First off I must say that for a two month old soil mix, it looks very bad..

Also welcome to the board here)

I would say that to keep a tree that long wow, you must of been doing something right. I don't think everyone is gifted with growing citrus, and in fact many kill it, and unless you really trained your sitter your routine, I get the feeling somewhere along the line she might of over or under watered it....Is it in very hot sun, or was it?

Looks like at some point and stopped taking up water after root damage and then the leaves roasted due to no moisture

I am so sorry about that...It should come back if your mix drains well and you give it the good care you always were)

Thank you for your reply and the welcome!

The soil is actually about 2 weeks old, however she left the old soil in the root bundle when he changed it. I think she was worried about having more damage to it by removing the dirt in the ball, Would that be advisable to remove the soil in the ball?

I get the feeling that she may have over watered it, while being in the sun. I am not 100% sure of that though. Since I've been back, I've been watering it a good bit and it seemed like the green leaves were looking better, however since I haven't watered it the past 2 days, I kinda feel like they are wilting more. Should I keep watering it?

I may be wrong but I think it is root rot because I see few if any fine white/cream colored roots and the soil mix looks like mud. Do not water it.

Ok, ill hold off on watering it. Should I get more pics of the roots to check for root rot?

While keeping it out of direct sunlight and not watering it, would it be helpful to turn on the ceiling fan for more air flow? We have high humidity here.

Three sides of my screened in porch are somewhat covered.

I use fans in the winter to pull water from the roots. It works. I have also used a vacuum cleaner to draw air through the roots to aerate the soil

sweethee#3 · More Info

Pots and containers · More Info

Keep it out of the sun and turn on the fans.

There are two schools of thought about how to treat root rot: 1) Insert a cotton strand from a floor mop into a drain hole. This will act as a wick and will help to remove excess moisture without disturbing the roots. This does not remove the causative organism. 2) Remove the tree from the soil; wash all soil from the roots and put it into new soil (citrus and cactus mix or 5-1-1 mix). Some people treat the roots with hydrogen peroxide first to disinfect.

My version of Al Tapla's 5-1-1 Mix

· 5
parts pine bark mulch (remove ½” pieces through 1/2 inch screen)

· 1
part sphagnum peat

·
1-2 parts perlite (coarse, if you can get it)

· 1 Tb/gal
5-1-1 mix garden lime

· Controlled
release fertilizer (optional)

·
Moisten and wait 2 days before using

I appreciate all the replies!!

Lots of smart DIY things here. Necessity is the mother of invention!

I wasn't sure if I was dealing with Root Rot, but if that is so, then I probably should look into changing the soil and use Hydrogen Peroxide. My research shows that the HP will kill off the bacteria and it'll give a good shot of Oxygen.

So, if I go this route (time is ticking), could anyone suggests a Citrus and Cactus mix that would be available for purchase in town? I see a few that look to be available, however I'm not sure if one would be better than the other..

I am out and about today and will be looking for the mix and HP. I am also thinking I might drill a few more holes in the bottom of my pot for extra drainage.When I work out the dilution of HP (not sure % ill find), would be it be better to fill up a container (after removing dirt from root ball) and place the roots inside to soak for a few mins, or just use a spray bottle?

Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm and Citrus Potting Mix

Kellogg Palm, Cactus & Citrus Mix

I have used Miracle Grow. I recommend it over Kellogg, although I have never used Kellogg.

Great, that's what I'll shoot for.

On the hunt now for items, but i wanted to throw out there what i am planning for review..

New pot to ensure there is no contamination.

Miracle-Gro soil stated above.

1 or 2 gal bucket

hydrogen peroxide 3% 16oz.

Take tree out, and use water hose (slow no pressure) and remove soil from roots.

hydrogen peroxide 3% mix at 1 cup per gallon. Mix and put in 1 or 2 gal bucket and submerge roots in it for a few mins. I would rather do it this way than spray so I'm sure everything is coated. If this is a bad idea, please let me know.

Miracle-Gro soil ill put in a 2 gal bucket, add water and mix by hand to get everything moist. Add each moist mix to the new pot and place tree in it. Pack the soil (lightly) around the roots and pack down soil on top of pot.

Keep on back porch out of direct sunlight and pray...

Is that a fairly decent plan?

Scratch the submerge in peroxide. I'm going to do as suggested with sprayer.

I might be over thinking this. Lol

That is a good plan. Also keep it out of wind.

If you go with the miracle Gro, I would suggest adding 1 part perlite to ever 2 parts Miracle gro cactus. their citrus mix is just too heavy.

I definitely agree with Steve,

In my area, it would be 3 parts pelite with 1 part soil...........

Ok, I'll grab some Miracle-Gro perlite on my way back home.

I plan on getting into this 2 or 3 hrs from now.

Again, i appreciate y'all running through this with me!

Mission accomplished last Thursday. I wanted to post all this that night, but I guess this site was having issues and I couldn't post.

I started out with cleaning out the dirt around the roots. I was pretty meticulous working under the old gals skirt,and every trace of dirt I could find was removed.

I can't remember exactly the ratio for the HP/water mix. My wife moved the spray bottle and atm I can't find it. I think it was 2 tbsp to 16oz. I have been going non stop the past few days and my brain is slap worn out.

I got mixed up on the Perlite mixture, but hopefully It's not a huge factor. I went with 1.75 part Perlite to 1 part soil. I have extra soil If I need to take some out and add more.

I had an issue with the Perlite clogging up the holes in the bottom of the pot, so I drilled about 10 more holes in it with the same result. I had some extra porch screen laying around so I stacked 6 or 7 layers in the bottom and carefully added the soil on top of it. It looks like it's working like a charm, but I plan on changing the setup later down the road.

http://imgur.com/a/bhyOe

I am wondering if the pot is too small for the tree. There is one pic where I am looking down at it partially in the soil (you can see my knee) and it seems to me that the root are almost touching the sides. I was just curious if that should also be a concern as well?

I would also like some confirmation that the roots look like they have root rot. I just wanted to be sure that was "the", or "a" problem she is having.

Thanks again!

The pot does look a bit small but I would leave it for now and repot later after the tree has recovered. I think root rot is the problem because I see no fine roots. Keep the tree out of direct sun and wind until you see new growth. Be careful about watering. To check if watering is necessary, insert a wooden dowel to the bottom of the pot, wait 5 seconds, withdraw dowel. Watering is necessary only if there are no soil particles adhering to the dowel. Do not fertilize until you see new growth.

I'll get a wooden dowel tomorrow and start checking daily on watering.

When she needs it, is there a certain amount of water I should put in? Do i really need to put in a great deal, or just lightly? Water hose on medium fan for 60 seconds? Fill it up until i see water pooling at the top?

I don't plan on making any moves until I get the go ahead from y'all here on anything moving forward. :-)

Add enough water so that it comes out the bottom of the pot. Make sure you soak the entire surface.

I figured I'd give y'all an update on the progress.

It was either 6/22/16 (or 23rd) I watered. I had good water drainage out of the bottom.

I can't say I've really seen a change in her, but I somehow get the feeling that she didn't care for the water. That is either a feeling, or maybe (to me) her leaves were more droopy.

I have everything set the same as y'all have recommended, but i have a thought. The past few here the humidity has it feeling like 100-103deg, would it be advisable to put her inside in a 73deg environment? It is a challenge, but not too major to do so, but i would need to move back outside for watering.

Other than that, is there anything else I could do? Another thought I had was maybe trimming off the new growth that's now dead/brown looking. I somehow feel like maybe she might be overextending herself with the extra branches. That is just a feeling as well that crossed my mind.

Patience. You won't see a change for some time. Make sure that the soil temp. does not go above 104 F. Perhaps, to be on the safe side, move her indoors if soil temps go into the 90's.

So, there really hasnt been too much of a change. A few more leaves have fallen, but that's about it. The remaining leaves aren't "as" curled up as I've seen before, but not fully flat.

I brought her inside for a few days, and i could tell she didn't like it, so i put her back on the porch.

An hour or two of full sun I could tell wasn't advisable. The leaves didn't look as green.

I'm not exactly sure what to think.

Please post a photo.

last month

http://i.imgur.com/IXfPvJJ.jpg

Last night

http://i.imgur.com/GqIRcwG.jpg

Correctly me if I am wrong, but the remaining leaves do look healthy. That is a good sign. I would give it some more time. I suspect that many branches have died but I would wait before taking further action.

Yeah, they do look healthy to me. I was just curious if I should be doing anything else. I'd rather ask just to be on the safe side. It's been a month or two.