A few words of advice about Advice. Be absolutely sure whomever you talk/email/forum visit with when getting advice knows your citrus is in a container. If the guy at the garden center says "well the container should be the same as in the ground, citrus can even grow in plain dirt. So xxxx product should work." run away -- as fast as you can and forget everything that person told you. When I started I got so much advice (nursery, garden centers, friends, books, etc) I thought I retained everything quite well. However, I mistakenly mixed in-ground vs. container suggestions and the end result wasn't good. It took some mistakes and reading on this forum and the Container forum. As has already started, you'll get conflicting advice about peat moss, special citrus soil, sand, wood chips, bark, gypsum, dolomite, compost, mulch, etc. Just remember, it's not like a stew, you can't take a little of everything that's "good for citrus" and have it work (that was my mistake). It's because container citrus are much less forgiving than in-ground. Keep in mind there is a difference between "ideal advice" and "practical advice" and whether that's for the tree or the gardener. But you can do whatever you want. It's very easy to give canned advice using our own assumptions of the situation. You know your situation best and you'll learn more from the outcomes of your own decisions than you will memorizing what others are telling you. Your Questions in Particular: 1) How big -- it depends on the rootstock. Lemon Drop I think is mix of kumquat / lemon that tastes a bit bitter sweet. You need to find the name of the rootstock, or at least search the tree and container for any labels/tags that may say "dwarf" or "semi-dwarf", if it doesn't say either it's likely not a dwarf and I wouldn't plant this tree in a container (making the entire thread moot) ;-) Ask where you purchased it for the exact name of the roostock to find out. A rough estimate in container: true dwarf: 4-6', semi-dwarf: 5-8' depending on pruning. 2) Yes that 22" x 2' deep terra cotta container will ultimately be big enough. That's only a few inches smaller than a half wine barrel. You CAN put your tree in that huge container, but the ideal method is to upgrade the pot size every year or so. If you do use your 22" container, it will provide more protection in the freeze, but know it will tend to "hold" on to more water than a small tree can use. But many people do it, you just have to be more careful watching your tree's health. Other than that, I don't know much about freezing temps except for buying the frost blankets to cover it, watering deeply on cold nights, using lights, etc. 3) If you have "citrus fertilizer stakes" they are for in-ground and not containers. 4) The ideal: pluck off that fruit sorry :(, wait a few months until after the growing season, and then pot it in container a few inches larger than the current. Of course, fertilize and water until then. Soil Your soil choice in a container is critical. The technical stuff is about drainage, aeration, ph, etc. But practically because it determines how much/often to water, fertilize, and certain soils compact sooner than others, which means you'll need to replace it sooner. Using a good draining soil is even more critical if you put a young citrus in an overly large container. However, short and simple: buy special Palm/Citrus soil w/fertilizer added (big box stores have it in 8 qt bags for about $6). You're probably fine with ONLY that soil. Add a couple inches of any mulch on top (except not directly on the trunk). Buy a citrus fertilizer in pellet form that say "contains micronutrients" on the front and follow the directions for using in container (about 90% of the directions is for in-ground, there is usually a small paragraph at the bottom for containers). And you're good for a year if watered well (over-watering will kill it quickly) and protected from the severe elements. This may not be "the best" but it's an easy task for beginners to keep the citrus healthy enough to buy you time you learning about optimal care requirements. Re-potting and Roots Lastly, I didn't realize the down-the-road work involved in containers. Not to scare you away, but be prepared for work every year or two: replace the container soil, upsize the pot, prune roots, etc. How often depends on the soil you picked above. More Help There is a TON of valuable information already here in these forums and the net. You will want to learn more than my long-winded advice can provide. Search Terms: Caring for Citrus, Pruning Citrus, Fertilizer. There is a very good series of posts, albeit technical, titled "Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention" by Tapla--Al if you're inclined. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg010937265978.html?143 Caring for citrus is very standardized but there may be important caveats depending on where you live. That's why I didn't provide links for Citrus care. For example, I live in Fresno, CA and University of California Davis has excellent information about Citrus in California, even specifically where I live. There are different pests here, and the rootstocks for trees I buy may not be the same as in your area. Have fun and hope you love citrus as much as I do!

Each time I water I water until I see the water run out of the pot. I do it winter, spring, summer, fall, it does not matter if it is 110 degrees or 40 degrees. There are roots at the bottom of the pot and if the water does not get to them then you are stressing those roots and they may die along with the tree. The fertilizer will inevitably run out of the pot, but remember, if you are fertilizing right, then you should be using fertilizer daily or at least at every 3rd watering. I think fertilizing constantly is a good idea. These are not decidous trees. They grow constsntly. Even if you don't see new leaves, branches or flower buds, does not mean the roots are not growing. Some people here will think I am crazy for saying that, and some will say that you should not feed during the winter. My keylime bloomed at least 5 times from the time I brought it in when fall started and temps went below freezing, to now. I know I would not have had my keylime bloom and set fruit if I didn't fertilize it and water the way I told you too. Andrew

Hi, Mike Thanks. It's been pretty busy weekend. My three kumquat trees (all in different variety ) have different metabolism... one is blooming like crazy, one just woke up and figured out it is time to start new grow, one is dying. Green Leaves drop and twigs die back. I searched up in internet, the symptom is not for any disease or pests, it is the root rot. This made repot decision easier. I just repotted this kumquat into gritty mix. Although it continues to loose leave and twig, but hopefully it will recover soon. This is my unknown named kumquat from China with very sweet fruit. I hate to loose it. My meyer lemon has few baby lemons on it and still puts out new growth. I am excited to see the lemons grow into larger size. My local grocery store had season end sales. The bark mulch I use for my gritty mix and 511 are on sale for $1 /2cf. I stock up a lot of them and stack them up to decompose a little more. This past weekend, I mixed big batches of 511 and gritty mix. Repotted my jasmine sambac "Grand Duke..." which just finished flowering. This was a cutting given to me last year from friend of mine. Mine survived over the winter pratically a stick, but started new grow this spring. My friend's plant died in winter so I need to grow my jasmie large enough to give him some cuttings. Moved all my Brugs. into 511 mix. They are all very happy, no more droopy leaves in the afternoon. I potted aout 1/4 of my plants with Gritty/511 in plastic. I am happy to recycle those plastic pots. I am a little heitate to move all plants into either 511 or gritty mix. I am evaluating the pros and cons. The gritty mix and 511 will reduce water retaintion , improve air circulation therefore less chance of root rot and improve root system and thus healthy plant. But it creats another problem... fertilizer and water waste. it is also harder to manage the fertilize timing. Every time I water/fertilizer the gritty mix/511 most of water with fertilizer in it come out at the bottom, which all goes to waste. It makes nearby grass grow much faster and greener than my plants. In winter time, when all the plants are inside, I must have a deep saucer under each plant in order to catch excess water.

I'm a little late to the discussion, but I'll give my experiences in the world of growing potted citrus in case it helps. I live in South Central Pennsylvania where our zone was changed from 6a or b to 7a in the last year or so. I currently am growing meyer lemon, something that was labeled as "standard lime", and an arctic frost satsuma mandarin. I potted them all in unglazed clay pots because they dry out fairly well with less chance of root rot occurring as long as the soil drains well. The lime was the only plant that didn't give me any problems once I started watering it regularly. The 3 foot meyer lemon was my favorite and I decided to get a nicely decorated pot just for that one. The pot is maybe about 18" compared to the 12" and 14" the other two were placed in. The walls of the pot were much thicker than the other two as well. The soil itself was organic soil that comes pre mixed with compost and worm castings. I just added sand and micronized azomite to keep the soil well drained and enriched with trace elements. The lemon grew a few limbs and leaves last summer. It also flowered and grew lemons. My intention was to remove the lemons to allow for more leaf growth, but couldn't bring myself to do it! The problem was that the soil never dried out. I believe the thickness of the pot was the cause of that. Most of the leaves dropped off over the winter despite it being kept under a 600w high pressure sodium grow light and being watered the same amount as the other two plants. I just repotted the plant about a week ago and it started growing new leaves almost immediately. The new pot is 12" with the soil being recycled from the 18" pot. The citrus have been outside almost a month now since we've been out of the 30s. I wanted them to get some of this rain we've been getting to flush the soil out and to rinse the neem oil off that I sprayed them with last fall to get pests off before I brought them in for the winter. The lemons never fell off so I knew the plant wasn't close to dying, but I did notice the roots hadn't grown all that much since I potted the plant last spring. I think it should do a lot better now that the soil can dry out a bit between watering. As for the arctic frost, the plant never did much of anything from the time I planted it until about two months ago. It neither grew nor lost any leaves. It just stayed the same and I knew that wasn't what it was supposed to do. I knew that could happen if the soil level was raised higher than it was at the time of purchase but didn't remember adding soil. I later remembered that I pushed excess soil around the edge of the pot as if to direct water toward the trunk during waterings. That excess soil eventually leveled out and left almost two extra inches of soil around the trunk of the plant which was maybe two feet tall. I removed all the excess soil until I ran into roots. The excess soil filled about a quarter of a plastic grocery bag. I removed a little excess from the meyer lemon at that time as well. Within a couple weeks, the arctic frost finally grew new leaves and eventually flowered for the first time. The fruit started to grow, but I did remove those because the plant is way too small with too few leaves to be growing fruit in my opinion. As for the lime, It did just fine from the time it was potted spring of last year. It started flowering last fall or winter and hasn't stopped since. The fruit would get to about pea size and drop off during the winter, but as the length of our days increased and especially since I put the plants outside, the fruit hasn't been dropping. To sum things up, plastic pots retain moisture too much in my opinion. Clay pots allow for breathing and make it harder to damage plants due to over watering. You will have to water the plants more often, but from what I've experienced thus far, that's how citrus like it-quick drying soil with frequent thorough waterings. Misting the leaves is also appreciated by the plants. Given the hotter temps in Florida, plastic pots may be acceptable while outside. Root rot may become an issue if the plants are taken inside at all however. Something else to keep in mind is mentioned in a youtube video by an experienced citrus grower. He compared the growth of his citrus to that of his neighbors citrus plants. The neighbors pruned the plants heavily in a way that exposed the bark of the tree to a lot of sunlight. The trees never recovered from the pruning. He rarely pruned his trees and if he did, he did it in a way that allowed the branches to still be shaded by leaves. He stated that citrus, unlike apple trees, don't have to be pruned in order for more fruit to grow. Citrus will likely have more of a bushy growth while people prune them to look more like trees. Doing so with a potted plant will expose the trunk to sunlight, which they do don't want. It will also take needed shade away from the pot. The roots need to be kept cool like they would be if the plant were in the ground. Hot roots will result in poor growth as well. If the plant isn't wide enough to shade its pot from too much sunlight/heat, place other pots around it or something white/bright around it to reflect some of the light... I had to move due to not being able to find employment and my plants were stuffed in a closet at a relatives house for a few months with a florescent lamp. My gojis, navel oranges, jade plant, and original meyer lemon all died from lack of light and air circulation. Actually the navel oranges were placed in a very cold window sill with a thick curtain keeping any heat from getting to them and weren't watered for over a week... Of all the plants pictured, only the two bananas and the lime survived. The lime is front left with the vibrant green new growth. I'd only had it about 3 months at that time. The long branch was about two feet at that time. That very same lime plant is on the left in this photo after a much appreciated summer outside. This photo was taken almost a year after the previous photo. It really filled in! I guess it liked the bat guano ;) The plant in the middle is the arctic frost satsuma with a meyer lemon cutting rooting under the plastic jug. The plant on the right is the 3 foot meyer lemon plant. It didn't look too bad after the summer but the long winter started to take its toll... It flowered and started to grow lemons. Then flowered again. Then I decided to flush the pots. The lemon never dried out after that and I eventually ended up with this... It's now in a smaller, thinner pot that should dry out like I want it to. It's been cloudy/rainy the last few weeks, but I still found some growth on the meyer lemon. It was windy yesterday so the leaves are flipped over in some spots. The arctic frost is doing well with a few new leaves... And the lime is still doing well... I guess I've exceeded some kind of limit so I'll have to add the photo in another comment...