I see a thermometer there; can you tell us the temperature of the soil? Sometimes the soil can just be too cool and the roots will not grow. Citrus in general do not like to grow roots in cool soil; and if they are not growing new roots, they will not absorb the water; and even a little water can be too much.

At the time of the pic was last night, after sun-down, and the soil was about 60F, and it was about 50F in the greenhouse.
They are in a greenhouse all season.
Usually all my trees do just fine in the winter with a minimum temp of 40F at nighttime. From sun up to sundown, it stays in the upper 70's to low 90's all winter long. So at least 2/3rds of the day, roots are in warm conditions.

However, since I am having this issue, I am trying to keep the nighttime temps at least to 50F for now so they can stay warm 24 hours. It is ok now to get the heater to keep above 50F now, but when it gets colder, not sure I am going to be able to do so. I have a couple of ceramic heaters that usually do fine. I usually only need one to keep above 40F in winter, unless it gets down to 10F or below, then I have to run a long extension cord to put on the other heater.

I have been trying to get an electrician to put in some outdoor outlets for the greenhouse, but ever since Sandy, it is hard to get people to work little jobs.

I do have a couple heat mats I would like to use when I get another outlet.

I have been looking at ways to make home made type heat mat ideas from rope lights. I am open to any ideas for keeping roots warm at night.

Do you think bubble wrap about the pots would help at all?

Christy

PS, I transplanted another tonight, and could still feel the warmth from the day's sun in the old soil. The soil was still in the 60's after dark.

My citrus are all on one shelf. Wondering if maybe some heat from the floor under the shelf would help? Even candle heat? Right now, the ceramic heater is on high. It is under 30F right now and the GH is at 54F.
Any night heating tips would be interesting! I was thinking of starting a thread about nighttime heat retention in a GH.
Christy

What is the floor of your GH? Crushed white rock is one of the best for heat collection/retention/radiation during the night. 60 deg F is good enough for the soil; but if that is in the evening, I would suppose the morning soil temp for pots on a shelf would be much less.

Rather late in the season to be up-potting trees, I suspect. When you up-potted, did you loosen the roots? I'd look to all other possible culprits besides the 5-1-1.

Josh

Johnmerr, actually, the bottom floor is the white rock in the pictures.

Josh, yes, I know it is a little late for up-potting, but I am not doing the up-potting now, the original up-potting I did about 2 months ago, and now after realizing the uppoted mix was staying too wet and hurting my trees, i am now replacing the mix that has been staying too wet when I did the orginal up-potting. I figured better to get it out of the wet soil and larger pots than to sit in the wet soil all winter.

Yes, I did rinse the dirt from in between the roots.

However, I am curious if you think the trees look like they will make it?

Only thing I can think of is bringing some inside the house on mats, but the light will be lacking, although I do have a few plant lights.

Has anyone experimented with rope lights and/or homemade bottom heating ideas? Or even some candles underneath the shelf I have my citrus as an emergency? Can wrapping the pots in bubble wrap help?
Do you think they will make it? Christy

I'd keep them in the greenhouse to recover.

I have no idea if they'll make it. It depends on how extensive the root-loss was.

I had to re-pot my variegated lemon November 15, 2011, and it survived....but it was a long recovery. It's all about the condition of the roots.

When I see curled/folded leaves, my first thoughts are Water and Pests (mites).


Josh

I am with Josh on this one Christy..

Lot's of sunlight and a good soilless mix that dries out evenly and rapidly will bring them back..I have helped a many like this along and it just takes time..

You need to keep them very happy and they will respond with time...It would not help if you fertilized lightly all winter long...

Keeping my fingers crossed for you..

I would not whallop any leaves either as all your plants will need them or as many as they can to provide energy to your root mass....You will just shed leaves or a twig or two if the roots mass simply can't keep up my nature..

There is life as I can see in the roots you proviuded and it just may take a good amount of time to regenerate...Just be patient and try not to worry..You would be surprise what tree can be puit through and how well they respond once you have taken control and fixed their needs..

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 18:36

Thanks Josh and Mike for the encouragement! I guess that is really what I was looking for, someone to tell me it might be ok! LOL! I never had such a tragedy in my whole citrus 'career'. I do think I will lose 2 small young citrus I have, a key lime, which I know will be easy to replace, and a variegated Tiger Navel, which will not be as easy to replace. I got one from Logees a year and a half ago, and do not know if they even sell it anymore.

I am just hoping the trees that I have that are 3 years or more will be ok. It just hurts to know I had nice plants from Four Winds get really root damaged in a matter of 2 months. As you know, they are not cheap.

Good. News today I had an electrician come over and give me an estimate for a 2 circuit outdoor outlet for the greenhouse! So I can have enough electricity for 2 heaters when it gets below 15F, which is not much.
But I will be atleast able to use some heat mats at the same time as the heater. So even if the air gets down to 40F, I can still have the soil above 50F at the least.

Anyone ever make a bottom heater out of rope lights and sand instead of buying expensive heat mats? I have 3 separate heat mats but would like something that I can get in a section. My Solexx greenhouse is 8X16 long, and would like to get one half side of one side of the greenhouse of 4X8' to make a heated bottom for citrus only. The figs I have that take up a lot of space do not need such heat. So I am trying to figure out the best way to get my citrus to get warm roots this winter due to the recent damage, otherwise, Previous years have been just fine.
Tanks! Christy