Here is my reasoning: Since you haven't repotted in 7 years, it's a virtual certainty that the original fraction of Ca and Mg that would have been in the lime incorporated into the soil when it was made is depleted, leaving the break-down of soil particles and your tap water as the only source of Ca and Mg. Abnormal new growth is often a sign of a deficiency of one of the immobile nutrients, which would most likely be a micro-nutrient or Ca. Since all the micro-nutrients likely to be deficient in container media are included in your regular applications of MG fertilizer, that leaves Ca/Mg as potential problems. We can guard against that issue w/o contributing significantly to the level of dissolved solids in the soil, so let's do that right after we flush the soil. If you need a little gypsum, let me know & I'll mail it - that way you won't have to buy 10 (if you can find a small pkg) or 50 lbs. Epsom salts doesn't purify the soil. It's a salt, and if not used judiciously can be a limiting factor. Those that apply Epsom salts or iron supplements in a quest for greener plants are more often doing harm than good, because anything in the soil solution not needed has the potential to be limiting. When 'treating' your plants with elements or compounds aimed at providing a single nutrient, it's wise to make sure you understand the implications, the ripple effect, of actions taken. Your first step should be to flush the soil with room temp water. Move the plant to a shower/tub/near a drain .... and saturate the soil. Wait 10 minutes and then pour a volume of water equal to the volume of the container the plant is in, through the soil repeatedly. Do this at least 5-10 times, the more the better. Tilt the container at a 45* angle after flushing. This changes the shape of the saturated layer of soil to an inverted triangle and forces much of the excess water from the pot. After it stops draining, unpot the plant & set it on newspaper until the wet spot is no longer expanding. This removes the rest of the excess water from the soil. Inspect the roots. If they are black/slimy/sour-smelling, you'll need to repot. This entails removing old soil, pruning roots back to sound tissue, and repotting into the same size or a smaller container, depending on soil choice and what fraction of roots you remove. Hopefully, you can avoid repotting at this time because winter and early spring are poor times to repot most houseplants because their energy levels are lowest in late winter & early spring. Are you with me so far? Al

Wow, I am very aware of the brown spot problem and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with water your St Augustine. It is grubs that are laid in the lawn by the Japanese beetle in the spring. At the end of summer towards fall the grub from the eggs feeds on grass roots. It looks like round brown spots like your dog pissed there. If you pull on the brown spot and it comes up like a patch that's further proof. I treated my back yard and it stopped. I didnt treat the front and it has brown patches and bare spots. Dig around before it gets too cold and you will find grubs......Organic treatment is Milky spore

Looks like mechanical damage from here, I'd forget it. Sounds like a lot of water, even for gritty mix. A lot of fertilizer too (I'd suggest too much, that's why it's so fat & plump as you said). Personally, if it were mine, I'd use a smaller pot. Unless the roots are huge, it's not good to have so much empty mix (assuming that's what's under the rocks). Some succulent growers use little to no fertilizer, feeling it's both unnecessary & makes for overly lush growth. Tho' I grow indoors only, my Aloes are in West window & I only fertilize them once or twice a year, in Summer only. Anyway, back to the damage, it looks like maybe it was bent against the edge of the pot, or a nearby one, looks mechanical (& not spreading) to me. I'd only be concerned if it somehow spreads.

Thank you Alan for the advice. We are not that far from eachother, I live in Keystone. Small world. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I tested one of the branches and it doesn't snap like a dead branch would. It bends and I had to use a bit of effort to actually snap it in two. It looks dead and dried up inside, but it's still alive and I can smell the lemon, quite strong too. I knew that the Key lime was the most cold sensitive, although didn't find out about it until a few days after I planted it in the ground, when I went back to the nursery for another non-citrus fruit tree that I have. Believe it or not, even though it is quite small, it is sprouting new growth quicker than my Meyer is. The first year it gave very small limes, that were close to ripening, but fell. It hasn't flowered since then, just new foliage. Should I dig up the Key Lime and put it in a pot? Or leave it until fall arrives and pot it and leave it? We did have a few very cold nights for N. Fl and I did cover them. Just wondering if that would do the lime good for wintertime and to help it grow without worries. If it would be better off in a pot year round instead of in the ground. I also have been clearing an area around all of my trees, so they do not have to compete with the grass and weeds, that may help them out quite a bit with nutrients. I left it alone during winter to help keep roots a bit warmer. I will leave the branches alone until at least April to see what happens. I checked on my Valencia yesterday as well and on two of the branches at the very tips to approx. 3-4" down, it appears to be burned, and the rest of the branch is brown and looks to be dead. Could this be sunburn due to lack of water? They were like that before I applied fertilizer, so it is not due to that. Thank you all so much for the help! Christine