Fumiris, Pardon me if this is late! I would say you should check to make sure you haven't put the tree into too large a container. I have an orange I started from seed about 35 years ago, and by keeping it pruned, I still manage to winter it in a 22 inch diameter pot in the living room (the tree, not counting the pot, is about 5 feet tall, but only because I prune it relatively ruthlessly a couple times a year). If you do choose to repot, and notice that the rootball is still confined to only half or so of the container, I think you should downsize. Not doing so means there is a good chance you will either underwater or overwater, since the tree will not be accessing the water that may or may not be in that extra soil. Regarding soil choices, I would go with a good "soiless" mix potting soil. Don

Oh boy. Even this "citrus nurse" is going to struggle, here. Okay, first off, let's get rid of all that grass under the tree. This poor tree is struggling enough as it is for nutrients, but the grass is simply using up any Nitrogen that might be made available to this tree's feeder roots. So, clear a very large circle under the tree. For this tree, I would suggest twice the drip line (edge of the canopy). Mike is right - paint the trunk white, never black. This may be the cause of the issue - you may have literally cooked the cambium layer with black paint. It is customary to use flat latex house paint cut in 1/2 with water to paint tree trunks. I would definitely try re-painting the trunk. The dog's damage may have girdled the tree, in which case nothing we tell you to do will save the tree. This tree is too small to have this many dead branches requiring pruning, so that clearly should be a clue something is drastically wrong. The leaves appear to be burnt. If you're applying any kind of oil to the leaves, you must make sure your outdoor temps do not exceed 35 degrees F (29 degrees Celsius), or you'll risk burning the leaves. Again, spiders are the "good guys". If you're referring to spider mites, that's an entirely different insect, and is often a sign of a stressed tree. Find out what insect you think is a spider, and get it ID'ed so you know whether or not you're dealing with a pest or a beneficial. CLM can be treated with Spinosad, with or without a hort oil added in (depending upon your air temps). You should be able to find it where you live. Be sure to use Spinosad in the later evening, when the bees have gone back to the hive, as Spinosad can kill bees. Spray every 3 weeks, 3 applications during your CLM season. You can use a hort oil to help the product stick better, but only if your air temps are low enough. Lastly, back to the watering issue. It looks awfully wet in the soil. We need to know what kind of soil you have. Is it clay, loam, sand, DG? You say you "water occasionally". Is this tree getting hit by lawn sprinklers? If so, that is certain death for citrus. They don't like their trunks constantly hit with water. It will damage the bark and leave the tree open for all kinds of fungal infections. If you're watering by hand, you want the roots to receive a good, deep (to about 18 - 24", or 7 to 10 cm) watering once to three times a week, depending on your ambient temps, humidity and type of soil. Check to make sure the tree actually needs to be watered, before you water it, so you can gauge your soil's water retention. I just use a cheap green plastic-covered plant stake, and push it into the ground. For me being on DG, if I can't push it in at all, my soil is dry (turns into cement when dry). If I can push it in, and the stake comes out moist, I'm good. You're heading into Fall now, but I think you can still get away with another application of fertilizer. Use a good quality citrus fertilizer with the proper NPK ratio (citrus require a lot of nitrogen, so you'll see the N will be higher than the PK, the best ratio is 5:1:3 in general for citrus), with the full complement of micronutrients as well (Ca, Zn, Mg, Mn, Fe). Stay in touch with your local gardening center, someone who knows citrus. Let us know how your little tree fares. I'm a little concerned about all the damage. I'm not sure if it is just how the tree is being managed, or if we're looking at something more serious, like a virus or infection of some sort. The good news - citrus are very resilient. Let's see if some better management allows the tree to spring back. It may take until next spring until you see some serious recovery, so be patient. And, remove all the fruit for now. Your tree cannot possibly support fruit production, it needs to use all its energies into recovery. Patty S.

Can it be tap water by any chance? I used to live on the lake and used to take water from it to water my trees, but I moved and have to use tap water. I can feel chlorine smell and taste in that water.

The potting soil is mostly like already limed treated to correct the pH since all potting mixes and soils I bought at stores should be. First look and the first words lead me to believe it's your mix and very sick if not rotted roots that started back in winter, You first said that the leaves were turning yellow then leading me to suspect a very poor mix staying wet far too long with salt deposits to boot that kill feeder roots... Silica and others gave you sound advice about using mixes that provide oxygen and that is a must with just about ALL plants in pots..That is why we use the mixes we talk about here... With a potted plant in which roots are being killed off, suffocated in compacted wet mixes, the worst thing to do is to add fertilizers too.. If it's not too late, I would do a bare root re pot into a much porous mix and leave it alone to a shady spot for a week or two, making sure it stays moist...Or, I would flush that soil mix completely out with fresh water, don't fertilize and use the pot in pot method to help wick out the moisture from your mix even faster so that you can water more often allowing oxygen back into the root zone.