islandmanmitch: The tree was purchased last year as 2/3 years old. It has been watered daily and has excellent drainage. There are temperature changes--never below 50F and never above 90F, though. The tree looks healthy with lots of dark green leaves. There was, however, some yellowing and loss of older leaves over the winter. Any ideas?

I bought a dwarg orange tree from famers seed and nusery, it was kind of yellow when I got it, the leaves never turned real green but they turned yellow and fell off, now the stem is turning brown on the ends. The roots are still white and healthy looking. Do I need to fertilize it? and what kind of fertilizer would I use?

Hd, With the sand, Perlite and chips, the soil should be well-draining. The only thing that'd worry me is the manure. I've never used manure on tropicals..I've read, unless manure is old (over a year) it 'could' burn roots. I don't know if this is fact or myth. Outdoor mediums used for indoor plants can cause problems.. What about the pot size? I don't buy from 4Winds, so I'm unfamiliar with roots..Is 12" pot appropriate size for your orange? It's not too large? Is your orange tree kept in or outdoors? Sometimes when plants come from semi-tropical places into our homes, foliage can yellow, drop or both. If it continues, then I'd say there's a problem. Have you checked for insects? Mites/mealy/scale? Toni

I took the plant completely out of the plastic (very large) pot and examined the roots. The medium had no compaction and was not wet....only slightly damp. Inside, I had been watering only when the top 3 inches felt dry. Maybe I was under watering...but still can't see how that had such a dramatic impact on the tree. There were a lot of roots that were yellowish tan and looked healthy. The roots still had plenty of room. If it were the medium I would think I would have seen stress on the plant prior to bringing it inside. The plant was growing new shoots and had blooms and some small oranges while outside. It was almost instantaneous that it started losing it's leaves once I brought it in. I have racked my brain trying to figure this out. I thought maybe the leaves would show some clues as to why it's dying (which is why I included photos). It was near a large window that received indirect sunlight while inside. Humidity inside is around 52% to 56% depending on the day. I have been so excited at the growth of this orange tree...it breaks my heart to watch it die. Since I made the original post I have taken the tree outside and cut all the dead limbs off and watered thoroughly and put it in a small greenhouse inside my barn directly in front of a south window. It gets direct sunlight now (filtered through the plastic greenhouse sheeting and glass window). It will get sun for most of the entire day....however the temperature will be colder than inside. I didn't feel like I had anything to lose at this point and couldn't possibly make things any worse for the tree. If you have any thoughts or advice, I would appreciate them. Thank you.