Ok....I have asked some questions on another forum and was directed here by joereal. (THANK YOU) So I have been reading and the more I read, the more worried I get.

I have one satsuma tree that I bought about 2 weeks ago and the only thing I did was to plant it in a container in just miracle grow potting soil. Then I sprayed it with some miracle grow fertilizer that was for transplants. Thats it so far.

But I have been reading and ya'll are talking about 5-5-1 (I have NO idea what that is) and fertilizers and PH levels and I am worried that there is something that I need to do that I am not doing.



So here is a pic of my new plant. So far it seems to be doing ok. But I was wondering if I have it in the right size container and how long it will be before I see any blooms and/or fruit. And do I need to fertilize it or check the ph level??? I really want this plant to do good!

(joereal already answered my pruning questions:) Thank you!)

Edit: Oh...and its an Owari Satsuma.

You are much welcome here Krea!

I think you are okay so far, with respect to your Mircale grow fertilizer, it doesn't really have to be 5-5-1, but minors are a big plus, especially if you get the citrus/avocado fertilizers. although I encourage othe members here to share their experiences. Benny for sure has more experience than me when it comes to potted citruses.

For that size plant, it might be a little overpotted, but better to wait and see. When some problems crop up, feel free to post in appropriate topic categories in this forum.

I don't own this forum, Laaz does and thanks a lot to him. I am a moderator here to help everyone else feel freely to ask and to feel at ease in this very friendly forum.

Thanks joe! Well so far I havent had any problems and maybe I wont! That would be great. This is the first year I have tried gardening and so far everything I have tried is doing well so far.

I have planted tomatoes, cuccumbers, and brussel sprouts and the only problem I have had with those is that I had no idea cucs were a vine (yea...... I am such a newbie) so I planted them way too close to my tomatoes and now I am having to watch em real close to make sure they dont attach themselves to em. hehe......

So maybe my little satsuma tree will do just fine too!

Krea:
Joe let me read your thread and ask me to respond to you.
I've been growing Satsuma for almost 5 years now and I have my ups and downs with them.
I experienced chlorosis (yellowing of leaves) leaves warping, losing all leaves and blooms. Plant don't grow.... . But I also have satsumas that grow so healthy and bore so many fruits and leaves that are so shiny and green.
First thing you ought to do is don't worry. Your plant looks very normal to me. Since you are new and have few plants I don't recommend to invest so much. Just enjoy them and just do the basics.
First buy a miracle grow fertilizer that is 30-1-1 for Azealia/ rodo/camilia fertilizer. This fert is slightly acidic which your citrus loves and has the micros nutrients added to it needed by your plant so there you have it.
When you fertilize read the direction and follow it. That's all. When watering soak it good then wait till the top soil is dry before watering them again.
And that's all you do for the time being. You can think of buying a GOOD pH meter when you have a lot of citrus to take care of. Don't buy the cheap ones that cost $15 and below because they are very inaccurate. A good pH meter will costs at least $90. But you can get by without it for now if you use the fertilizer I am telling you about.
When and if you have a problem there will be a lot of citrus pros here that will help you. And welcome.
Your pot as Joe said it maybe slightly bigger but as for me if I were you I'd just leave it alone. Summer is coming right up and you will see new growth spurts coming up pretty soon so are the roots below. Keep it in full sun as many hours as you can.
Benny

Id just add that in potting soil, if you get several days of of hard rain in a row, you might want to place it on a porch or in some shelter. Normal texture potting soil might stay too wet if it rains for days on end, and its small enough to move safely.

Good Luck and Welcome!

I agree with Garnet. Regular strait potting soil can be very heavy & not good drainage. I'd add fine bark and/or perlite for better drainage.

I agree with Patty, it helps to add a little additonal perlite or coarse river sand. I like to add about an inch or so of coarse gravel in the bottom of the pot to promote drainage.

Ahhhhhh!!! Thank ya'll so much for the advice:) Well we had a REALLY hard rain here Sat, so I put it under the porch eave thingy so it wouldnt get too much water. And it sits on the deck all day and it gets TONS of sun. I am going to get that fertilzer that was suggested. Cause I also have lots of azealas. (did I spell that right?)

And everyday (multiple times a day) I just stare at my satsuma looking for any tiny sign of bug, or fungus, or discoloration. hehe..... But so far everything is okie dokie! (knock on wood)

I cant wait to be able to post a pic of my very first fruit! YAY!!!

You are just like me everyday I go to my yard and look for any signs of bugs, fruits, blooms, etc.... and sometimes a humming bird would stop right in front of me and look me directly in the eye and we stare at each other as if she was saying hey you! this is my territory! Butt out!!!

Almost any potting soil you use works fine for a while. If the potting mix contains to much peatmoss (and miracle grow potting soil probably does) it begins to compact with each watering, and in 5 or 6 months troubles start. The addition of pine bark, CHC, cedar chips or other coarse materals helps greatly in drainage, and soil aeration, both of wich are very important. The container that your Satsuma is in could be slightly over sized for the tree. As of now the tree look very healthy. - Millet

bencelest- hehe!!! I am the same way. I am sure my neighbors think I am crazy for just standing there staring at my plants. Its especially bad right now cause I am waiting to get tomatoes and cuccumbers to fruit. I swear, I go check em at least 3 times a day to see if a tomato has sprung up:)

Millet- Now if I needed to add some bark or something to get it to drain better, would I just take the tree out of the pot and add some stuff in? Wouldnt that hurt the tree?

Krea, actually that should have been done when first making up the growing medium for a citrus tree. - Millet

Hi Krea, maybe I can help you here. I just added perlite to 8 plants yesterday & it didn't hurt any of them. First, what I do to check soil moisture is, I put a wooden skewer thru soil to bottom of pot & check it couple hours later. Well, my soil stayed too wet for more than a week & that's not good.
When the soil is on dry side(at least don't water for awhile), lay the pot on it's side &squeeze down on pot sides turning it to loosen soil around pot. Grab hold of the top of soil around trunk & gentlytip upside down - pushing thru bottom hole if necesary. If you just dump it out & soil is heavy, a big clump may stay at bottom of pot along with a bunch of healthy roots! Gently finger thru the soil around roots. Maybe you could even shake the roots a little. Add perlite/& or fine bark to same soil & repot & water. It's a good chance to check the roots for root rot too.

Krea:
At least it is just your neighbors who think you are crazy but when it is your wife then you are a goner big time.
Here are some of the things my wife did and or told me:
1. While I was inspecting my plants at the backyard, I heard our sliding door slammed very hard and I could see my wife putting up the lock.She locked me out and no matter how I pleaded to let me in she just stuck her tongue out and she went upstairs and ignored me. I had to craw over a window sill to get in.
2. She would tell me why don't I bring a pillow and sleep with my plants?
3. "I am going to pour clorox on your plants so you don't go outside anymore".
This is just some that came out of my head but there are a lot more....
Benny

But other wives our friends told her she was so lucky that our backyard looked so beautiful and wish their husband could be like me. She would not answer them.

LOL!!! Umm....you may want to rethink how much time you spend with your plants. hehehe....

Thanks Patty! I will do that test thingy this weekend to see how long my soil is staying wet.