Justaguy, You stated awhile ago that you add vinegar to your watering. Do you also add Dolomite to your container mix? I used to until I realized what was happening in my containers due to the irrigation water being high in alkalinity (ph only 7.5). Now I split the total amount between lime and gypsum and in containers that drain onto soil where I have plants growing nearby I skip lime entirely and just use gypsum for the Ca and then use Foliage Pro which has Ca and Mg in it. I still use vinegar most every time I water though after seeing what soil tests indicated the tap water did to the native (ground) soil's pH over a few years and my own testing of container pH after a season. I will test things again after this season and see what's what. If necessary I will omit lime and just use gypsum + Foliage Pro. As it is I have 3 wine barrel containers that no longer have lime added as they drain onto the area my in ground blueberries grow.

Never cut distorted leaves off. A young citrus tree needs those for photosynthesis. They're not causing an issues, like the spreading of disease, so leave them on. If they are beyond repair, the tree will eventually drop them, and replace them with a new flush of leaves at that node. Not your water causing this either. But, I would find it surprising if your municipal water's pH is that high. Inexpensive pH meters are notoriously inaccurate. Call your municipal water district and ask them what the average pH is of your water. You'll find it's probably around 7.0 to 7.3 or thereabouts. The potting mix you've used could be problematic. You're better off with a more porous mix. You can search the forum for "Gritty Mix" or "511 Mix" to find home made mix recipes that our citrus container experts like MeyerMike use with a very high degree of success. Or, you can try to find Fafard's Heavyweight Professional Mix #3 or Heavyweight Professional Nursery Mix. Both have the right combinations of ingredients and the correct size of fir bark fines. I cannot find it near me, unfortunately, so I have had to use EB Stone's Cactus Mix, which is more dense than the above mix, but not too bad. You may also be able to use this mix successfully, as you are in an even hotter and drier area of the country than I am. Our container citrus will dry out much, much faster than our friends on the east coast, where their relative humidity during the summer is significantly higher than us here in the southwest. You also need to fertilize with a good fertilizer about once a month. Many folks here like to use DynaGro, or DynaGro in combination with Osmocote Plus (the Plus contains the micros, and the NPK ratio is pretty close to exactly what a citrus requires). Do not rely on fertilizer added to a potting mix, it will not be nearly enough for citrus. And, I wouldn't worry about the few leaves that show damage. It could have even happened to the tree before you purchased it. Keep it outside with lots of sun, and some afternoon sun protection and protection from high winds, which citrus hate. Lose the stake. Patty S.

NHBabs, thank you for thinking of me. I will see if I can find Bobo and White Diamond. They both look like options. I would sure like to plant this fall, but finding them & securing enough plants at this date may be hard. I may have to wait til spring now. Thank you so much for all your help. Enjoy your weekend.

Up north, you can place LL in full sun but further South, like down here, you cannot; have mine in full bright shade although morning sun and afternoon shade will also work. But hey, adding a drip system is a good idea... although it can be expensive for some so, adding that system depends on how much rain your LL's location gets and needs. If your location cannot supply enough rain water via rain or your soil is sandy and drains too well during the driest part of the year then water by hand, use a soaker hose, a drip system or a regular system to water it. In my area, where it is very hot and dry in the Summer, I use drip irrigation on my LL. But not only that, once temps hit 100 daily in July-Sept, I have to manually water because drip twice a week does not soak the soil of water-intensive shrubs as well as watering by hand. So, I manually water those hydrangeas and camellias once a week too, until temps moderate below 100 in September. Non-water intensive plants do not need this extra hand watering and seem ok with just drip and mulch. LL and even regular Limelight are good shrubs. You should be happy with that selection. By the way, you did not say so where are you at?