I have 4 citrus trees. I have been reading up on what soil to repot but I am unsure if I should repot my trees. The nursery told me to leave them in the pot until the roots get to bad, or leave it for at least a couple of years. I want to keep my trees the size they are. I repoted my kinzu orange and it is doing the best. It was sick when i got it and and now has tons of new growth. I repotted it in some potting soil from a bonzai store but all my other trees have really dense soil, but seems to drain ok. Although my naval tree dropped all of it's little fruitlings and has no more new growth. Over all my trees look ok but wonder if they will do a lot better if I repot them or leave them. ) : Any one have any advice?

The three most important factors for citrus vitality, in order, are: healthy roots, healthy roots, and healthy roots. If you are at all in doubt, I'd repot.

If a tree is not actively pushing out new foliage and you poke around in the potting medium, do you see lots of white root tips? If not, then the best time to repot was probably yesterday or before. How long have the trees been in the present potting media? As the potting medium compacts, it will decrease the oxygen available to the roots. Not good. Once the growing medium has deteriorated to the point it is adversely affecting the tree, you need to repot. To keep the same size tree, trim the excess roots and repot back into the same size container. If you have waited too long to repot, chances are the roots have died back already, so that you may need to trim only the decayed roots.

Also, be careful that you are not cooking the roots. My trees grow outdoors and I've learned the hard way to shade the containers from direct sun during warm to hot weather. This is especially true of those trees still in the black nursery pots.

For others to make recommendations as to a potting medium for your trees, it would help to know the conditions under which the trees will be cultivated. Most potting soil by itself is a poor medium for container citrus, especially if it has a high peat content. You'd be very lucky to have a tree survive a year without detrimental effects. Bonsai mix, on the other hand, is likely to be very loamy and may present challenges in maintaining sufficient moisture without leading you to overwater.

Kent