Should I repot with gritty mix

9 years ago

- First Post
- Zone 10 Miami, FL

For Mother's Day (May 11), I purchased three trees from Harris Citrus for my wife. I went with what was immediately available so all three are are in clay pots with Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm and Citrus Soil and a bit of perlite. I started out watering/fertilizing with Foliage Pro and a white vinegar around day 6-7 (after testing the top few inches of the soil for dryness).

Now we're starting to get into rainy season and we've been getting rain ever other day. Using a dowel I can see that the bottom 50% of the soil is staying moist. I haven't fertilized again because I don't want to add any more water.

I'm concerned that the current mix may not be appropriate for the local conditions - especially in rainy season.

I've done quite a bit of reading about gritty mix and I've been able to locate Turface and #10 filter gravel from Florida Silica Sand Company. If I switch, then I would need to figure out an appropriate ratio as I think that 1:1:1 would be great for rainy season but not so much for dry season. I saw a 4:3:2 mentioned in one of the threads.

I'm not very keen on touching anything now as all three plants seem to be happy (pics attached) and they were just transplanted.

Here's the current status:

Giant Key Lime: Grafted on US802 rootstock. I have this one getting the most light and it appears to be going through a growth flush. It seems to have no problems with full sun - at least for now. It's going to get a lot hotter and I'm trying to be cautious. I've seen the occasional small egg which I've removed by hand as well as something that I think might have been a miner on one of the leaves.

Giant Key Lime - After Potting

Giant Key Lime - Tag

Giant Key Lime - Growth

Giant Key Lime - Miner?

Giant Key Lime - Egg

Persian Lime: Grafted on Kuharske rootstock. There is new growth in several areas. One of the leaves has a curl in it so I have this plant getting slightly less light. I've been gradually moving it closer to the Giant Key Lime and I suspect that it can also handle the (current) full sun. The leaves look good with the exception the one with the perpetual curl. I've left it on out of curiosity. One other leaf has a yellow spot, but again there doesn't seem to be any issues beyond the individual leaf.

Persian Lime - After Potting

Persian Lime - Growth

Persian Lime - Tag

Persian Lime - Spot

Persian Lime - Curl

Buddah's Hand: Grafted on Obovoidea rootstock. There is new growth in several areas, but it seems to grow much slower than the limes. I have this one below the roof overhang of the house. It's getting strong indirect light and some direct light for a portion of the day. The leaves were a bit beat-up when I received the plant with spots on a couple, but it seems to be doing nicely now.

Buddah's Hand - After Potting

Buddah's Hand - Tag

Buddah's Hand - Growth

Buddah's Hand - Leaves

Buddah's Hand - Spots

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! I'm trying to learn as much as possible and not screw things up.

This post was edited by dyer_maker on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 10:50

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Comments (5)

BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nice looking trees! I don't use gritty mix, just eb stone cactus mix, which hold a bit more water than gritty mix, as my summers are hot and dry, with no rain.
So I'll let others more familiar with the gritty mix address that question.

But as for the fertilizer question, you could add Osmocote Plus to the soil and let the rain water the plants. It won't burn, it's a slow release, only as the soil needs it, and you won't have to worry about over-watering to apply fertilizer.
Then you wouldn't have to worry about them not being fed enough during the rainy season.

Have no idea what the egg is, but yeah, that other is Citrus Leaf Miner. Spinosad works on that, and it's registered for organic gardening. You just need to spray the new flushes of leaves. Of course, follow the label.
angela1234
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
If you are noticing that the soil is staying too wet, I would recommend the gritty mix. I switched both of my meyer lemon trees that I got earlier this year to gritty mix from soil that wasn't draining well and they are both doing much better. They didn't grow for a week or so after I repotted but they also didn't lose leaves. Then they started growing a lot and they have flower buds now.

My citrus have both been inside since I got them. I'm pretty sure gritty mix is fine for the dry season too. I use the dowel method to check when to water. I also added Osmocote Plus (which I got at Home Depot) to the gritty mix and water with very dilute Foliage Pro.

Check Amazon for supplies. That's where I got mine because even though there are John Deere places by me, I don't have time to get there with working full time and school on the weekends. Also, you can get Repti Bark from the pet store.

I don't have any picture to load now but I can take some when I get home :)
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Thank you both for respinding to my question. I wouldn't consider a discussion of successes and failures after root pruning and repotting into gritty mix "hijacking" my thread. I've been thinking about trying to start such a thread when I have the time to compose it. I've done that with at least three dozen different species in the last five months and would love to compare results with others. My successes (including Bougainvillea, begonia, orchids, amaryllis, ficus, plumeria) have been as surprising as my failures (including avocado, brush cherry bonsai, some clivias). Iv'e been having a really fun learning experience. Al: I'm curious about why you prefer 5-1-1 for a mandevilla. I grew two in 5-1-1 this summer. The one I bought and repotted in May was healthy with lots of blooms until mid-August, but since then it's stopped producing more than a few blooms and the leaves are turning yellow. I used Osmocote plus and agricultural lime in the original soil mix and I've been fertilizing weekly with MG 24-8-16 since July 1. I bought the other Mandevilla in late July on sale and had to prune it quite a bit to get it out of it's original pot. I knew it might not bloom this year because of my pruning, but thought it was worth nurturing because of the few blooms it had. Since then it's grown like gangbusters, which is why I want to overwinter it. Two plants of the same species are showing different results in the same 5-1-1 mix. I was thinking the one that's so vigorous might do better in gritty mix over winter, especially since I don't have a place to put it where I can keep the temps much lower than 55.
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This is not the optimal time to be re-potting. The very best time would be later in Spring, between flushes of growth, after the plant has recovered some of the energy reserves that it lost during the Winter. I am telling you this to prepare you for the worst and so that you'll have more reasonable expectations. That said, you are in a warmer zone...and that can make a great deal of difference. In other words, a Winter re-potting in your climate will be less traumatic to the tree than a re-potting at this time of year in, say, Michigan or Ontario. I would not recommend "aggressive" root-pruning. I would simply try to unwind and straighten the roots in order to keep as much as possible. Of course, you will want to remove any roots that are girdling other roots/trunk, any j-hook and strangely angled stiff roots, et cetera. If you are determined to go forward with this re-potting, follow these tips: 1) Prepare all your materials ahead of time (a helper wouldn't hurt, either). 2) Work quickly but carefully - fine-roots will dry out and die within 5 minutes of exposure. 3) A bucket of semi-warm water will help remove old soil and won't shock the roots with cold temps. 4) When you re-pot, add a little mix at a time, then use a chopstick to work the new mix into ALL the air-spaces between the roots. Be very thorough. Do not leave open pockets around the roots. 5) Orient the tree so that it is upright and balanced (not leaning one way or the other). Secure the tree to a stake that is located at the edge of the container, not against the trunk (as in the pic). The more secure the tree is, the faster the roots will establish themselves in the new mix. 6) Water the tree well with semi-warm water, then place the tree in an area that is sheltered from direct sun and wind for approximately two weeks. Check the soil moisture every three days, making sure not to let the tree become too dry - a newly re-potted plant needs to stay more moist than a fully established citrus (which should dry down a bit between waterings). 7) After two weeks, begin to fertilize again at reduced strength. Let me re-iterate, however: now is not the best time to be re-potting. Josh
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meyermike_1micha
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The gritty mix is a god send! I can tell you this.

If you don't plan on making the gritty mix exactly the way it's suppose to be made, then don't use it. Go for a much barkier mix like the 5.1.1 and transplant as needed after a couple of years.

Beautiful trees

Mike
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hey, Mike.
Indeed, Mike and I both strongly favor the 5-1-1 for Citrus....much easier to make, and just as easy to re-pot when the time comes.

Josh
angela1234
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I meant to take and post these last night like I said I would. Here are my meyer lemon trees in gritty mix. I'm a little wary to take them outside onto my buildings roof deck because I live in an apartment building and don't want other people to mess with my plants.

1st tree that I got
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New growth
{{gwi:590143}}

New Flower Buds
{{gwi:590145}}

The other tree that was a little sickly and is still recovering
{{gwi:590147}}

Lemon buds on 2nd tree
{{gwi:590149}}

Should I repot with gritty mix

Comments (5)

BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area

angela1234

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meyermike_1micha

greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a

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