Although I live in sunny so California, I’m choosing to grow my improved dwarf Meyer lemon tree in a container because my backyard is super shady (I have a very large avocado and magnolia).
1) Is it better to plant the tree in a fabric container with chc/coir or in a traditional plastic or clay pot.
2) How long can I leave it in the original container? (tree was purchased at Costco)
3) Many buds are turning black. Is this do to overwatering/improper drainage?
Thanks for your expertise and I'm excited about being a member after trolling the message boards for weeks

I live in Signal Hill, which is basically Long Beach, and I have an Improved Meyer Lemon in a fabric pot and CHC/peat moss. You can review my experience here:
link

To make a long story short, the water drained and dried too quickly from the fabric pots and CHC. I suffered a lot of leaf loss, not only with my Meyer, but also with Tarocco and Oro Blanco planted the same way.

If I were to do it over again, if I wanted to use CHC, I wouldn't use a fabric pot. If I did use a fabric pot, I wouldn't use CHC. Unfortunately, I already had both fabric pots and CHC so what I ended up doing was transferring one tree into a non fabric pot with the CHC and placing the other two trees, fabric pot and all, into a plastic pot. Drainage is good, but slower.

I'm currently testing fabric pots (Fanntum variety plus some Smartpots) with the CHC mix touted here. Also testing with Al's Gritty mix and another with 50% Azalea mix(mostly peat, some bark)/50% sifted bark fines. So far, so good -- been two months? The trees lost some leaves initially, but they all do this whenever I transfer to fabric. They have already participated in the growth flushes with the other citrus.

I live in Fresno, I believe is more arid than Long Beach. I was skeptical they would make it in fabric during summer, today was the first day I went and soaked them in a large tub to ensure no hydrophobic mix. But so far, all have gone very well and I saw no hints of drying out.

However, if you are inexperienced with container gardening in our heat, you can easily get very dry parts of almost ANY mix turn hydrophobic and will almost never wet again without full container soaking. I struggled with trees when I first started -- even using the Miracle Grow and other bagged mixes that usually stay wet too long. Dealing with containers in direct sunlight and 100+ heat takes some experience.

I would not yet say CHC + fabric don't mix. As with anything, Pro's/Con's and you need to adjust based on the combination if you want to maximize tree vitality.

thanks hilltop for sharing your experience. and yes, c4f, i am inexperienced with growing anything. i grew up with a luscious meyer lemon tree and wanted to get the tree i purchased from costco off to a good start. my dad has been coming over when and overwatering the tree. he insists that the buds are turning black because the soil is dry. i disagree! i will try to take a pic tomorrow and post it. thanks again for your expertise.

The lemons turning black and falling off at pea-size are usually, if not always, due to over-watering. It is normal for almost all to fall off, but the look and color of the fruit before it falls off can provide insight to the cause. By "black" I mean the entire fruitlet is solid black and not showing signs of pests nor can you wipe off the black.

Can you tell me the name of the grower of the tree. Many trees purchased in CA at Costco in the past few years are provided by W&N Growers (Willits & Newcomb). I love their trees, they are large and healthy. They always color code their trunks, too. However, the one (very big) disadvantage of W&N trees is the soil they come in is very heavy. It is excellent for growing in ground, but a poor soil to keep the tree in a container at all. It allows for easy over-watering (it was meant to be a short term soil that could provide enough moisture for month(s) in an indoor, low-light, retail location like Costco).

If it is W&N, can you tell me the color coding on the tree, starting from the bottom up.

If you (or relatives) have a tendency to over-water, the Smart pot fabric container placed directly on the ground is a good solution. It is much more forgiving then using a typical plastic container. However, in general white colored plastic containers are easier to keep the tree at the right soil moisture here in CA -- and you can always add a small Wick to the bottom of plastic pots for extra drainage during wet winters. The fabric pot also loses some benefit if you are placing it somewhere other than directly on the ground (like on tables).

The other advantage to fabric on the ground is you can keep the existing Willits & Newcomb soil intact for this season, *maybe* next. Just buy a 7 gallon smart pot and it should fit OK, maybe a little short and wide but add some soil to fill the gaps. If you use plastic, you will definitely want to change out that soil as soon as the tree is stable and not in a recent growth or flower push.

If it is a tree by a different reputable grower, the soil is typically very good and you can leave the tree the entire growing season in the same size container.

A picture of the tree and soil would be helpful. Also a picture of the tag on it, too.

I was just reading the suggestion about adding a wick at the bottom of a plastic container, and since I'm prone to overwatering I'd like to ask for some more information about that. What is the wick made of, and how far would you insert it into the bottom of the container...and do you cut a hole for it or use one of the drain holes.

Also, are there any other things I could do to improve drainage...such as drilling a bunch of small holes into the bottom of the container? Or even holes in the side of the pot.

jbclem: Sorry it's been a while since I've been on the boards. I'll reply now anyway in case you haven't found your answer.

I may have over-stated the effectiveness of a wick when one over-waters consistently. A wick will not solve that problem; citrus trees that are consistently watered too frequently will eventually die. But wicks will certainly assist in draining excess water more quickly and reducing perched water in heavy soils like the ones that W&N trees come with.

Punching many drainage holes (vs. one large one) in the bottom does little to assist with over-watering. Although excess water will drain a bit faster, it's really not of significance to the tree. Ditto for side holes. In extremely high quality "aerated" soils, additional holes on the bottom and sides help with gas exchange -- but that's not this scenario and IMO those soils are rare and not used by the average citrus owner (research "Al's gritty mix" for such a soil). In non-humid environments, side holes do dry out the area immediately exposed to the hole faster than the normal process where moisture used by the roots after excess is drained -- but again this has nearly no benefits to the over-watering scenario.

The wick can be made of nearly any cloth material, shoe laces, strips of old towels/rags, etc inserted into any existing drainage hole.

For a wick to be effective, you must raise the container off the ground slightly (using anything really). Make the wick's length about 1/3rd to 1/2 of your soil's height + 2" or so (assuming the container is raised off the ground at least 3"). For example, a common 12" tall container usually has about 10" of soil. When raised on pegs about 3" off the ground, the wick would be about 4" into the soil with 2" hanging out the bottom of the container, thus 6" long. These numbers are not critical, it is not necessary to calculate anything. Just use an object (like a screw driver or wooden dowel) to stick the wick up into the soil several inches and it doesn't need to hang more than an inch or two from the bottom, so you can cut anything hanging longer than that if you wish. Don't let the wick touch the ground, especially not your water tray.

Thickness of the wick is a factor, but again not critical. Just don't use a super thick wick placed too deep up into the soil. Likewise, don't use a very thin shoelace that is only an inch up into the soil.

An incidental benefit of an appropriately sized wick is the usefulness as a tool to determine when to water next. Water the tree when the wick is dry. If still moist, do not water. This is a better than sticking your finger UP the trees drainage hole (that brings some interesting thoughts to mind).