Mea culpa, too, from the "Queen of Phytophthora". I didn't realize your had amended your soil. The current thinking for trees is to plant in native soil, and if you need to amend, it's better to top your trees with well composed manure or compost (or combo of both), then for us in hot dry areas, mulch to retain soil moisture. Just make sure the mulch is away from the trunk by at least 6 inches. Do done good Your reasoning is sound - let things dry out a bit, a little B vitamin to stimulate root growth. Once you see the canopy recover, you can very lightly fertilize. Wait for a serious fertilizer application until February or March (when you know threats of frost are done).

Skinn, the symptoms of nitrogen deficiency in citrus are as follows. A slight nitrogen deficiency shows up on the older leaves having yellow veins with the balance of the leaf staying pretty much green. As the deficiency becomes worse, the portion of the leaf's yellow coloration increases . Finally if the situation is not corrected the leaves become totally yellow with no variation of color, or yellow-orange veins with some green out on the far margins.

When planting a citrus tree dig a hole just a LITTLE BIT larger then the size of the root ball , just so that the tree's root ball can comfortably fit, and back fill ONLY with the same dirt that was taken out when making the hole. Digging a hole much larger than the root ball, is making a lake that the thee's root system will be setting in. Lastly, back filling a hole with foreign material such as peat moss, potting soil, compost or similar such ingredients makes a barrier between the native soil, and the foreign material. Doing so causes the tree's roots to stay within the added foreign matter, and not grow out into the surrounding native soil.

If your tree's root system has not grown out of the original root ball, you should be able to lift the tree, remove all foreign matter, and replace with native soil. Whatever you decide, good luck to you and this tree. - Millet 88