Okay, an apricot is not a citrus tree. I would suggest you post your question over on the Fruits & Orchards Forum. A quick mention - your tree is simply dried out. I would not use this medium for stone fruits. Not sure why you need to plant apricots and apples in containers, but if you cannot plant them in the ground, where they will do far, far better, I would use 15 gal plastic pots, and not permeable paper/cloth pots. Many issues, but take them over to the Fruits & Orchards Forum, and you'll find a lot more support there for your stone/pome fruits. Patty S.

FWIW - how well a soil drains has little to do with the fact that water flows through the soil and out the drain holes. The key is how much water the soil retains, and in particular, how tall the layer of soggy soil at the bottom of the container is. It's not uncommon for commercially prepared soils based on peat or other fine composted products to support 6" or more of perched water. This means that after saturating the soil, up to 6" of it could be completely saturated, and would remain that way until it evaporates or it's used by the plant. Unfortunately, a lot of water in the soil inhibits water uptake AND root function, often causing symptoms exactly like those in the picture you posted. I'll leave you a link that emphasizes the importance of a soil's structure and it's ability to hold enough air to keep the root system happy to your ability to consistently bring along healthy plant material. A healthy plant isn't possible unless you can keep the root system happy. Al Here is a link that might be useful: More about soils if you click me .....

You almost certainly have some Apple Scab. In addition some of the browning could just be transplant shock. Different varieties and possibly health differences of the two at planting are most likely why one was more affected then the other. It was a rotten year for apple diseases, both Scab and Cedar Apple rust are rampant because of all the rain. You do know that newly planted trees should not receive any fertilizer for at least one full growing cycle and better yet two full years. Neither of these problems will kill your trees. How about getting rid of that grass up to the trunk and giving them a nice, shallow, mulch ring. Apples (I am told) are the worlds second most sprayed crop, here in the NE they get at least fungicide at bud break and then twice more. Many Apple farmers treat several more times if the weather dictates. Of course you can still eat the fruit scab worms and all, so will have to decide just how nice you will want your apples to be, then decide on a treatment. But you are still a few years from fruit. If you plan to go organic then look into something called kaolin clay spray, for insect and disease control, looks terrible but is quite effective. My best suggestion for you is to bring some samples to the extension service and pick up a few pamphlets on growing Apples while you are there.

I took the plant completely out of the plastic (very large) pot and examined the roots. The medium had no compaction and was not wet....only slightly damp. Inside, I had been watering only when the top 3 inches felt dry. Maybe I was under watering...but still can't see how that had such a dramatic impact on the tree. There were a lot of roots that were yellowish tan and looked healthy. The roots still had plenty of room. If it were the medium I would think I would have seen stress on the plant prior to bringing it inside. The plant was growing new shoots and had blooms and some small oranges while outside. It was almost instantaneous that it started losing it's leaves once I brought it in. I have racked my brain trying to figure this out. I thought maybe the leaves would show some clues as to why it's dying (which is why I included photos). It was near a large window that received indirect sunlight while inside. Humidity inside is around 52% to 56% depending on the day. I have been so excited at the growth of this orange tree...it breaks my heart to watch it die. Since I made the original post I have taken the tree outside and cut all the dead limbs off and watered thoroughly and put it in a small greenhouse inside my barn directly in front of a south window. It gets direct sunlight now (filtered through the plastic greenhouse sheeting and glass window). It will get sun for most of the entire day....however the temperature will be colder than inside. I didn't feel like I had anything to lose at this point and couldn't possibly make things any worse for the tree. If you have any thoughts or advice, I would appreciate them. Thank you.