It sounds like your tree arrived pot bound and the original soil mass has hardened?

If that is the case you *must* repot the tree before much longer or it will start to decline if it hasn't already.

You can try soaking the root ball for awhile and using a fork or chopstick to remove the hardened, old soil.

You can also check out this thread in the container gardening forum on trees in containers. You will find some discussion on root pruning.

I'm completely new to this so I didn't even know what potbound meant. After doing a little research, my tree was definitely pot bound. I remember when planting it in the container, I noticed that the roots were twisting in a circular fashion around the bottom of the root ball. It sounds like thats a sign of a tree being pot bound as well.

I will repot the tree tomorrow. But first, by looking at the size of the tree, do you think the container is of adequate size or should I get a larger one? Also, is it alright to repot the tree during this time of the year? The weather has consistently been 95 degrees for the past few weeks and it should stay that way through August. I would hate to mess up my tree less than a week after I got it.

Larger would be better.

I agree with Jean and would get a larger pot. You want the pot to at least comfortably hold the root mass and have a little extra room.

In terms of should you repot now (and this will involve damage to the roots as you can't avoid it if you intend to get the hardened soil away from them), you probably shouldn't.

However, you are in a situation where you are kind of darned if you do, darned if you don't. It's incredibly unhealthy to have a tree that is not only pot bound, but is in old soil that the constricting roots have compressed into a cement like condition.

What I, personally, would do is repot now, but take great care to keep the roots moist during the entire process and have the new pot and new potting mix already prepared before beginning.

After the repot I would have the tree indoors to spare it the heat and wind which could set it back as the roots may not be able to keep up with the tree's water requirements in an outdoor environment for awhile.

Treat it as a houseplant until you see some new growth (probably 2-3 weeks) and then gradually adjust it to outdoor conditions.

BTW, you should remove all of the roots that are spiraliing around the bottom of the pot, those won't do you any favors if you keep them. Just slice off the bottom third of the entire root mass, no sense trying to save this part. After that, remove any roots that look obviously damaged. Any that have dark spots (usually slimy) are rotting and should be removed completely. If there are any roots that are exceptionally thick compared to the rest, remove those as well. Those are past their prime in terms of providing water and nutrients to the tree.

Lastly, don't fear this process too much even though it can be scary. In most cases the tree will sit and maybe even sulk (drop some leaves) for a few weeks, but then it recovers and in the long run does much better than had it been left in the condition it is in now.

My meyer lemon is about 4 inches and I have had it for 2 months. It is still looking healthy, but it hasnt grown at all...I water it and have finally broken down and fertilized it, but no new growth...whats the problem?

It's 4 inches?

Assuming you meant 4' 2 months after getting a citrus tree it's not at all unusual to have a hard time finding new growth.

Patience, these are trees, not annuals. ;)

those brown lemons just ment they werent pollinated, lemons don't like wet feet either, a normal meyer lemon tree can hold lots of lemons, and dont forget there everbering.