I bonsai Plants, and currently have a Tangerine * and an Avocado no bigger then a small dog* in my care. My tengerine needs a good root pruning. Ya thats what I said a root pruning. As long as the Branches to not exceed more then half of the root ball, then your making a very healthy plant. This will back up any statement I plan on saying, Look up the art of the Bonsai. Which involves a lot of pruning roots and branches even citrus trees. In containers it is often that the soil gets compacted, this causes the little issue I am having, ware its winter and it needs it roots trimmed. * I hate using garbage bag in doors and it just gets messy* the act of simply loosening the soil, helps a lot, since containers do not have earth worms to keep it nice and airy. however in instances when in a pot, your roots tend to out grow the leafy part causing well the loss of leaves. Roots need energy to stay alive as well. If you have to much of a Leafy top to your tree, you loos leaves again, resulting in again your's and mines issue. However mine is simply due to it being that time for a root pruning, as my roots have out grown there leaf top. That and its pretty compacted in there..... I should probably changed the soil all together, but its winter ware I am at in winter potting soil is a rare find.

Your tree looks lovely. How your plant will respond to your repotting will depend on what you do. If you bare root it into a completely different medium like 511, it may go into shock. If you just upgrade it into a larger pot, lightly loosen the roots and add fresh growing medium, I don't think your tree will drop too many fruits. Maybe none because your tree will be happier. It may even drop some fruit naturally in the future because it can't support them all. Fruit drop may occur when you put it outside and something triggers it to drop some more for whatever reason. Meyers bloom all year if the growing conditions are right. If you lose a few with the repotting, you may get more blooms later after it settles down. Don't put so much emphasis on keeping the fruit, but rather on the health of the tree. I would repot it now and let it settle into its new environment. Spring is almost here and soon you will put it outside. New blossoms will be sure to be forthcoming then. I repotted my 15 year old Meyer lemon 2 weeks ago. It was severely root bound and blooming as well. I pruned 2" of roots off the bottom and even removed some around the sides. It has shown no adverse side effects. I admit that I live in middle GA and did this when we had a 2 week warm spell. I have also been taking my tree in and out of the house for some sun and fresh air since the repotting.

My Meyer bloomed in March/April and is blooming again as well as many of my other citrus trees. As long as the growing conditions are right for the Meyer, it can bloom often throughout the year. How big is your pot and plant? Maybe you are not giving enough fertilizer. I erred on the side of caution and underfed my trees. I contacted the manufacture of the fertilizer I was using to see what the correct dosage was for my pot and tree. Now all my trees have exploded with new growth and new blossoms. You didn't mention if you put your trees outside during the warm summer months or not. If you can, that is the best you can do for your trees as citrus don't make good houseplants unless you have the correct grow lights.

Hi, Maddy ...... and welcome. Try this experiment with your water meter: Pour a bit of water into a clean cup. Clean the tip of the meter's probe ans put it in the water and note that it reads 'DRY'. Now add a pinch of salt or baking soda and watch the meter go all the way over to wet. It reads electrical conductivity, not moisture; and, what's most important is how wet/moist the bottom few inches of soil is. The roots at the top of the soil function more as conduits (plumbing) to move water/nutrients up to the top of the plant through xylem tissues, and photosynthate/bio-compounds downward to finer and newly formed roots, while the fine roots deeper in the pot do the lion's share of the heavy lifting for the plant. Using a 'tell' made from a wooden dowel rod works very reliably to 'tell' you what moisture levels are where it most counts. I hope what I wrote about using a 'tell' helps: Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al