Hello, Citrus can be a little difficult but as long as you do a few things you should be fine. I would simply lift the tree out of the pot and see if the roots are rootbound. If you notice roots coming out the bottom of the pot then it needs to be repotted. Citrus require a feast draining mixture that isn't going to hold water. They can suffer from root rot fairly fast. Several people here use Al's gritty m ix or a variation of it. Judt don't use any potting soil, even if it says that it is good for citrus. I tried something similiar. I used it for a dwarf moro blood orange and a dwarf keylime. A few weeks ago I noticed that my blood orange was losing leaves, and the stems were turning black. I almost lost it, but the second I changed the soil to a bark mix, it recovered and then some! I would use a black plastic container. The heat will not hurt the tree and it actually will help dry the soil out. Citrus are heavy feeders. I would check the Lowe's were you bought the tree at. If they sell citrus, then they should have citrus fertilizer. I managed ti get my hands on bag and that is what I use with a combination of Foliage Pro and a also a teaspoon of white vinegar per gallon of water. The vinegar helps to keep the ph in the acidic range which the citrus require. If you can't find a citrus fertilizer look for something high in Nitrogen. i also use a product similiar to Super Thrive. Some people here don't think it helps any but it helped my keylime tremedously. When it comes to the cold temps, I would be very carefull with any temps that go below 32. I won't risk it myself but some people say that they can handle 30. I keep my citrus indoors by then so I don't know if it would hurt or not. As long as you can keep it in your sun room with temps above 30 you should be fine. If they temps get much cooler, the tree may go dormant. Not dropping leaves or fruit, but not really growing. That should help you a little and I am sure there will be more people that can help you. I wish I could go to my Lowe's and buy citrus trees like that! Andrew

I'd definitely try anything to take it with me. Especially if it's one you love. I recently bought a mature navel orange that that sounds about as big as you're describing with a 2" trnk and it was in a 14" pot and I thought it was rootbound. I opened up the root ball, and it easily, without any root pruning, could have gone back into the same sized pot. So there's a good chance your root ball isn't as big as you think it is... so I'd check it out. And, FWIW, I don't know which tangerine you have but I have heard that Mandarin's are notoriously slow growers to begin with, so maybe the root ball isn't as big as you think it is. Also, are these standard trees or dwarfs. So I guess what I'm saying is, get the pot sizes you'd want them in, have them ready, mix up your potting mix, and very efficiently open it up and take a look. (Work in the shade and have a hose or mister handy because roots don't want to be dry and will be harmed by even a minute of direct sunlight.) I am new to this myself, so I'd refer you to the folks on the Container forum for specific instructions on root pruning, but it CAN be done and my understanding is it isn't all that hard. I'd be more concerned about the drive than the root pruning, probably. But someone else on the container forum just posted about having to move, and I think that some of those answers dealt with the issue of the cross-country drive. Good luck.

Greenman: You are so right on..It never worked for me in the past..I never knew why until I read some fascinating articles from a very knowledgeable man.. This is an excert from a wonderful thread. RE: Container Soils - Water Movement & Retention XII clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on Fri, Nov 19, 10 at 15:10 Todd - most of the people that participate on this thread are interested in improving on the results and minimizing the problems so often encountered when using peat-based commercially prepared soils; others are satisfied with the results they get from these soils and have no interest in changing anything, which is absolutely fine. I've been offered a good opportunity to explain something about the (lack of) efficacy in trying to amend heavy bagged soils by adding some perlite, so I'll expound a little, basing what I offer on science and my own practical experience. Perlite doesn't change the drainage characteristics of a soil or the height of the PWT. To visualize this, think of how well a pot full of BBs would drain (perlite), then think of how poorly a pot full of pudding would drain (bagged soil). Even mixing the pudding and BBs together 1:1 in a third pot yields a mix that retains the drainage characteristics and PWT height of the pudding. It's only after the BBs become the largest fraction of the mix (60-75%) that drainage & PWT height begins to improve. You cannot add coarse material to fine material and improve drainage & the ht of the PWT. Use the same example as above & replace the pudding with play sand or peat moss - same results. The benefit in adding perlite to heavy soils doesn't come from the fact that they drain better. The fine peat or pudding particles simply 'fill in' around the perlite, so drainage & the ht of the PWT remains the same. All perlite does in heavy soils is occupy space that would otherwise be full of water. Perlite simply reduces the amount of water a soil is capable of holding because it is not internally porous. IOW - all it does is take up space. If you want to profit from a soil that offers superior drainage and aeration, you need to build it into the soil from the start, by ensuring that the soil is primarily comprised of particles much larger than those in peat/compost/coir, which is why the recipes I suggest as starting points all direct readers to START with the foremost fraction of the soil being large particles, to ensure excellent aeration. From there, if you choose, you can add an appropriate volume of finer particles to increase water retention. You do not have that option with a soil that is already extremely water-retentive right out of the bag. Al

For the first 15 years or so of growing/propagating citrus (Meyer Lemon mostly) I used whatever fertilizer was on sale or free (Miracle Grow, Fish Emulsion and stuff with no name). The plants were ok but since joining this forum and following, as best possible, the advice from members my plants have improved. Even the "old" ones. Here are some of the fertilizers I found, and am using now: Citrus Tone by Espoma 5-2-6 calcium - 2% Magnesium - .5% Sulfur - 1% **also incl colony forming microbe species Vigoro Citrus & Avocado 12-5-8 + minors (slow release) Magnesium - 1% Sulfur - 8.5% Boron - .02% copper - .05% Iron - 1% Manganese - .05% Molybdenum - .0005% Zinc - .05% Vigor Palm, Ixora & Ornamental 8-4-8 + minors Sulfur - 3% Boron - .02% Copper - .05% Iron - .8% Manganese - 1% Molybdenum - .0005% Zinc - .05% Also using Southern Ag Citrus Nutri Spray Magnesium - 1% Sulfur - 4.1% Iron - 1.2% Manganese - 1.2% Zinc - 1.7% I have not "flushed" the containers on purpose but will pay attention to it. Not sure what to look for as an indicator of SALT BUILD-UP? Thanks to all and Good Growing!!! htp