Well my four citrus trees (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit) arrived last night. They seemed to be in decent shape. The leaves were cupped upwards. I don't know what that indicates about their health. I prepared a potting mix using a 3:1:1 ratio of cedar shavings/mulch, organic garden soil, and perlite. I potted them according to the instructions leaving the root collar almost level with the surface. I watered them with a diluted fish emulsion solution. The water seemed to drain through very quickly. I'm a little worried about the curled leaves and drainage rate. Should I be?

With caution your mix should be OK for your trees. However, soil is rarely ever, or never, used in containers. In free draining containers soil (Dirt) rather quickly filters down to the bottom of the container with each watering. This leaves behind a medium that does not retain much water, thus dries out rather quickly. Normally, in mediums containing a bulky ingredient, to promote drainage, a secondary ingredient such as peat moss, or a quality potting mix, is added to retain water. Remember, it is not the amount of water in a container that kills a tree, it is the amount of oxygen, or rather the LACK of root zone oxygen that causes the problem. In you mixture the two ingredients, Cedar and perlite, promote drainage, and dirt to retain water. When the dirt filters to the bottom your mix is left with just two ingredients that both promote drainage, that won't hold much liquid. One last comment, fish fertilizer is fine, and in general organic fertilizers are also OK to use, if your remember that citrus require heaver fertilizing than many other container plants. Normally organic nutrition does not give enough food to the tree, unless the grower insures that a higher amount of nutrition is maintained. The very best to you and your trees. Welcome to The Citrus Growers Forum. - Millet

Millet- I looked at the bag and it's actually organic potting soil, not garden soil if that makes a difference. Should that be ok and should I be worried about it draining so quickly? It literally seems to go right through it. Is it normal for the trees to have the curled leaves. They look a little dried out to me. I ordered them 12/18/2012 and they arrived 12/20/2012. I guess it may be because they were in a box for 2-3 days. Hopefully they will perk up in a couple of days. I will post some pictures of them tonight when I get home. Maybe I'm just being to worried.

Josh, where did you order the trees from? That helps us out, and, photos are always helpful in determining what's going on. Cupped leaves are usually an indication of lack of water. But, that's not unexpected during shipment. So, a good watering and making sure you retain some moisture in the soil so the tree can get a good drink. Another fertilizing option you might consider is a combination of Osmocote Plus (must be this particular Osmocote product) as well as the liquid fertilizer, Dyna Gro Foliage Pro. Both are good products and will give your trees enough nutrients while in an artificial container environment. Remember, all organic fertilizers are eventually broken down into their inorganic compounds so that the tree can absorb them. So, whether or not your fertilizer is "organic" or not, they all eventually have to end up in an inorganic compound for absorption. Plus, both above fertilizers over time are less expensive, as you don't need to use really large quantities in order to get your tree enough nutrients.

Good luck with your trees. I use the Miracle grow garden soil with all of my container trees & have never had a problem. It drains very well.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11202042&cagpspn=pla

hoosierquilt- I ordered them from fourwindsgrowers.com. They had a A+ rating with the BBB ( Better Business Bureau ) and I couldn't find any negative complaints about them online. I will give the fertilizer you recommened a try. Thanks for everyone's help and I'm always open to suggestions, being a newbie and all.

Oh, know Four Winds well. They do an outstanding job with their trees, and they all have very nicely developed root systems. Here are photos of my two sour oranges, a Bergamot and a Bouquet de Fleurs. These have been in pots for about 6 weeks or so:

Bergamot:


And the Bouquet de Fleurs:



They should do very well for you, Four Winds trees are great and they stand behind their product. Post up photos so we can see, and perhaps we can offer more suggestions for you.

Nice plants.

Thanks, Laaz. The root systems on these trees were so extensive and huge, I had to go out and find the tallest pots I could find. I was so shocked at the roots, I snapped a photo and sent to to Four Winds. I had to make a special effort to find tall (i.e., deep) pots, but pots that weren't so enormous that I couldn't move them around on my patio if needed. The trees have been extraordinarily happy in these tall pots. Because of our weather, I have the luxury of planting my citrus in oversized pots. And, I have been able to use a very high quality Cactus Mix (EB Stone), as opposed to a more porous mix. Helps with water retention, as out here in our summer dry heat, I would have to water my container citrus twice a day. Don't have that much time, so this becomes a happy medium. I might need to re-pot maybe a little sooner, if my mix becomes compacted, due to slightly finer "fines", but so far, it has been working for me very well.

I think I've posted my before and after pics of my poor Ortanique that nearly kicked the bucket due to being on Carizzo, and my issues with Phyophthora, but that, and the Chironja (not a victim of Phytophthora, but of someone babysitting this potted plant, and forgetting to water it and nearly killing it) have both been revived in this mix. Along with the Osmocote Plus, which is a brand new formulation by Scott's, and has a nearly perfect NPK ratio plus micros (that's the new part), along with Foliage Pro. Here is the poor Ortanique before:



And here it is now, about maybe 8 months later:


And the Chironja before:


And the Chirona today:

Joshjkl, I have several container citrus trees planted in a cedar mulch/potting mix blend. The blend is 50 percent cedar mulch, and 50 percent potting soil. Note: most all commercial potting soild are mostly all peat moss. This 1:1 mix holds both good moisture and good aeration. Trees ariving with curled leaves is very common after shipping, especially trees shipped bare root. Just give them a agood watering and everything should be OK. - Millet

Patty from my experience trees planted in tall containers do much better than plants in low wide containers. Very nice containers btw. Reminds me of Italy.

EB Stone's Cactus Mix contains Fir Bark, Lava Rock, Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Sand, Redwood Compost and Mushroom Compost. I've asked the folks at EB Stone what the percentages are of each ingredient. It is pretty light and porous, and doesn't become compacted or hydrophobic in all my experience using it. I use it for all my container citrus and succulents. We are so dry out here in the summer (usually, this summer was an exception in all my 57 years of being a native Californian, I've never seen so much humidity during the summer). So, it helps with not getting super dried out. But, I do like the idea of using cedar bark a lot. It holds up so well, and I would be interested in observing it's insect repellent properties, too. Would be awesome if it repelled snails, lol!!

Millet, I forgot to ask, where do you get the cedar bark, and what brand potting soil are you using? Just so I have the ingredients for future use, if I find that my current option is not working for me down the road.

Throw a handful of Epsom salt on the surface, snails hate it.

Good idea, can't hurt to have a little additional magnesium, either.