Okay so I just checked my front yard- perfect soil for citrus. I'm moving it to the front yard I think.
Feel so bad for putting it through the stress of planting just to uproot it the next day!

Shouldn't be an additional stress.
It hasn't rooted, so it won't be uprooted ;-)

Josh

Josh is right; ground to ground same day, no worries.
My idea is plant it right, plant it in the best ground you have; citrus are not good competitors for water, fert, etc; so give it the best chance you can... you are gonna have this tree for a lotta years.
Hold off fertilizing or over amending the soil when you plant it; wait at least 3 weeks before fertilizing; the absence of nutrients encourages the roots to grow seeking food. AFTER the roots grow, then comes leaves and branches; and they need food... at least 3 times per year, as the tree gets its food from the first 18 inches of soil; ergo amend or enlarge the hole wider, not deeper.

When do I know I can fertilize a newly-planted tree? On my already-planted trees I have been hitting with fertilize when I see flushes of growth (leaves). My newly-planted tree, there is no new growth. Planted in October. I have dumped banana peelings and some coffee on it, but mostly water once a week if no rain.

You can certainly fertilize your tree now; see my comment to ALLYFL above.

Thanks, going to hit it with something before the rain tomorrow!

Kquat:

If you are in a freeze risky area as I am here is a plan.

Here on the Texas Coast we don't fertilize until we expect the end of killing freezing weather, about March 10. With organics you can creep up a couple of weeks cos it needs to break down to become available.

You can find local Cooperative Extension info on rates based on years old or trunk diameter. That is usually based on lbs Nitrogen per year.

But an old time citrus man told me this which I follow. Take total lbs fertilizer and divide into 2 applications
of 60% in March, and 40% in about May or June but not later. If you don't feed them in the second half of the year, they will stop growing in the fall and "harden off" as cold weather approaches. Then they will be good for 25 deg F for sure, maybe a couple more. If there is soft new growth and we get a hard freeze they will get quite a shock. Even the exceptionally cold hardy ones will die back.

Then you have a bigger problem of cutting back or not cutting back to get rid of dead ends when your trees should be growing in spring. If you use good methods you will have 4 or 5 ft of growth per year, minimum, with cold hardy trees to boot.

Expect them to sit there for a while so they can get their root system established before zooming up.

New growth will be tender, yes.

But I've heard that fertilizer won't "push" or "force" new growth,
which is why I fertilize nearly year-round, with just a minor break in the supply
during the Winter period. But note, I don't cut back the fertilizer because I think
it will force growth in January, I do so because the plant isn't actively growing and
the temperatures don't facilitate the uptake of certain nutrients.

Just recently I heard that plants receiving nutrients are actually better able to
tolerate cold temps, just as healthy plants are better able to resist pests, as well.

Josh

It's all really about growing roots; the fertilizer stimulates root growth; after that comes leaves and limbs.
For Meyers, they don't appear to be growing now; because they are preparing to make flowers; AFTER the flowers will come the leaves. If you don't fertilize Meyers in January, you WILL have a smaller crop in 2012. If you Meyer is young/small I would recommend taking off the flowers to encourage leaf/limb growth; if you want to leave a few for fragrance and maybe a few fruits it is okay; but leave too many fruits and the tree will forget to grow.