your replies

IMO your tree is probably reacting to having been kept in lower light and humidity conditions inside during the winter. In nature, the tree would have gathered energy from the lengthing days, cool nights, and 60% humidity, something that's difficult to replicate indoors. This would normally be the time of the year for new growth and flowers and dropping of the older leaves. Don't put your tree in direct sun immediately. Give it a transitioning period of filtered sun. If your growing medium drains too quickly, you will have to be careful not to let it dry out. I would have gone with the citrus potting soil, since it is formulated for a containerized tree. If you get flowers this spring, they must be pollenated to set fruit. If you're lucky, the bees will do this for you. I don't take any chances, but do it myself, transferring pollen from one flower to another with a Q tip. In my experience, these small potted citrus from a big box store are over-fertilized by the grower to put out a flush of shiny green leaves and maybe even a couple of flowers to appeal to our senses, but they are difficult to cultivate to maturity in conditions in a normal house. If you had a green house you'd have an easier time. It's not impossible, just not as easy as the label says.

Thanks for your helpful information. My trees are already looking better. They are just going to need time and tlc. Do you use artificial lighting during the winter? do you know of a low budget setup I coulc use for next year? Thanks for your response.

MDCitrus,

I grow a number of citrus indoors here in Connecticut, and never use artificial lighting. If you have a south or west-facing window with good direct sunlight that comes through for several or more hours a day throughout the winter and early spring months, you should be fine. My trees came inside in mid-October, which, in these warming times was actually still a couple weeks before the first killing frost got the tomatoes. They will be back outside by the end of May at the latest.

60% humidity is a possibility if you have baseboard heating, at least in my experience, especially if you have a small room with a good number of plants in it. The plants act as natural humidifiers. If you only have a few plants, or they are many but small, the humidity problem will be greater.

I must admit that I am not that picky about potting mix: I typically just go down the local Home Depot and pick up a big 40 quart bag of whatever houseplant mix they have available. Mixing your own may be fun, or more economical, but you also are exposing yourself to dust from the perlite and vermiculite, which isn't good for you in the long term. If you worry about such things, a cheap, disposable dust mask would be a good idea (I never used to, but my ceramics hobby has made me a bit more aware of the hazards of long-term exposure to such stuff).

As far as drainage is concerned, the mixes I have used have all worked fine: every once in a while I do overwater, and then I have to drain away the excess from the oversize saucers I use. You can do this with either a siphon tube (if the saucer is elevated above the ground level by a few inches or more), or a sponge.

Once or twice a winter, I actually deliberately water to the point of having quite a bit of water come out into the saucers in my citrus, because doing so allows me to gauge how much water the various plants need when dry. For example, a lemon in an 16 inch container may need a gallon and a half of water when really dry to be well-watered. Knowing this helps avoid overwatering and underwatering.

Hope this helps,

Don