I've had a Page Mandarin on my wish list for 2 years and I walked into COSTCO yesterday and they had a bunch of citrus trees at the entrance. Low and behold, they had a beautiful little page tree!!

It is full of flowers and already set a few mandarins. I repot all my citrus trees bare root, into ARPC with Millet's suggested root soil.

When should I repot the tree to minimize fruit loss and potential fruit loss?

Thank you!

Go back and get yourself another, best piece of fruit on the planet!

Page is exceptional, especially when left to hang on the tree for an additional month. - Millet

When should I bare root it and transplant to an air root container? It has small fruit and flowers right now. Should I wait until all fruit has set and grown or should I just wait until next bloom and get it into its new container and medium as soon as possible?

Thanks

I have transplanted citrus when the tree was with fruit, and while in bloom. .
It all depends if you can do the transplanting without causing any root damage. To be on the safe side I would suggest that you might wait until the blooming period is complete. It should only be an additional week or two. When you do transplant, it would be wise, and to avoid damage, to only remove the present medium that washes away easily. Trying to dig out firmly held medium usually results in root damage, setting the tree back. To get the advantages of an ARPC, only about 1 to 1-1/2 inches of free roots extending beyond the root ball is needed, especially if the ARPC is 3 or 4 inches larger than the original root ball. . These roots will grow into the ARPC prunning holes. - Millet

That is great news! I usually completely bare root the trees. I was under the impression that since I use a faster draining medium, that water would find the path of least resistance and the original root ball would dry out - causing damage to the hair roots. Fortunately, the medium it is currently planted on looks sandy and fast draining.

Thank you for the information.

Robby, what you wrote is true. Water will find the route of least resistance. Actually I forgot about that when I wrote the above post. However with careful watering much of that can be avoided. Using a hose you can remove as much of the old potting mix as possible, but don''t force out what is held tight by the roots. Doing so will cause damage to the root system. Just use your good judgement. - Millet