Hi all, sorry for yet another post, i am just amazed by something.

i am a newbie myself, and have trawled through this entire forum and several others gaining what i hope to be a good basic knowledge for growing citrus in pots.

i just went to water my persian lime. it was in a 12 inch pot. i poured a litre of water in. nothing happened. another litre, nothing happened. another litre and finally a few drops of water started to leak out of the drainage holes in the bottom, and they took their time coming out!

it seemed a little wrong, so i took the pot outside and took the lime out. the small root ball was sitting on about 4inches of mostly compost with a little bit of perlite.

when i first got the plant a while back i hadnt thought too much to proper potting mix, so just chucked some perlite in and put the lime in the pot. what i mistake i made!!!

i gently hosed the rootball to remove some of the bad soil, and made a new potting mix. i found a bag of bark chippings in the garage (never seen them before, must have been used by my stepdad) i threw those into a container, with a couple of handfuls of perlite and some ericaceous potting compost. i downsized to a pot that was 8inches, and put the lime in with new potting mix.

now i know what free draining means!!!! i poured in a litre of water to establish the soil to the roots, and it drained twenty times faster than it previously had! i then added another litre with a half-strength citrus feed in it.

this is my message to anyone new to raising citrus - READ THIS FORUM AND LISTEN TO THE ADVICE!! it was only through reading posts of different subject that i realised the potting mix was all wrong. without reading them, i may very well have lost my lime to root rot before i knew what was happening. there is a wealth of knowledge here regarding almost every citrus subject imaginable. i just thank my stars i am obsessed enough now to read a load of posts

further to this, a question for those more experienced - i have other citrus in the same original mix as the lime - should i go ahead and repot them now in the new mix? they are all showing a lot of new growth, except the lemon, and i dont know if it is safe to wait until spring!

thanks all, old and new posts alike are teaching me well

dan

Hi Dan,
Like you I am a little cautious when re-potting trees that are just putting out new growth, however, if you are careful and do not damage the roots, you should be able to repot anytime. It is really a matter of need--if the need is not really high (no signs of problems), I would wait until the flush has finished.

hi, thanks for the reply

i ended up repotting - i kept having horrible visions of what the soil must be like in those pots. and thank God i did! the root system on the cala and the unidentified lemon are about the size of, well, a tahiti lime actually lol. really small. and they were in big pots, with soil that didn't drain - they sat on about 4-5 inches of damp compost. i cringed when i took them out of it, and cursed my novice lack of knowledge all those months ago! theyre now in pots half the size, with 3 parts bark chippings, one part perlite, one part ericaceous compost

i am going to transplant the other cala and my meyer when i get in from work this evening. the soil in those is just as bad. the meyer has dropped some green leaves already from moving homes, and i dont want it to start struggling with its roots on top of that!

dan

Go for a bit more more perlite i reckon.It will stop your mix from compacting over time.The bark will break down and compress.I use onion bag mesh to line the bottom of the pot to prevent the perlite washing through.It helps to aerate the soil and any soluble fert adheres to the perlite too.The roots can penetrate easier.A tub and barrel mix of chunky bark is good but not standard potting mix which is too fine and compacts.I am growing in 75% perlite and 25% tub and barrel mix.Now that drains well and stays evenly moist for extended periods of time.Thats what you want.Good luck.

First most bark wil rot after about 12 to 18 months in a pot and will hold too much water. The nursery that I bud and graft citrus for changes the soil (poine bark) out on regular time schedule.
When keeping citrus in pot for any time about an inch of rock or gravel is placed at the bottom of the pot. Packing peanuts can be used. I alway add about 1/4th additional coarse river sand to the mixture. Perlite can be used instead of ther sand. We have unlimited amount of sand in this area.

Ground pine bark was first used as a major component of container growth media in the southeastern USA about 1970. By a large margin the #1 growth medium used by commercial nurseries, and wholesalers is a mix of 3 parts ground pine (or other conifer bark), plus 1 part good Canadian peat, and 1 part concrete sand. This makes a good growth medium for most species of plants in containers. However, a reputable container nursery has only three options available to them concerning their trees. They are, by the end of the first year, they must either sell the tree, or transplant the tree into a larger container, or throw the tree away. Pine barks are an excellent ingredient in potting mixes, providing high levels of aeration and drainage, but as Buddinman writes, bark will degrade in 12 to 18 months. Therefore, to avoid the problem of early bark deterioration, a citrus grower can use other wood chips which resist rotting, such as CHC, cedar or redwood chips. Bark chips (pine, CHC, cedar, redwood) have worked so well that many crops are now grown in a 100% bark medium, where several particle sizes are mixed together to create acceptable levels of aeration and water holding capacity. I have very successfully been growing some of my trees in a 50:50 blend of 1/2-inch and 1/4-inch CHC chips. Personally, I avoid using high volumes of perlite. Perlite is expanded volcanic rock which is very light in weight and sterile due to the high temperature treatment during manufacture. Unfortunately, perlite holds little water, and more importantly very little nutrients. Additionally it floats to the surface readily if over watered, or during heavy rains out-of-doors. A much better choice than perlite is calcined clay, sold under such names as Turface, Terragreen, Clinolite or Zeolite. Calcined clay has a moderate to high capacity for holding water and nutrients. The particle size can be selected for the water holding or aeration conditions desired. However, perlite is very useful in the propagation of cuttings, especially when mixed 50:50 or 65:35 with good quality sphagnum peat. - Millet (1,427-)

Old post revived lol I don't use bark anymore. I use kitty litter - turface in other words! I still have one citrus in the old mix and it seems ok. I know bark isn't suitable for longterm, but the citrus need repotting every year or so anyway so I didn't worry about it degrading.

As for the rocks at the bottom of the pot...all they do is raise the (I think its called) water shelf, making drainage poorer. Thats what I have learned here anyway!

Applying a inch of rocks or gravel to the bottom of a container to "increase drainage" is a very old belief, but unfortunately, it is not a correct. Believing this to be true, I added such materials for years thinking it "increased" drainage. However, years back I learned that adding a bottom layer of rocky material actually retards the drainage. This is because adding a rocky layer raises what is know as the PERCHED WATER TABLE higher into the container. Adding nothing provides the best drainage. - Millet (1,427-)

Hi Everyone.Millets quote= Unfortunately, perlite holds little water, and more importantly very little nutrients. Additionally it floats to the surface readily if over watered, or during heavy rains out-of-doors.
I have to disagree with this statement. I have two trees in 75% perlite 25 % pot and tub mix(medium bark). The pots are 10 inch in size. I water them once a week through our summer here at 26 to 28 c.They stay evenly moist the whole time.I also read that water and nutrients cling to perlite and in israel they grow in 100% perlite of different grades with great success.That is why its recommended to water with soluble fert into the perlite mix.I believe citrus do not have a high water requirement.
I have 2 inchs of pot and tub mix over the top of the above mix.Perlite doesnt come to the surface at all with that mix on top.I have some photos i took recently of the root system growing in the above mix(i dont know how to put on here).I have transplanted into new pot. Perlite will not break down,can be re used again and again,is neutral and prevents compaction.The only problem it has is its light but you can put your pot inside a terracotta pot and that cures that problem.The roots look healthy.From what i have learnt here,its good to have a blend of organic and inorganic.The inorganics dont break down and cause compaction and aid drainage.Each to his own view point though.My two cents worth.
I have tried chc chips with peat,chc chips with coir,chc chips with potting mix.I have flushed properly and cation exchanged and every plant has died.That was with 1/2 inch chips.I know i am not the only one to fail with chc,yet many people including millet have lots of joy with them.Hard to fathom really.cheers