Hi everyone,I posted a page here about 4 months ago about my transplant
to chc chips 4 parts and 1 part coir. Since repotting in summer time there
was some initial leaf drop from shock and what leaves remained stayed
a pale green and there has been no growth.
Yesterday,I removed from the pot to inspect the roots.There was hardly
any growth of the roots and they were very fine and brown.I found the mix
was pretty damp.Its suprising how much water the coir holds.
I repoted and trimed the top a bit and will try again but i have drawn a
few conclusiions here.The mix has been holding water.
From my experience of killing citrus trees,i have noticed one thing that
will always happen if the mix is too wet.There will be no new growth,leaves
will drop or go pale.When the mix is wet,the tree just goes dormant.
This mix needs longer to dry out than a normal container mix,add to the
fact it doesnt get that hot in new zealand compared to where you are.It
also rains heaps in Auckland in Winter,top summer temps 26 to 27 c.
So,Next time i try to transplant a tree to chc and coir after
doing the cation excahange bit,i will mix 5 parts chc to 1 part coir and
leave it a long time between drinks,especially when only 2 inches of
the existing medium is removed.Those chips stay wet for ages too.
As it stands at the moment in winter,i water once a month
with feed and provide 5 hours supplemental light under the house.I read
that is good in winter time to boost growth.I keep the trees out of draughts and give then sun if its around but we get heaps of rain here.
I am even tempted to use pure chips with all the rain we get.
My trees are young and all previous trees have died from
rotting roots,as it stands i have had a fair bit of leaf drop on all my
other citrus pots.It been down to 5c this winter at night.
Anyone got any views on the above? Cheers
