Sarabell Are you worried that rains will pack the soil down or winds will dry it out? Can you find some organic mulching material to cover your planting areas? That should keep the soil moist and friable, and you can dig through the mulch to plant. If you added in a good amount of compost, I'd think you'd be okay. Your compost will have blending time with the other soil, and I'd think that just pulling back the mulch and loosening your "tilled area" with a hoe when it's time to plant ought to do the job.

I totally agree with aztreelvr. Overall, at least from the pictures, the tree looks pretty good. It should be showing signs of growth by now since planted in August, an indication of establishment. New trees require more water. The watering area should be expanded to the ends of the tree's canopy, which will also tell you where to fertilize the tree as the feeder roots are out at the canopy. Fertilize Valentines Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. I give small doses of fertilizer monthly in the warm months for faster growth. I'll foliar feed with fish emulsion and water it in too. Plants love it. I assume the tree is NOT in a low spot where water will settle around the trunk for days, which can cause disease like gummosus. Stick a screwdriver in the ground around the tree. If it comes up wet, don't water it. You CAN reduce water now that it is winter. With the warm days we were having (still), I would water once every two weeks, but it just DEPENDS on your particular soil conditions, sandy, clay, drainage, etc. Last winter for example (really wet and rainy), you didn't really have to water much. Just keep an eye out for warm/dry spells in the winter that we can get here. Being relatively new, it does NOT have a strong root structure to pull nutrients, water, etc. DO protect the tree the first year from frost then, as it will be quite a bit more susceptible to damage due to age. DO put two stakes on either side of the tree and eliminate the one that follows the trunk. DO use green landscape tape to tie to the stakes on either side allow the tree to sway in the breeze but not so much that it can break. The tape is quite flexible and strong. This is how it will build strength and not damage the trunk. DO wrap cardboard around the trunk to protect from sun as the tree does not have the foliage to do so (as it is new). This will protect the graft too. DO enjoy your lemon tree. Hope this helps.

Tropicbreezent - HOLY COW! That's a big tree to pug but very cool. You do have an advantage. I'm in SW Florida... As a transplant, by way of Chicago, to me it FEELS like the tropics in summer but I'm still sub-tropics so I probably need to be a bit safer. Thanks so much for posting the pics; I feel better about pugging my tiny woody ones. Duly noted on painting the cuts. I'll hit the hardware store this weekend for white latex and then I'll wait to see these guys recovering before I think about cutting. Tony - That's really cool. I am not an intuitive person at all when it comes to gardening so I'd love to take classes! how many mangoes do you get from a tree the size in your picture? I'm trying to figure out in my mind how you balance keeping a tree small for picking while still big enough to get a lot of mangoes. I could have an 80 ft. tree in my space but I don't want to struggle to pick them or have 100s of rotting fruit on the ground when I don't pick them.

I don't see why sunlight would have affected the roots. anyway, put it in a bright spot (southern window) and just leave it be for a while. Since most or all of the leaves have died, it's going to be using very little water. That said, cut way back on watering. Do not fertalize either. just give it time and it'll probably put out some new growth. Leaves that are grown indoors can't just be placed in full sun. They're not used to that. You need to slowly acclimate the plant if you want it grown in full sun. New leaves that do grow in full sun will not burn as they'll grow already acclimated to the higher light levels.