Sorry to bring this up again. In my previous topic on April 12 Millet said that my Lemon Meyer tree was dealing with twig die back and to slip the tree out of the container and examine the root system.

I have a few questions regarding this to make sure I'm not going to hurt my tree . When I slip the tree out of the container should I also remove the dirt or only look at roots I can see? I'm scared I may shock my tree if I remove the dirt.

Also when I do this and examine the roots what am I looking for ? Or should I just come back here with pictures?

My original post where I asked this
link


Thank You.

Photos will help. What you are looking for is rotten or mushy roots.

If the soil hasn't been changed in a while it would be a good to to do that. When I change my soil, I grab a hold of the lower trunk & pull the tree out of the container. Then, I spray all the soil I can away from the root ball with a garden hose. Now I can put new soil in the container. place the tree where I want it, and refill the rest of the container with new soil & water it in well.

Like Lazz said, your problem is almost certainly root rot. It looks like your containers are just too large for the trees you have as well, this could be contributing to or even creating the issue. You really want the soil to be drying out within a week or less. I would replant your trees with containers about 1/2 the size you currently are using. Yes, you will be watering more but, the more you water(when soil is dry) the more oxygen exchange you have in the root area. Without a short dry/water/dry/water cycle you have stagnant root area leading to rot. temperature also has an effect on root rot, put the trees in the most sun you have available, when the sun shines it will warm the root zone, this combined with good fertilization and the right container size should yield positive results quickly.

4-5 years in the same soil is way too long.

Its hard to say for sure that the problem is, it really looks like root damage. reducing the pot size would help with soggy rots. this may not be the best solution, you'll have to decide.

I've always believed that it is not the amount of water, nor the length of time that a medium stays wet that causes a root problem. Rather the problem is caused by a lack of available oxygen at the root level. Three or four years ago, I ran an experiment, which is probably still posted somewhere on this forum, to find out if a long term wet medium that maintained good root zone air was detrimental. I watered a high oxygen level CHC medium, every single day, and at times twice daily, for an entire month. At the end of my experiment, the tree remained healthy, and with a sound root system.. I don't believe the successful result was solely because of the CHC medium, it is my opinion that any medium that provides a high level of oxygen to the roots, would act the same. - Millet (275 BO-)

Ryan, your advice is well taken. Over watering, or long periods of container wetness (even semi-long periods of wetness) of any medium that does not provide good oxygenation could be fatal to a tree. - Millet (275 BO-)

So here are the results of my plant's roots. I didn't see any white tips but all were tan colored. I can't tell if anything is wrong so I didn't trim them. Can anyone else tell anything from the pictures?? I can repot if you guys can though. Thank You!!!

I did notice that the soil was dry until the very bottom of the pot where the soil still felt moist. I wonder if the pot wasn't giving it enough air flow? It's been at least a week since I watered but we had a bit of rain early on the week.





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But I did change it's pot out to a teracotta type pot. It's not true teracotta though. I can see a fibertype material in the clay which makes a bit lighter in weight.

The pot is the same size as my last one because the plant's roots filled up my last pot . The new soil is Miracle Grow's Orchid mixed with Perlite.