Felix....Good point! Do you know that everytime I buy a plant from them it declines rapidly, I mean rapidly in their potting soil unless I transplant it inot the gritty mix or 5.1.1....Everytime I look at the roots after a few days, they are well on their way to rot! Thank goodness I change the soil befoe it is too late. Their soil is great for their conditions there, but in my house, forget it...It takes forever for the soil to dry out, even in the 2 inch pots.. But they do certainly have the BEST plants I have ever seen. So now I know how to keep stop them from declining and alive for more than a few weeks..lol I should of caught you were using the gritty mix before this..I am so sorry.. Thank goodness like you say! Then both your calamondin and ponderosa, in fact just about any citrus will do well for you!! Logees has them all! Mike..:-)

Perhaps the clearest delineation I come across between gardeners can be found in the variation between how eager growers are to accept anecdote over science; or said in reverse, how diligent growers are in determining whether something can or should be taken at face value. How much we learn or how much we actually know about plants and gardening isn't necessarily related directly to the effort we expend to learn, or even to the effort we expend to gain what passes for experience. Experience is only valuable if we are learning from our errors and changing patterns so we don't make the same errors a second, third, fourth ..... time; and being bitten continually by the error half of 'trial and error' is actually one of the slowest ways to learn. It's not experience that has learning value if we are doing the same thing over and over again without improvement. I think experience is extremely overrated unless it's being used to validate previously acquired knowledge. IOW, learning by error and then changing 'something' in the hope of making things better is far less efficient than learning something from a reliable source and using our practical experience to validate that knowledge, or in some cases refute it as impractical for our application. Limiting our opportunities to learn to only those sources that are in accord with our personal views may increase the enjoyment we get from the affirmations we seek, but learning from a source that is concerned to the greatest degree possible with disseminating information w/o bias, puts us on the fast track when it comes to acquiring valuable experience, penultimately, and user-friendly knowledge, ultimately. I think it's pretty easy to take the measure of a gardener, at least on these forums, by considering how his observations and statements are qualified. The casual gardener is more likely to make broad statements and assumptions with little in the way of qualification; while the more analytical gardener understands that everything isn't always black and white, and illustrates the analytical side by thinking through his offerings to see if it holds water as a broad statement in all cases or if it needs qualification. As an example - the casual gardener might say, or accept on its face, the idea that because Mg is a critical part of the photosynthetic process, and that because banana peels or Epsom salts contain Mg, that adding either to your soil can only be a good thing. The analytic gardener understands it's not that black & white & qualifies the statement by saying it can be a good thing if the soil is deficient of Mg because they are both sources of Mg. Or, he might note that in the case of the banana peel, if there is no Mg deficiency, the excess may be (in the tiniest of degrees) a potential limiting factor that could be offset in other ways because of the addition of the OM. I don't think that analytic gardeners are necessarily better gardeners, but I think they have the potential to be better gardeners because they want to know 'why'. I also think that ambition has a LOT to do with how successful a gardener is. The diligent casual gardener will probably fare much better at harvest than the lazy analyst, illustrating that gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration; and the best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow. Al

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!

Hey John my plumeria are just waking up from winter. I aquired about 20 more varieties by cuttings this springs so ill be busy with those also. good to see you tolerate at least a couple other plants. LOL. How many trees are you up to now? I had about 2 dozen fruit set on my largest meyer and about a dozen on a smaller one. Best crop for me so far. Illi good looking tree. Where did you get it. Also I forgot to ask, what type of lime is it. The benefit of using a very well draining soil is that you can go with a bit bigger pot than what would otherwise be considered too big because of the perched water. If that was my tree I would go with at least something in between a 1 and 5 gallon pot. I use all nursery pots because they are cheap so my stock is 1 and 5 gallon pots. I have a few much bigger too. You could probably get by with a 5 gallon if you have a good draining soil and watch your watering. In july/august in oklahoma its very hard to overwater container plants even using straight miracle grow. Its this winter that you have to be careful. mike