In answer to your questions:

1.) Should I nurture these new leaves / branches at the bottom, or do they need to be pruned? - It may be the rootstock putting out leaves. Need to see pics of lower trunk to see if it is a grafted.

2.) Should I prune my tree's branches any further (please see the below photos)?

Cut off the dead stuff.

3.) Should I repot into a 10 gallon pot ASAP, or wait until it's closer to spring? Wait until spring.

4.) I'm currently thinking of repotting in gritty mix - is that an
suitable choice for my tree or are there others I should consider? Gritty is great but requires frequent watering and is heavy. I am using 5:1:1 for most of my trees but am thinking of switching to gritty eventually. Some people use Miracle Gro citrus mix but be careful with this because it may cause root rot if you do not water properly.

Thanks (once again!) Vladimir! I presume the brown branches are dead, but does that trunk look dead to you? Most of the trunk (with the exception of the bottom ~8 inches or so) looks like that closeup shot in my original post labeled (B.). By that, I mean mostly brown with light green streaks and I'm not sure whether those green streaks are indicative enough of "life" or not. I'm hoping they are, because I would hate to have to cut everything but the bottom 8 inches of trunk off this formerly 4 foot tall tree... but if that's what has to be done, I will do it.

Please find below a bunch of photos of the lower trunk:

It looks like all the new growth is below the graft line so it is root stock that is growing and the Kumquat trunk is likely dead.

Yeah, I agree. Those do not look like kumquat leaves at all. That is the rootstock that survived. If you know how to graft, you can keep it and graft something on it at a later time.

Thank you SO much for the detailed instructions and explanation poncirusguy! I understand the outlook is bleak, but I'm not ready to give up on this tree quite yet, so I really appreciate your advice. I will do just as you said, and am hoping I'll be able to report back with some good news in due time. Thank you!!

I agree with Steve totally. That stem does not look dead yet, however the new growth is definitely root stock. I think he has a solid plan for you. I may have to do the same with my lime, which has taken a real beating this winter. Once it warms up, I'll repot, trim back the damage and hope that sun, water and soil will work some magic.

Thank you Lin Lin! Hoping for the best for your lime as well.

Well, I went ahead and made the cut. Have taken some photos of the trunk at the cutting point below.

I don't see any 4-leaf suckers yet, but did notice that some younger suckers and smaller leaves have started shriveling up. I'm guessing that's my cue to water more frequently but just wanted to flag it here in case it looks like something else to you guys.

How do you water the tree and are there enough holes in the bottom of the pot?

People get scared by hearing the word "overwater" and than don't water enough. Overwatering means, that the soil is still wet and you water the tree again without checking the soil by touch, you just looking and giving sips all the time.

Proper watering is when the top layer of soil is dry, the pot feels light by weight, you should water deep until the water comes out of the bottom, let it drain, throw the excess bottom water out, wait for another drying on top of soil, water deep again and so on. Giving sips of water here and there eventually kills the plant.

You can try to lightly scratch the bark just above the graft line. If you see green, part of the trunk is still alive - follow the instructions above. If it's brown everywhere, then the Kumquat graft is dead. You can graft something back onto the rootstock at that point. Perhaps someone near you can send some scion wood.

Kumquats and Limes are often grown on non-trifoliate root stock

If you grow a meiwa kumquat it needs to be grown on Poncirus Trifoliata. Most all other rootstocks are incompatible and the tree grows poorly or dies over the next2-10 years. That is why so many Meiwa trees are dyeing.

Steve

poncirusguy, do you have any thoughts about kumquat being grown on C-22, that is the root stock being used by one of the 2 citrus growing nurseries here in Louisiana for Kumquat and Limes?

http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/citrus_rootstock/templates/guide/explore.html

rootstock information. I had never heard of C-22 but it is listed in this chart. Not much know about C22.

Pncirus Trifoliata has been a proven winner for Meiwa for over 500 years. Your kumquats will have beter flavor grown on this rootstock than any other know rootstock. I have lost track of your growing zone if it was mentioned. Since you are growing in a contained pay most attention to the fruit juice quality with that rootstock. I have US897 rootstock but I don't know what the compatibility with Meiwa is.

Poncirus Trifoliata is the only great choice for a Meiwa rootstock. If it turns out to be a marumi kumquat also round you have a good catch. Same is true if mit is a Fukushu or sunquat.

Steve, do you know how the meiwa does on C-35? I've got one growing on Volk but wouldn't mind getting another if it'll be sweeter on a different rootstock but not if they're incompatible long-term.

UCR info on C22 (they developed it), but doesn't appear to be any tests for kumquats. But quick scan looks like very similar to C-35 in compatibility and production tests.

According to Rock at the CCPP, here's what he told me regarding Meiwa/trifoliate:

"Meiwa, as other kumquats, maybe do not perform well or do not produce long-lived trees when propagated onto trifoliate or trifoliate hybrid rootstocks (as C-35). But we have our Meiwa trees on Carrizo doing very well for 10 years."

I have a few Meiwas on C-35 and they had no issue taking. Either way, 10 years is good enough for me!

-Tom

I am going to try to graft a Meiwa to US897. That stock does great with fruit juice and quality of fruit. I was not aware of longevity problems grafting to PT.

Steve

Ugh. 10 years is not good enough.

10 years of fruit would be a success. Just don't want the newly purchased tree to die on me within the year. I lost 3 this winter within months of purchase. Lesson learned, no more end of season trees unless they jump in my car and look at me with sad eyes.

@sunshine There's just one hole in the bottom of the pot. I water it with about 3L of water approximately once a week.

Well, it's been about a week since I cut off the main area of the trunk (photos from around then are available earlier on in this thread). Many more leaves have dried up since then, and there are a few leaves that have brown spots around their edges - see below photos. No sign of growth above the graft line yet.

ABC, your pot looks like one of those heavy ones with one tiny hole, therefore the water will not drain fully out of that pot, takes longer wait time between watering. I see the tree has lots of roots, give it time to come back. I personally hate those heavy pots with one little hole in them, every one of my containers have lots of holes and they are plastic, except my two house plants in clay pots.

When I buy a container and it has very few holes in it, I always drill lots of holes myself, so the water can drain fast and not stay around the roots for too long. Here is the example, every container for indoor/outdoor growing should have this many holes, in my opinion:

Thanks very much for the suggestion and photos. I'll look for a pot that has more holes, or which I can drill holes in.

Wet and heavy soil and a finicky tree.

New Zealand lemonade on US897 rootstock. · More Info

Steve

Steve - that is some Ironman Mark 1 business right there, count me as inspired.

How long would you keep the vacuum cleaner running for? Imagine this was just a temporary fix before you repotted into another mix?

ABC123

10 seconds a day. I have always used heavy soil so I could get a way with watering 2 times a week in 95F days. The tree would go 1-2 months in the winter so I had to pull in fresh air daily for the first 3 weeks after a soaking watering and 2 time weekly after that. I have always got 3/4 of my tree's growth during the winter months so by the end of winter I was watering 1 time a month. Next spring the trees went out and into the ground.

Steve