Laura, I don't have huge trees, but am just curious, how long it took your trees to get to the large size and how small they were when you got them?

Sunshine, I can tell you about my two oldest trees - Alexander (Meyer) and Seth (Persian lime). I bought Alex about 4 years ago (I don't remember the year!) from FastGrowingTrees and he was a 3 year old tree then but was really a stick - maybe 3 feet tall, but not much branching. I did not care for him as well as I do now for the first 2-3 years when I discovered this group. I remember fighting mites and nutrient deficiencies. He is now very robust and probably 6' tall in his pot. I think I am going to move him up to the larger pot size because I love meyers and use lots of lemons. Seth, my Persian lime was a pathetic cutting not even a foot tall. He is now the same size as Alex even though I got him a few months before. I think it depends on the variety also. My tangelo is probably the tallest tree I have and I've only had it 1.5 years. It is just a large tree.

Thanks, Laura! I got bearss lime in June, it had only one stem with fruits on it, but now it has branched out and I am amazed by how well it grows:

Greenhouse and bucket lights · More Info

Sweetlee Tangerine · More Info

New Zealand lemonade fourwinds was in a tall 30.

New Zealand lemonade#1 · More Info

6b Steve

Those are great Steve...but those drums are quite large and I cannot put mine in ground. Sunshine, I think you will find the bearss will grow quickly - mine certainly has. Your little tree will be huge before you know it...kind of like children ;-)

Since I went to the green house here in Ann-Arbor I was thinking what the heck I will do if only 10 of my trees reach that size (36" pot and at least 8' wide and hight, no way to fit through any normal door if you get it even lifted) and came to the conclusion that I either need a greenhouse or rejuvenate the trees every couple of years and either give the big ones away or let them die (horrible thought. ) My trees are not growing that fast as growing season is much shorter and temps not always favorable. My biggest trees are in 22" pots and I will go max 30" for some after that root and canopy trimming.

New Zealand Lemonade tree growing in a 3.5'-W X 3.5' L-X 3.5 '-H . Started out in a 3-gal. container.

3.5 X 3.5 X 3.5 x 8 = 343 gallons of container. Could you post a few pictures.

6b Steve

Wow Silica, that is huge. Susanne, there is no need to let a tree die. Basically, you can keep it as a huge bonsai to the size you can maintain by pruning the roots and canopy as necessary. I realize that pruning the canopy will reduce fruit yield, but it may be possible to reduce the size of the tree somewhat without removing all the budding branches.

Susanne, that picture is not your tree is it? It looks like it has rooted into the ground and that is why it's so large. If it were not rooted in the ground, I don't think it would be half as large and it would have toppled over.

Laura, what an excellent question of which I don't think was ever asked here before.

All but two will be kept small, no taller than about two feet and in smaller containers no larger than a couple of gallons...If I allowed them to grow as big as they wanted, I would have no space at all and all would be fighting for sunlight in the same windows. The huge one I have about 5 feet tall and 3 feet or more wide with a tree trunk thickness of about 5 inches in diameter is in a 20 gallon pot and I can barely lift it. The other is in a 15 gallon pot much lighter but it fits perfect in my spare room while the largest fits on the porch. I could never carry upstairs in my sun room.

What a pain just thinking about it, having to bring them all in very soon.

I will usually cut back the bottom of the roots trim the top and side of the trees I have and keep to the smaller pots. I am just happy to get different flowers and fruit even is minimal.

Mike

Dave no it is not my tree but it is not in the ground either. This tree was not there a couple of months ago. Will find somebody next time to ask where is came from.

You can make your soil as light as possible by using more perlite a combo of large and small sizes and other lite material, like 1/4" pinebark. You have to bury the container a couple of inches so the tree don't tip-over in a strong wind. 5-1-1- don't mean nothing, make your own sh.....

Well put Bob well put. I make my own with materials I find that are free or close to.

6b Steve

Interesting to hear what everyone does. Bob, I just can't bury my trees that way, but I wish I could - your tree looks great! How much fruit do you get from a tree that size? Mike, are you going to get the lights for this winter? This may seem silly to some of you, but I feel guilty putting some in bigger containers than others...like a mother picking a favorite child ;-).

2 inches is not very deep, the mulch is put only on east/south side about 3" thick. I don't thin-out my tree's, so they are usely loaded. The Page mandarin is usely not a heavy producer unless i spray at bloomtime with GA-3 in place of a pollinator. There is a way i do with that tree, i put the Page tree in the garage and let it loose all its leaves for the months of November/ december/januari and part of February than move it to the basement under lights. It will starting to grow there. The end of march it is going back in the garage, it will bloom profusely and set a lot of fruits. Pita, yes but that is part of a hobby.

Laura, I am still debating..My problem is that I would have to bring them in much earlier than usual and then set the lights on early. The I would have to carry several dozens of them including the very large one up my flights of stairs...I can't imagine that. So I am considering my spare sunny room I built out by the back yard where they could easily come in and out without an issue and I would have no problem watering quite a bit if need be.

Can I ask you a huge favor. Could you start a new thread something like" Ikea lights and bulbs for growing citrus" indoors...?

Then I could save that thread. It would help dozens of others..I am going to buy them as soon as you start it or at least maybe link me to the one where you say you got them. Thanks a million.

Mike))

Laura, i have a couple of tree,s that likes smaller pots, Here i have 2 tree's bought from Walmart 3 years ago, that were near death for $5.00 each.

One is trying to put on new growth, it has 2 Red Naval oranges, the other a Meyer, it has 14 good size lemons on. They were called Patio tree's, probably on F/D rootstock. Last year Meyer had 10.

Although most of my citrus is in the ground I am using 20 inch pots from Costco for my kiwis, raspberry, blueberries and blackberry. My wife likes the look of them so they work well. I wouldn't want to move them inside for the winter though. They are reasonably tough but get heavy with lots of dirt and a plant.

https://m.costco.com/Resin-Wine-Barrel-Planters-2-pack.product.100363452.html?catalogId=10701&langId=-1&storeId=10301&krypto=atTlYWSZB1Qw%2BglwWyknrgFdhEu3pUQJE4VkeAj%2FOytn6pPrnYDg12WmzrCRZLsjKbM8uZUbJz%2BC%0AZXubzkkCABL%2FfKUarUmQU8U0nT%2Be90WFpOI07aLRE6m339cNnpHI

That is great Bob. It is tough to balance the size of the tree with the fruit yields we want, but it seems like your meyer is doing great. I rescue trees also...probably why I have so many ;-)

Bacon, those are nice barrels. I really like them. I was very pleased with myself bc I found these great "peacock blue" planters at HD today - 20" and $9.98 each. They are technically self watering and have no holes and an insert at the bottom, but I will remove the insert and drill holes. My daughter liked the color too.

Here are my new pots...very pleased with my find!

They went on sale at Costco for $10 each and I should of picked up more! Am heading out after work today to see if I can find some more. Your blue pots do look nice! I haven't seen any like that st our local Home Depot or lowes.

Bacon, I bought out what they had at my HD! Great pots and perfect size. I hope you find some more!

I have my 3ft tall meyer lemon/key lime and my 6ft tall kona lime in 22" containers. They will probabily stay in those.

Citrus looks so nice in blue pots; great choice, Laura.

I am pleased by the clearance stuff I found at lowes. Got some very sturdy large pots. Since people have mentioned using white pots, I kept that in mind and selected the sand-colored ones. But a few blue ones ended up in my cart, too. Drip trays are another story...

These pots taper toward the bottom which means they are more likely to be tipped over by the wind.

Hibiscus, yeah, initially I did not want blue, but they do look nice with oranges and lemons hanging with blue...Vladimir, the wind is the least of my worries...my monster puppy has tipped over several already...;-). I cringe when he runs around with my other dog. He is soooo big that he is like a wrecking ball...