Repotting

Go for it

I'm with Steve, GO FOR IT!

If you are not bare rooting the tree, then I would. When my mandarin came in from Four Winds, I left the original rootball alone and just added my own medium to the pot. You can always bare root next spring when the temps are better. I live in the South so we have mild temps until at least Thanksgiving and our plants grow really well until then.

PacNorWreck, I never realized when we lived in Michigan, that Northern Virginia is in the South. The growing season is long, and as Denise says, sometimes even past Thanksgiving. I did not repot today, as it was up to 100 on my patio, but I did fertilize with Foliage Pro, and put saucers under all the plants.

Denise, thank you.

You are talking just a re pot right? Not a bare root of any sort?

No heavy manipulation of the roots? Just an east up pot basically? No root disturbance?

Denise said exactly what I was thinking.

Planning on removing some of the soil and potting them up in a slightly larger pot. Thank you for your response. Now if you would only tell us all how you use the FE regimen for preparing your plants to be brought indoors, I would really appreciate it. Also, how often? Is once a week too much? I promise I will not pester you any more if you don't answer. Thanks.

I do not use FE and don't know how to .

How do YOU prepare your plants to bring indoors?

soozifroozi - I am already mentally planning on this myself and I kept a little text file record of what I did last year. I will probably modify the process a bit but here is a copy/paste of what I did then -

• 10/19/17 - spray all citrus (but both kishus & blood lime) - 1 tbsp HO, 1 tsp ea. FE & neem, 1/4 tsp pro-tekt per 1 qt
• 10/22/17 - spray all citrus & pots (except both kishus & blood lime) with water, then Bonide ready-to-use HO
• 10/27/17 - spray all citrus (but kishus & blood lime) - 1tbsp HO, 1tsp ea. FE & neem, 1/2tsp Castile, 1/4 tsp pro-tekt/1qt
• 10/28/17 - scrub pots w/detergent & bleach & bring in all outside citrus (nor'easter) *trees were eventually put back out when the storm was done
• 11/3/17 - spray all outdoor citrus (except small kishu) with Bonide ready-to-use HO
• 11/4/17 - bring all remaining citrus inside for winter

(*HO = Horticultural Oil - I have 2 different brands - one ready-to-use - Bonide and the other that has to be diluted - Monterey. *FE = Fish Emulsion - I use Neptune's Harvest, & the Kishus were a small one from Four Winds that was severely distressed when received and the other was new from One Green World in Oct. that never went outside when I got it)

I have one of those 2-liter Solo telescoping sprayers that I made my spray mix in to spray the trees. This sprayer is nice because it has a rotating and telescoping wand so I can get up to the higher branches and I can turn the spray end upside down to get to the underside of the leaves.

Edit to add the Amazon link for the above - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AQNQ4Q/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What I had considered doing then, which i did for my other tropicals, was to sit the pots up to the brim, in a solution of warm water and 1% Castile soap to help dislodge/kill any critters that were in the soil (notably ants). I didn't get chance because I was trying to leave the trees out as long as I could with temps in the 40s/50s at that point and I was concerned with wet chilled mix that would need to drain.

Once indoors - it was literally a daily check for the next 5 months to try to head off issues. Most issues seemed to manifest from February on - it's like a magical time for plants when somehow they know the days are getting longer and they start waking and of course any critters want to head for any new growth.

Yesterday in 91F bright sun I sprayed all my weeds for spider mites with a mix of 6 tablespoons Canola oil, 3 table spoons Dawn dish soap, Half cup vinegar with water to make a 1 gallon solution mix. I will spray again in the 90F bright sun day. I have 6 weeks left with an early frost and 11 weeks with a very late frost. My trees will get sprayed with an appropriate concoction at a safe temperature.

Steve

Jenny, thank you for your list and timetable. Are you mixing HO, neem and FE and then spraying? Isn't it an overkill? Suppose not, since you're doing it again this year.

Steve, thanks for your answer. I was a little surprised at the canola ingredient, as pretty much all the answers I received regarding cooking oil use was negative. And what is the vinegar for?

soozieforoozi - We have had so much rain this past spring & summer that I haven't been able to actually spray the trees more than a few times since May. In May I sprayed a couple trees with the ready-to-use HO when I saw some scale starting up and sprayed all the trees with FE and pro-tekt one time (mid-July) and FE and tween-20 a 2nd time (Sept. 1st). When I use the Monterey, that is so that I can make what would be a "bigger" batch than trying to hand spray (squeeze spray) the Bonide. That combo that I did last year was something that Laura had tried and seemed to have success with.

Before I bring them all in this year, I'll need to decide what I'll try as a combo to spray but it will still be weather dependent too!

Hello all. Been sick. But wanted to apologize for the delay and tell you that I use FE at least once a month and then every week once a week starting September until they come in.

Grrat work Jenny !!

Steve. How can you spray with vinegar ! I burned a couple trees by accident with it.

Mike

Mike I sprayed the spider.mites on my weeds in hope that I would burn my weeds to. I did not spray my trees of veggies.

myermike, sorry to hear you've been sick. Hope you're feeling better, now.

Take care Mike. I was wondering where you had gone. Figured it was the beach. My wife leaves tomorrow for Ocean city NJ for the waves.

Mike - I hope you recover quickly! Nothing worse than being under the weather in the summer, and especially late summer when you know there is so much to plan for and to do and you feel like crap.