Blue, you talk about watering "as I thought needed" and you refer to "I think they get enough lighting". For some of us such 'seat of the pants' flying is unacceptably instinctual. If it works at all is fairly easy to determine but if there are problems then perhaps a move to more objective methods is in order? Beginning with light, of course, it rarely is enough in North America in the best of places. Indoors is even worse. There simply is no leeway for niceties like 'diffused' or 'dappled' or 'bright shade'. Truth be told, greenhouse growers in the north latitudes use shadecloth to control temperature not to reduce light levels!! So, no, I don't think you have sufficient light unless you are supplementing the dappled west window light with artificial light. I find that a fixed day of the week (or two) on which to water does less harm than the catch as catch can approach. With CHC, or any medium for that matter, you are not so much waiting for the medium to reach a certain level of dryness before you water again as you are topping up the reservoir of water held in suspension before it runs completely dry. Read that again, everyone. It is key to the overwhelming misconception about watering orchids in North America and similar environs. In situ when an orchid receives rain the many crannies in the bark of its mount and the overgrowths of moss and the usual high humidity of the sub/tropical environment all conspire to ensure that rarely if ever will the roots see anything approaching total dryness. Not just phals but Catts too. Climb a tree some summer afternoon when it hasn't rained in days. The bark will have a vaguely damp feel to it and this is quite enough. In a tropical environment the bark would be damper still. When you water a pot full of bark the moisture level will still be quite high the next day, the day after that and maybe even the day after that. In nature although still not totally dry, the root environment will admittely be much less soggy than in the pot. Do you really think that waiting seven days to water again gives the roots anything approaching a natural wet/dry cycle? No it doesen't. Nor do you want it to for in North America, especially indoors, we haven't the humidity levels nor the guarantee of daily rainfal or dew, etc. We may as well learn to rely on the inbuilt capacity of the medium to ensure that adequate gas exchange is possible regardless of the amount of moisture present and water as often as neccessary to ensure that the moisture level never falls below zero. But as far as there being a maximum, there is no such thing. Every day watering while wasteful of water should not be harmful if other aspects of culture are exemplary! In North America, however, things are rarely exemplary and a whole regime of countermeasures has arisen to compensate for reduced light, low humidity, temerature extremes, etc. I haven't seen these measures work to my satisfaction so I am trying (and preaching) a method of creating the environment that promotes vigorous growth and development of the orchid like natural conditions do rather than attempting via water starvation regimens to forestall problems brought about by insufficient light and/or insufficient daytime max temp (in winter), low humidity, etc. Finally, from Blue's language I am pretty certain, like Clara, that s/he is referring to CHC and not coir. And I do believe CHC can be obtained pressed into bricks though mine did come loose in a bag. H

Cocoa hulls, removed from cacao beans (chocolate beans), are generally used as a mulch. They are very light weight and I would seriously doubt they would last very long as a growing media because they are so thin, light, and crispy--I'd guess they'd break down rather quicky. Smell darn nice though. The CHC's that are all the rage here are Coconut Husk Chips. The word is they are supposed to be excellent are a *container* media because they are long-lasting, and hold both a large amount of H2O as well as allow good air penetration for healthier roots. I don't know about trying them in the ground. In general, a long term solution to the poor clay soil often found in our state is adding organic material--lots of it--letting is break down over time and mix in and some tilling and all that hard work to create an enriched soil. That takes a long time and a lot of effort, imho. If you are concerned with drainange issues immediately, you can always create a raised bed or mound and plant onto that. I believe the proper way to plant a tree in the ground is to use mostly native soil for both the reason mentioned by billy1had as well as for root extension issues in these rock hard clay soils, and then consider topdressing with compost or mulch or whatnot--but I am sure that millions of trees have been planted "incorrectly" and they are ok. Have I planted things by using lots of amendment to the soil used to backfill? Yes. Has it all died? No. But at least here (Bay Area), this place is darn dry and my personal feeling is you'd have to work hard to get any substantial issues with retaining too much water for most of the year (unless it's a low-lying location that will have lots of standing water after a heavy rain or something like that) but those are just my observations for my location. For the sake of your *in-ground* citrus and their sensitivity to standing water, if you choose to replant your tree I would just do it onto a raised bed--it's fairly easy to create one. HTH.

Hi Jeff and Jessa...Welcome to the land of citrus..LOL..It's a very addicting hobby but fantastic too..isn't it great when buds open and house is fragrant, plus fresh fruit sprouts? Living in the midwest, I know what you mean about winter..though we haven't gotten as much snow as you guys up east, we've had some icy days..and gray..The additional lights sure help. I'm a Harris and Briteleaf Nursery lover, so those are the only 2 places I buy trees..Don't worry if your tree isn't dwarf, believe me..growing in our parts of the world, well, we won't have to cut the ceiling to make room.. I don't recommend pruning..If a tree did manage to get ceiling height, I guess that'd be a different story, but don't think that'll happen. I dont think there's a way to shape a bush into a tree..Maybe if you removed all but one main trunk, but I'd be too scared to try it. I've only one bush-like dwarf citrus, a grapefruit given to me as a gift from CA. Otherwise all citrus are tree-shaped. Grafted trees have a line near the base of the main trunk. You can literally see where it was grafted..btw, any growth under that line is rootstock and should be removed. It'll grow fast, take nutrients from tree, and is very thorny. Anyway, your trees look healthy, so far so good..Toni

Mike, I use a citrus fertilizer, brand name Hoffman..Got it online..Unfortunately, I can't recall which nursery I got it at, since I purchased 3 boxes in one order..Perhaps if you type in Hoffman in your search engine, nurseries that sell it might pop up. I too love Acorn Spring's trees, but don't care for fertilizer tabs and/or spikes. Toni