clones2: You sure are not one to dilly-dally around. But be careful and consider your moves. One of the best uses of potting soil is to germinate seeds. Seeds don't need the complex nutrition that plants and trees do. Seeds have all they need for life contained within the seed -- up to a certain point in their growth. Then the new roots are looking for nutrition to take over the life support function. Potting soils are sometimes sterilized so that there are no bogey-men microrganisms and pests to thwart germination and early seedling growth. Potting soils can be formulated so that they hold just the right amount of moisture for germination and early seedling growth. Once a seedling reaches a certain size, these benefits gradually become less important to the growing plant and other factors gradually become more important -- factors like nutrition and pH. So, potting soils are not really intended as a permanent growing medium for plants. This is why I use potting soil mainly to add organic material to natural soil. And potting soils are not usually thoroughly composted which means that they will demand nitrogen from the soil to complete the break down of the organic matter. You can usually see this in the light brown color of potting soils when they are dry. More thoroughly broken down (composted) organic matter is a much darker brown approaching black. That being said, the best mix IMO is good garden soil and homemade compost with a little bit of worm castings (worm manure) added. Roughly about 20% to 30% compost by volume and 3% to 5% worm castings by weight if the moisture of the castings is apporoximately the same as the moisture of the soil. Mix thoroughly. Commercial bagged compost is OK but not as good as homemade compost because it is mostly derived from "forest products" which is logging and lumber mill chips and sawdust. These "forest products" are OK but are limited in the plant nutrients they are composed of to begin with. And it is usually not thoroughly composted. If you see bits of wood, it is not thoroughly composted. Eventually, you will have your own earthworms living in your soil. They appear, seemingly out of nowhere, like weeds and flies, if the environmental conditions are to their needs. They like a certain moisture, temperature and organic matter to dine on. It's a good idea to give your citrus time to acclimate to their new diet and their new root environment in their new home before you start adding fertilizers. It's a major shock to the plant to repot it. It is as though YOU were suddenly transported to live in the Himalayas at a 10,000 foot elevation with an entirely new diet -- all accomplished in 15 minutes. And no one told you bring warm clothes. You didn't mention what part of the US you live in so I don't know what packaged fertilizers are available in your area. I use Whitney Farms Citrus and Avocado food. It's organic, generally slow releasing and lasts in the soil a while. It gives good results for me. It supplies "the big three" NPK nutrients plus some other things. Be sure to read the label of whatever you buy. And you may not even have to buy anything -- at least at first. It is possible that an organic mulch with some good homemade compost and/or composted manure in it can supply everything needed. The best way to know right away what's going on with your soil is to have a lab soil test. This will also tell you the pH. Home kits can get you by for a fifteenth of the cost. Home kits usually require two test kits, one for NPK and one for pH. But home kits won't tell you about the other nutrients like calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese, etc. Look to the website pictures of leaves for clues about these minor and trace elements. Give support to your citrus after its trauma of repotting with attention given to temperature, moisture, wind, sun etc. Tony

What state are you in? Die back can be from a number of things including moisture problems, citrus pest and diseases. My first impression is that it looks like the rootball is staying too wet. The tree should always be higher than the surrounding yard so the water has a place to go. The retaining wall might be causing moisture problems by not letting water flow away from the tree. The dirt you piled up behind the retaining wall on the right of the photo looks higher than the dirt the tree is planted in. When it rains there is nowhere for the water to go and so it sits in a pool. I hope this helps.

I actually just called my city to come check out a maple in front of my house. I believe it has verticillium wilt. My tree looks a great deal like yours. In my research one of the big clues for wilt that my tree has - a massive overproduction of seeds slightly off season. That along with die out and rapid wilt at the crown of the tree on individual branches. Jean's suggestion is probably a great idea. There was one other disease I saw that was similar, but it is difficult to tell which it might be without testing.

i am sure you will get some ideas here ... but there used to be a very active citrus forum... if not 2 .. indoors and out ... i would not miss getting opinions from those experts ... care to remind us... potted [worn out media.. or lack of media] .. in the ground [improperly planted] .. fully established ... new to your yard [transport shock] ... and any other info.... never forget.. a stressed or otherwise shocked plant... always seems to be a magnet to other problems ... and fixing the secondary problem.. this current problem.. might not really solve the issue.. if its struggling otherwise ... ken