Same story happened with my so called "cocktail tree". I didn't know that I have to replant it, so gradual decline leaded to root rot. I got 2 plants in one pot: key lime and Mayer's lemon. Key lime died fast, lemon was a fighter. I re-potted it the same way like you did, I found virtually no roots, but there weren't rotten one as well. I put it in the same potting mix. But I added the fertilizer. Oh well. The plant lost all the leaves, and started to bloom! After that it dried all the branches. I gave up, put it on the floor in dark place and I just was lazy to do anything with this. After some time I decided to throw dry lemon and re-use the pot, but I found that trunk is still green. I cut all dry branches, gave it a little water, put it under moderate light. The trunk is still green. I have special set up for orchids, so I'm thinking that 12 hours of bright light was too much? Whole decline took several month, from July to April. Yours is doing a way better. BTW, vendor was the same.
Thank you for another great video. My Meyer arrived, it didn't come out of the box nicely, white on the leaves, yellowing, 😩 I've had her for 3 days. I gotta get her out of this nursery soil. Poor girl. I plan on using this exact method. I'll keep you and your viewers posted 🤞👍
Phew! That was a close one. That first little tree perked right up after repotting though, it looks like it might actually bounce back and be a great little tree for you. I sure do hope so! Thanks for sharing!
I hope it does. After seeing how much of a larger root mass the second tree has, I realized how much of the original tree's roots simply rotted away. There aren't many roots left supporting the poor guy. I'll feel a lot better if I see some new growth, but I have a feeling it'll take awhile. Thanks for watching!
Little tip to those having root issues. Whenever you need to grow up roots mass as fast as possible, you gotta use coco substrate only. No mixes, no garden soil, no happy frog mix, etc. Just coco is the best thing to grow roots. If you have UV light with blue/red specter- place your plant under it. Those ones increase root growth instead of leaves development.
I have a Pink Variegated lemon. It is doing very well, I have them (citrus) all in the house. I do not want them to freeze, it has already dropped to 36 degrees, and for our area that is getting cold to fast. I live in an area 8A. (It is now Oct 25.). Good Luck! Love your vids!!!
Thank you for the video My little citrus tree experience overwatering from some rains and some inclement weather in hot weather all the leaves dropped and I was concerned that it may not recover after looking at your video I dug it up in saw that indeed it was root rot I did the emergency transfer The way you describe and I clean the roots and made sure everything was disinfected. it is now transplanted I'll see how it goes and hopefully The tree will recover. I know that if I did not do anything the tree would have eventually died
Thank you for sharing! I ordered a variegated pink Eureka tree and it will arrive in 2 days. So I am trying to learn as much as I can to keep it happy and healthy and be able to save it if need be! :)
You shouldn’t wet a plant that has root rot. Leave it in the new soil and let it be dry for about a week. And ALWAYS let water run completely through. If you water just “a little” (I understand why you’d think that’s the way to do it) that’s what can cause rot in the first place because the water will naturally start moving upwards towards the roots. And sit there and turn to fungus.
Part 2 : I think when it comes especially to citrus plants, need to pony up and pay extra for clay pots. Plastic, heats up the soil too much and doesn’t necessarily wick away water quickly like clay pots do. If you want to continue using the pre- made cactus & citrus soil - I suggest you add 50% mix of perlite, vermiculite & sand. You could make your own with those 3 above items and a little bit of peat moss. Soil less soil that drains too quickly, is far better than heavier soil where water takes too long to drain or sits around too long - when it comes to citrus plants. IMHO, the 2 key steps at the beginning is proper pot selection and soil mix/selection
My lemon starts were losing leaves and dying.Last hope I put a plastic bag loosely on it.Hallelujah.A half dozen leaves.Didnt like air conditioning and a grow light.lol 😂
I would say the leaf drop was simply over watering ...All you had to do is stop watering it and the leaves would have grown back ... Your lucky the grower sent you a new one ... Of course they charge enough for their trees to be able to give out a few extra trees ... If you prune off any branches make sure to root them just like your plant was created ..
Love your citrus tree video, amazing the fruits on the trees Do you ever have problems with citrus trees in the winter? Do you have video addressing this problem?😊
I use to use the miracle grow citrus & cactus soil in the past, but no longer. Citrus plants are especially finicky, so extra care is the upmost importance. I make my own soil since miracle gro cactus soil is still too water logging. (btw, that was some real water logged old soil) I use plastic pots in most cases, but never again with my citrus plants. I only use clay pots as it wicks away water/moisture very quickly. BTW, do you have a moisture stick you can use to measure your pot?...so you don’t water until absolutely necessary? Also, that root ball or lack of root ball is far too small for that large of a pot. There will be parts of your pot that gets water logged because not enough roots soaking up the water. That is why potting up is so important. I use to be lazy and always went from store containers to my very large or final size pot. Then I realized that potting up is part of the process and shouldn’t be avoided/skipped.
I have done three things that have "cured" my problems with potted citrus: 1. Made my own mix. I like using Walmart's Expert Gardener potting mix and fortifying it with coco coir, then mulching the top with hardwood mulch. Works great. 2. I plant my citrus in the large Walmart self-watering pots. They're fantastic. These pots cure the root rot issues because the water drains into the bottom reservoir, but also makes sure your trees never dry out, either. It's easy to monitor the water level. Always make sure that container in the bottom has some water in it. 3. I leave them outside 365 days a year. I only carry them in when nighttime temps drop below 29F. I leave them against the south side of my house all winter. Of course, I have zero days a year where the high is below freezing, so I have that luxury. Not everyone can do that.
This was very helpful. Thank you! My lemon tree is growing new leaves, but they are dropping off after getting to approx 1 inch. I am going to get the Miracle Grow recommended and a new pot. Then try to save it. I wonder if I need a fungicide since you didn't recommend one. Fingers crossed for recovery.
I think some varieties are more prone to rot than others. This seller had slow shipping. It took over a week to receive the plant. Maybe sitting in a dark box for over a week in wet soil did some damage. Hard to say.
The Millennial Gardener it’s true about the verity. Grafters typically use a trifoliata for root stock. It’s a hardier plant all together. My citrus from record buck farms, was a drainage problem. When I took it out of the nursery pot to repot it, there was a soupy soil at the bottom. It also appeared as if the pot was too large for the plant. This I do not know for sure, because the roots may have deteriorated to the point were the pot was too large. Anyway, I hope your citrus tree is still alive and doing well. I am a citrus tree addict. I have probably watched over half the citrus videos on RUclips. You would think it’s just a plant and there wouldn’t be much to know.. but the learning is so much fun.
The bottom of my pot was like a soupy silt as well. This tree did start to recover and it was setting all new growth and really was looking good. Unfortunately, this tree died in Hurricane Florence. I had to store it inside the garage while I evacuated for 8 days and it couldn’t handle it. I believe if we didn’t have the hurricane it would’ve recovered. Surprisingly, they replaced it with another plant and that tree came with the same problems and died. Soaking wet pot, saturated silt for soil, etc. I am not going to buy anymore citrus trees from them to say the least. I appreciate you watching the video.
The Millennial Gardener if you ever reconsider, I haven’t had any problems with US citrus. They come in tiny pots, and you just slowly upgrade the pot, as small as possible. I have to use a moisturizer meter now, due to the experience listed above. I no longer trust the finger test, because the top layer was dry, to the knuckle test. US citrus also has some you tube video, about how fast their trees produce, and what not.
Such a helpful video! I have a Key lime (also from Record Buck Farms) that is doing terribly, though my several other trees are doing fine. (They're all from different growers and in soil that stays a lot dryer, so I'm guessing the lime has root rot. I'm quite a novice and have only transplanted a couple of them, and never as an emergency, so I've got my fingers crossed. Thanks for making exactly the video I needed! I've just subscribed.
skygawker thank you for subscribing! I would consider pulling the plant and checking for root rot. If so, prune off the rotted roots and repot the plant with fresh, fast draining soil. MiracleGro Citrus is a good mix. Also, make sure the container isn’t too large. Citrus don’t do well when you place a small plant in a large container, I find.
I need to do this soon, and your video was super helpful! One question - how do you know whether you need to only rough up the outside of the root ball, or remove the entire soil mass?
How did this all end up working out? I have a Pink Variegated Eureka Lemon that looked EXACTLY like this. Just repotted it this afternoon and am hoping for good news!
The plants I got from that particular supplier died. I have since purchased a cutting from another nursery and my plant is a monster now. It's doing wonderfully in a self-watering pot. I expect it to fruit next season.
I have had exactly this same situation with the same variety of lemon. How long did recovery take? It has been a month since I repotted. It has had a few blossoms and set on some lemons, which I pinched off. Was that right? It is down to five healthy leaves. Actually, four since the big storm last night. If there is any sign of new leaves I can’t see it yet. Should I fertilize? I used Myke root stimulator when I repotted.
Hi! I have way more roots on my indoor potted calamondin than in your video, but it’s also a bigger plant. I repotted it with a mix of potting soil and plenty of perlite (it’s all I had). I gave the roots some peroxide before potting again. I also took off all the fruits to help it direct energy towards healing. It’s been about a week, and it does not appear to be taking up water at all! It appears to be suffering from chlorosis (this is why I repotted), and some leaves have yellow-vein chlorosis. I’m desperate to save this guy, but I need to uproot it again to save it from root rot again. But I also need it to take up water and nutrients asap! What can I do? I hope you can help. Thanks so much!
More info: the root ball seemed pretty strong, but there was a lot of deterioration of the smaller, thinner roots. I assume root rot caused by lack of nitrogen fixing? Maybe too much sun as well? The sun from the south window I had it in got way stronger once fall set in last month, and some other plants in that room seemed to suffer from heat stress.
One thing I've noticed about the citrus I buy online is the soil they use seems to be clay or peat moss. Every time I repot them I notice the rootball is packed with wet, sticky, soil that is difficult to take off the roots without shocking it. I wonder why they use soil like this when citrus are known for hating wet feet
I have noticed that, too. It is probably to reduce they amount they have to water,m and ensure they don’t dry out in shipment. Definitely move them to a better draining soil ASAP after the tree recovers from any shock from its journey in the mail.
Citrus trees here grow to full maturity, in sand. Selling you something you don't need is a probability. I just removed from so called citrus soil, that is killing the tree. After pulling the plant &.not watering for a week, the soil on the bottom is still wet. There's literally 1000s of trees that are huge, & give off 1000s of fruits, planted in sand. So that's what I'm going to use.
I would say the leaf drop was simply over watering ...All you had to do is stop watering it and the leaves would have grown back ... Your lucky the grower worked with you ...
I'm going back to 85% sand with a bit of potting soil. I don't know what I was thinking. There's mature trees all around me, growing in sand. With healthy delicious fruits year after year. We don't even feed em. There in the green belt & get watered along with the grass. Dig down, it's sand. Not an expert,. Just stating the facts
The Millennial Gardner, Hello , hope you able to give me some advice 1st I love lemons and trees found out today that one of my trees the pH is in the pH of 8 one was in the pH 7 range not good huh, I live in AZ I the soil is bad for the short term for making this work, now I built these 2 wooden boxes out of 2×6 they are 30"×30" ×22 Deep open to the ground I and going to buy the mix made by E B Stone it's made for acid loving witch is approx 4.5 -- 5 .5 range the problem is that the water coming into house ( I think ) is alkiline so when I water how do I maintain the right pH in my containers and I have 3 others that are in the ground , are you able to give some advice on this thank you Gary From AZ
I'm having an issue trying to figure out what is causing my leaf drop. It's been going on for about 5 months now. Only the center of the leaf gets yellow and then the leaf falls off or is easily plucked off. Do you have any idea of what this might be? I checked nutrient levels and only phosphorus is low. I plant in buckets so I pulled the entire tree out of the bucket to check if the soil was sloppy wet but it was damp like it should be. The roots are tan, but seem fine. The leaf petiole and midrib turn yellow, but the rest of the leaf stays green. I assumed I was under-watering or over-watering.
The tree re-potted in this video was killed in Hurricane Florence in 2018, unfortunately. We had to evacuate for 8 entire days, and the tree couldn't survive the conditions for that long. It's a shame, because it was making a recovery. Just bad timing with the weather.
Thanks for another excellent tutorial. 6oure my go-to fig guy, now go-to citrus also. Just received a baby Yuzu tree. It's in a 4x4x9" tree pot. Do you recommend repotting now or wait till spring? Thanks!
Thank you! I will be making more citrus videos in the future. Now is a good time to re-pot it, because temperatures are cooler and the sunlight is relatively gentle. If you want to plant it in ground, that's a different story and I'd wait until spring, but for moving it into a larger container, now's a good time.
They're for the gym. Shoes with arches are very bad for your feet. They encourage muscle imbalances by partially atrophying the middle portion of your feet, which leads to all types of muscle imbalances and feet/back pain later in life. I try to walk barefoot where I can because it's much better for you, and it's much easier to plant your feet at the gym.
I live in a climate that is far too cold for citrus, so I do not have any natural citrus-related pests. Aside from overwintering them indoors where they can become vulnerable to aphids, they stay pest-free all season.
do you have to do the same with palm or living in florida do you know the deal with palms? I'm dealing with a palm tree I thought was dying from a mite infestation but I actually wasn't watering it enough. The fronds are rebounding but still kind of dry. I'm worried since the soil it is in is not specifically for palm it might get root rot.
Hi Low Water Oasis. You just asked an incredibly complicated question! I will try to answer it as best as I can, but rather than just answer, I want you to know why I'm answering it in the way I am so you understand the concept. Not all citrus trees are the same, and how much heat they need is directly proportional to how sweet they are. Sweet oranges, for example, need a lot of heat to ripen and need a long, hot summer to produce good quality fruit. Lemons, on the other hand, do not enjoy lots of heat. Lemons, believe it or not, like cool temperatures: 50-60 degree nights and 65-75 degree days. Lemons can be successfully grown in-ground as far north as British Columbia and thrive in their mild climate of 40-60 degree nights and 50-80 degree days year-round. It is for this reason that lemons make EXCELLENT indoor container plants: because of their naturally compact size, and the fact that indoor room temperatures are perfect for them, all they need is a sunny south-facing window and they'll do great indoors. Oranges, not so much! You can overwinter them indoors, but they need long, hot days to make tasty fruit. I am assuming my lemon tree was kept in a "lemon tree house" from whatever nursery shipped it, and that's why it had root rot. Lemon tree houses are usually kept cooler. Why is that important? Because root rot isn't really a concern when it's hot and sunny out. If your citrus tree or palm is outdoors in full sun and daytime temps are 80-90 degrees or higher, over-watering is not such a big deal. Root rot isn't common when it's 90 degrees out. Root rot occurs, especially in containers, when it's cool out - 65 degrees and below. If your container-grown palm or citrus spends 10 months a year outside and you only bring it indoors in the winter, you can water it pretty liberally when it's hot out outside. If your container-grown citrus or palm spends a lot of its life indoors, or if you're in a temperate climate, that's when root rot is a real issue. When kept indoors, or when daytime temps don't get into the 80's or above, you're better off leaving your container-grown palms and citrus a little on the dry side than a little on the wet side. Since it is August, and you mentioned you're in Florida, there is no reason to under-water you palm tree if it is in a sunny spot! Your soil will stay 80+ degrees I'm guessing, and the roots won't rot unless you're keeping it sopping wet all the time. Most palms, with the exception of swamp-palms like palmetto, don't like "wet feet," so you shouldn't be doing something crazy like keeping them in standing water, but when it's hot out don't be afraid to keep them a little moist. Now, you also mentioned Florida, which next to California and Texas, is the most climatically-diverse state in the continental US. Where are you in Florida? If you're in northern Florida, your watering schedule will be very different than if you're south of Orlando where it hits 80 degrees almost every day, year-round. Now that you have some background knowledge, I would recommend re-potting your palm in a container that is 20-25% larger than the one it is in now (if it has "grown into" its current container) using a potting mix specifically designed for citrus, palms and succulents. If you can't find a mix that says "palm" on it, anything citrus-oriented is fine. If it is in a sunny spot with constant 80+ degree weather, water it liberally. You may need to water it as much as every other day depending on how hot, dry and sunny it is. You only need to be concerned when winter starts setting in. If you're in a place like Jacksonville where nights are routinely in the 40's and daytime temps don't get above 65 in January, you want to keep your palms on the drier side.
Can i use fish emulsion? I have a clone citrus i resently got and the soil is clay and smells like rot. It was just planted 2 weeks ago and im scared of moving roots again so soon. What is my best option?
If you think the soil is sour, you're going to want to get rid of it. I would recommend a good quality mix, something like the MiracleGro Palm, Citrus and Succulent potting soil in the orange bag. It's a really god mix for citrus. Watering it in with diluted fish emulsion is best to help with transplant shock. Don't expose it to strong light until it recovers. Check the roots and make sure there is no rotten roots. Remove any rot with sharp shears.
Hi, I have a citrus tree which leaves are wilting. I think I have neglected on watering it for more than a week. It still has its leaves, but the leaves are wilting. I have repotted it into a new pot and it still as good and healthy roots and the branches are still green, so I think it is probably underwatering. Do I need to remove and defoliate the leaves? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
I would not defoliate the tree. Citrus are a rare potted tree where it isn’t bad to let them wilt on occasion. They can take it. It SHOULD perk back up if you gave it adequate water.
Did your citrus tree make it or did it die? I'm going through the same issue with my tree. It's lost maybe 90% of it's leaves so I'm hoping for a positive outcome
The citrus tree in this video was, unfortunately, killed in Hurricane Florence. I've since found a way to succeed with potted citrus much more easily: self-watering containers. They pretty much eliminate the root rot issue. Since switching to self-watering containers, everything is flourishing.
I’m a novice to citrus as well. I wish I watched this video before I repotted my kumquat tree yesterday. Is there any reason why you chose to repot into a plastic container as opposed to a fabric pots or clay pot or air pot? The reason I ask this question is because plastic pots tend to hold so much more water. Being that citrus trees are prone to root rot, plastic pots don’t sound like the best choice to me. How are the trees doing now?
I moved it into a plastic pot because I anticipated moving the plant indoors for the winter. I don’t want the fabric pots indoors because they can be messy. I love them for outdoor annuals like tomatoes and peppers, but for long term indoor pottings, I wouldn’t recommend. Unfortunately, the variegated lemon tree in this video was killed during Hurricane Florence. It was hanging on by a thread with the repotting and didn’t survive while I evacuated. However, my red lime is doing great (and covered in little limes) and my satsuma and blood orange are looking great as well.
I've just had the same thing happen to me - I live in the UK, so have my citrus plants outside in summer and inside in winter. But there is not much selection in citrus plants here, so I ordered a Meyer lemon from overseas. The soil it arrived in was nigh on impossible to dry out, and remained wet despite the heatwave here. The leaves started to turn yellow and fall, and root rot set in. I've just repotted mine into a mixture of citrus potting mix and perlite, and hoping it perks up. When it arrived it was flowering and there were lots of pollinators about, so there's dozens of pea-sized green baby lemons on it. I'm not sure whether to thin them out to give it a better chance of recovery?
I would estimate that if the tree is as small as the one in my video, it won't be able to hang onto more than 1 or 2 lemons anyway. I'd say take them off and allow it to recover. It won't have the energy to properly ripen more than 1 or 2 as a healthy plant at that size, so it needs all the energy it can muster to recover. I'd remove them, let the plant recover and hope for a small crop of 3-4 next year.
That's a rooted tree. No way a year old with that little root mass. I have rooted (cloned) a good amount of citrus. And within a year they are root bound in a pot twice that size. Where in SNC are you? I was born and grew up in ILM...
Hi, Awesome video on taking care of citrus trees, quick question, you said that you can find citrus trees everywhere in NC, but I've been looking in Lowe's , Home Depot, Tractor Supply and haven't found any, is it local nurseries then?
Nybble where are you located in NC? I am on the coast in Wilmington and here, citrus trees are very easy to find. My Lowe’s had a sizable selection, and we have a local nursery (Shelton Herb Farm) that grafts some mother trees, as well as a local plant store called Transplanted Garden that gets in a lot of varieties. Home Depot had some but sold out quickly. I expect them to restock. They get multiple shipments a year. If you are further north or further inland there may be less selection.
Nybble I would still think your big box stores would get some. Even when I lived in PA, Home Depot would get a small selection of citrus and avocados for container gardening. Never fear, though. It is a short drive to Scranton, SC, for you to McKenzie Farms, the biggest and greatest citrus nursery north of Florida. Go see Stan McKenzie! You’ll be overwhelmed with choice and some of the rarest cold hardy citrus on Earth. He may have a few things you can plant in ground in Charlotte. They’ll be seedy hybrids but talk about a conversation starter. I suggest taking the drive. It is an easy and beautiful, scenic drive.
Thank you! I suggest calling him first and seeing if he has something you can grow in ground if you’re interested in that. He does his own grafts so stock can be sporadic. But he has things you can’t find anywhere else. It is an amazing place.
Geneva Armstrong is your tree healthy, or do you suspect root rot? If your tree is thriving in its current container and blooming, I would leave it alone. If you suspect the tree is becoming sick, I would rather risk losing the blooms than the tree.
The Millennial Gardener no it seems to be doing really well. I plan is to plant it in the ground but I was told to wait until the fruit is about dime size. What’s your thoughts on that? TIA
Geneva Armstrong my opinion is the further along the fruit is, the greater chance you will shock it by up-potting it, unless the fruit is mostly mature. I think dime-sized is when fruit is most likely to drop, in my opinion. My thoughts are if you must up-pot, the sooner the better, and make sure to water with fish emulsion after up-potting to reduce shock.
Swati Kashyap have you re-potted the tree? You can pull the tree out of the pot and lightly hose off the roots until the soil washes away. Inspect the roots, prune off any dead roots and re-pot it in fresh soil. This isn’t guaranteed to work if the tree is too far gone, but it is probably your best chance. Good luck!
Sort of. The tree recovered and was growing back leaves, but then Hurricane Florence hit and I had to store it in the garage. I couldn’t get home for 8 days, and it died in the garage. The garage was about 100 degrees and 100% humidity while I was away, and it killed a lot of my stored plants. I never imaged the entire city would’ve been cut off from entrance for over a week, and the tree could not survive 8 days at those temps with no light and fresh air. A sad story. If I didn’t have to evacuate, it would’ve been fine.
Thank you for replying. It’s a shame such a horrendous event finally ended it, but a tribute to you that it was brought back from the edge, thriving. Instead of ‘sort of’, it DID. Until it was taken out of your hands. Thanks again!
BrdMan Fether I’ve heard. It is such a shame. The monocropping of citrus in Florida has done so much damage. You may want to look at this. It may be helpful. ruclips.net/video/jtO0Pa6tD8s/видео.html
85% sand, with a bit of potting soil. Seems like people are making it complicated. Citrus trees in the desert, planted in sand, 1000s of them, fully mature, Mass amounts of fruit year after year.
I use to use the miracle grow citrus & cactus soil in the past, but no longer. Citrus plants are especially finicky, so extra care is the upmost importance. I make my own soil since miracle gro cactus soil is still too water logging. (btw, that was some real water logged old soil) I use plastic pots in most cases, but never again with my citrus plants. I only use clay pots as it wicks away water/moisture very quickly. BTW, do you have a moisture stick you can use to measure your pot?...so you don’t water until absolutely necessary? Also, that root ball or lack of root ball is far too small for that large of a pot. There will be parts of your pot that gets water logged because not enough roots soaking up the water. That is why potting up is so important. I use to be lazy and always went from store containers to my very large or final size pot. Then I realized that potting up is part of the process and shouldn’t be avoided/skipped.
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Same story happened with my so called "cocktail tree". I didn't know that I have to replant it, so gradual decline leaded to root rot. I got 2 plants in one pot: key lime and Mayer's lemon. Key lime died fast, lemon was a fighter. I re-potted it the same way like you did, I found virtually no roots, but there weren't rotten one as well. I put it in the same potting mix. But I added the fertilizer. Oh well. The plant lost all the leaves, and started to bloom! After that it dried all the branches. I gave up, put it on the floor in dark place and I just was lazy to do anything with this. After some time I decided to throw dry lemon and re-use the pot, but I found that trunk is still green. I cut all dry branches, gave it a little water, put it under moderate light. The trunk is still green. I have special set up for orchids, so I'm thinking that 12 hours of bright light was too much? Whole decline took several month, from July to April. Yours is doing a way better. BTW, vendor was the same.
Thank you for another great video. My Meyer arrived, it didn't come out of the box nicely, white on the leaves, yellowing, 😩 I've had her for 3 days. I gotta get her out of this nursery soil. Poor girl. I plan on using this exact method. I'll keep you and your viewers posted 🤞👍
Did this end up surviving? I haven’t heard you talking about it since following the channel.
Phew! That was a close one. That first little tree perked right up after repotting though, it looks like it might actually bounce back and be a great little tree for you. I sure do hope so! Thanks for sharing!
I hope it does. After seeing how much of a larger root mass the second tree has, I realized how much of the original tree's roots simply rotted away. There aren't many roots left supporting the poor guy. I'll feel a lot better if I see some new growth, but I have a feeling it'll take awhile.
Thanks for watching!
Little tip to those having root issues. Whenever you need to grow up roots mass as fast as possible, you gotta use coco substrate only. No mixes, no garden soil, no happy frog mix, etc. Just coco is the best thing to grow roots. If you have UV light with blue/red specter- place your plant under it. Those ones increase root growth instead of leaves development.
I have a Pink Variegated lemon. It is doing very well, I have them (citrus) all in the house. I do not want them to freeze, it has already dropped to 36 degrees, and for our area that is getting cold to fast. I live in an area 8A. (It is now Oct 25.). Good Luck! Love your vids!!!
Bro thanks!! So much info packed into a short video! 👍🏾👊🏾
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for the video My little citrus tree experience overwatering from some rains and some inclement weather in hot weather all the leaves dropped and I was concerned that it may not recover after looking at your video I dug it up in saw that indeed it was root rot I did the emergency transfer The way you describe and I clean the roots and made sure everything was disinfected. it is now transplanted I'll see how it goes and hopefully The tree will recover. I know that if I did not do anything the tree would have eventually died
Thank you for sharing! I ordered a variegated pink Eureka tree and it will arrive in 2 days. So I am trying to learn as much as I can to keep it happy and healthy and be able to save it if need be! :)
Thanks for this. Giving it a try to my lime tree later today.
Good video, Two years later, where is the followup? How did your efforts work out? Thanks
You shouldn’t wet a plant that has root rot. Leave it in the new soil and let it be dry for about a week. And ALWAYS let water run completely through. If you water just “a little” (I understand why you’d think that’s the way to do it) that’s what can cause rot in the first place because the water will naturally start moving upwards towards the roots. And sit there and turn to fungus.
Part 2 : I think when it comes especially to citrus plants, need to pony up and pay extra for clay pots. Plastic, heats up the soil too much and doesn’t necessarily wick away water quickly like clay pots do. If you want to continue using the pre- made cactus & citrus soil - I suggest you add 50% mix of perlite, vermiculite & sand. You could make your own with those 3 above items and a little bit of peat moss. Soil less soil that drains too quickly, is far better than heavier soil where water takes too long to drain or sits around too long - when it comes to citrus plants. IMHO, the 2 key steps at the beginning is proper pot selection and soil mix/selection
Look into the Walmart self-watering pots. They're really good.
I add volcanic cinders and perlite to potting soil because I have had problems with root rot .
@@corlissyamasaki3476 yup, avoiding root rot is critical with citrus trees
@@corlissyamasaki3476 Great!
Здорово. Благодарю. Многое не знала. Ваши видео полезны для меня. Спасибо.
Thanks for watching! I am glad it was helpful.
I’m amazed that you successfully made oatmeal chocolate cookie dough sound absolutely disgusting. 😱 Thanks for the video!
I generally prefer my cookie batter in actual cookie form. When things that aren't cookie batter approximate cookie batter, it's rarely a good thing.
My lemon starts were losing leaves and dying.Last hope I put a plastic bag loosely on it.Hallelujah.A half dozen leaves.Didnt like air conditioning and a grow light.lol 😂
The Tree Doctor.
I would say the leaf drop was simply over watering ...All you had to do is stop watering it and the leaves would have grown back ... Your lucky the grower sent you a new one ... Of course they charge enough for their trees to be able to give out a few extra trees ... If you prune off any branches make sure to root them just like your plant was created ..
However root rot would kill it eventually I suppose.
We need more citrus videos
I have a ton. Probably at least a dozen if you search through my videos. Here is the most recent: ruclips.net/video/Rt_gwANqb-M/видео.html
Love your citrus tree video, amazing the fruits on the trees
Do you ever have problems with citrus trees in the winter? Do you have video addressing this problem?😊
Fantastic video thank yuou
You’re welcome!
So informative as ussually.Thank you
You’re welcome!
Hopefully that will work and you will have two plants.
Me too! Thanks for watching.
You definitely need to stake that tree with that little roots
I use to use the miracle grow citrus & cactus soil in the past, but no longer. Citrus plants are especially finicky, so extra care is the upmost importance. I make my own soil since miracle gro cactus soil is still too water logging. (btw, that was some real water logged old soil) I use plastic pots in most cases, but never again with my citrus plants. I only use clay pots as it wicks away water/moisture very quickly. BTW, do you have a moisture stick you can use to measure your pot?...so you don’t water until absolutely necessary? Also, that root ball or lack of root ball is far too small for that large of a pot. There will be parts of your pot that gets water logged because not enough roots soaking up the water. That is why potting up is so important. I use to be lazy and always went from store containers to my very large or final size pot. Then I realized that potting up is part of the process and shouldn’t be avoided/skipped.
I have done three things that have "cured" my problems with potted citrus:
1. Made my own mix. I like using Walmart's Expert Gardener potting mix and fortifying it with coco coir, then mulching the top with hardwood mulch. Works great.
2. I plant my citrus in the large Walmart self-watering pots. They're fantastic. These pots cure the root rot issues because the water drains into the bottom reservoir, but also makes sure your trees never dry out, either. It's easy to monitor the water level. Always make sure that container in the bottom has some water in it.
3. I leave them outside 365 days a year. I only carry them in when nighttime temps drop below 29F. I leave them against the south side of my house all winter. Of course, I have zero days a year where the high is below freezing, so I have that luxury. Not everyone can do that.
This was very helpful. Thank you! My lemon tree is growing new leaves, but they are dropping off after getting to approx 1 inch. I am going to get the Miracle Grow recommended and a new pot. Then try to save it. I wonder if I need a fungicide since you didn't recommend one. Fingers crossed for recovery.
I had the same problem with record buck farms.
I think some varieties are more prone to rot than others. This seller had slow shipping. It took over a week to receive the plant. Maybe sitting in a dark box for over a week in wet soil did some damage. Hard to say.
The Millennial Gardener it’s true about the verity. Grafters typically use a trifoliata for root stock. It’s a hardier plant all together. My citrus from record buck farms, was a drainage problem. When I took it out of the nursery pot to repot it, there was a soupy soil at the bottom. It also appeared as if the pot was too large for the plant. This I do not know for sure, because the roots may have deteriorated to the point were the pot was too large. Anyway, I hope your citrus tree is still alive and doing well. I am a citrus tree addict. I have probably watched over half the citrus videos on RUclips. You would think it’s just a plant and there wouldn’t be much to know.. but the learning is so much fun.
The bottom of my pot was like a soupy silt as well. This tree did start to recover and it was setting all new growth and really was looking good. Unfortunately, this tree died in Hurricane Florence. I had to store it inside the garage while I evacuated for 8 days and it couldn’t handle it. I believe if we didn’t have the hurricane it would’ve recovered.
Surprisingly, they replaced it with another plant and that tree came with the same problems and died. Soaking wet pot, saturated silt for soil, etc. I am not going to buy anymore citrus trees from them to say the least. I appreciate you watching the video.
The Millennial Gardener if you ever reconsider, I haven’t had any problems with US citrus. They come in tiny pots, and you just slowly upgrade the pot, as small as possible. I have to use a moisturizer meter now, due to the experience listed above. I no longer trust the finger test, because the top layer was dry, to the knuckle test. US citrus also has some you tube video, about how fast their trees produce, and what not.
I’m not familiar with them. I’ll have to take a look. Thanks.
Dude. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Such a helpful video! I have a Key lime (also from Record Buck Farms) that is doing terribly, though my several other trees are doing fine. (They're all from different growers and in soil that stays a lot dryer, so I'm guessing the lime has root rot. I'm quite a novice and have only transplanted a couple of them, and never as an emergency, so I've got my fingers crossed. Thanks for making exactly the video I needed! I've just subscribed.
skygawker thank you for subscribing! I would consider pulling the plant and checking for root rot. If so, prune off the rotted roots and repot the plant with fresh, fast draining soil. MiracleGro Citrus is a good mix. Also, make sure the container isn’t too large. Citrus don’t do well when you place a small plant in a large container, I find.
I need to do this soon, and your video was super helpful! One question - how do you know whether you need to only rough up the outside of the root ball, or remove the entire soil mass?
How did this all end up working out? I have a Pink Variegated Eureka Lemon that looked EXACTLY like this. Just repotted it this afternoon and am hoping for good news!
The plants I got from that particular supplier died. I have since purchased a cutting from another nursery and my plant is a monster now. It's doing wonderfully in a self-watering pot. I expect it to fruit next season.
I have had exactly this same situation with the same variety of lemon. How long did recovery take? It has been a month since I repotted. It has had a few blossoms and set on some lemons, which I pinched off. Was that right? It is down to five healthy leaves. Actually, four since the big storm last night. If there is any sign of new leaves I can’t see it yet. Should I fertilize? I used Myke root stimulator when I repotted.
Hi! I have way more roots on my indoor potted calamondin than in your video, but it’s also a bigger plant. I repotted it with a mix of potting soil and plenty of perlite (it’s all I had). I gave the roots some peroxide before potting again. I also took off all the fruits to help it direct energy towards healing. It’s been about a week, and it does not appear to be taking up water at all! It appears to be suffering from chlorosis (this is why I repotted), and some leaves have yellow-vein chlorosis.
I’m desperate to save this guy, but I need to uproot it again to save it from root rot again. But I also need it to take up water and nutrients asap! What can I do?
I hope you can help. Thanks so much!
More info: the root ball seemed pretty strong, but there was a lot of deterioration of the smaller, thinner roots. I assume root rot caused by lack of nitrogen fixing? Maybe too much sun as well? The sun from the south window I had it in got way stronger once fall set in last month, and some other plants in that room seemed to suffer from heat stress.
So, did you use any of the old potting soil at all? Or just all new?
For the citrus, I used all new.
What do you do for tall old established lemon tree seems to be having same issue in sunny California.
Regina Lim is it a potted plant or an in-ground tree? If it is potted, how old is the soil?
One thing I've noticed about the citrus I buy online is the soil they use seems to be clay or peat moss. Every time I repot them I notice the rootball is packed with wet, sticky, soil that is difficult to take off the roots without shocking it. I wonder why they use soil like this when citrus are known for hating wet feet
I have noticed that, too. It is probably to reduce they amount they have to water,m and ensure they don’t dry out in shipment. Definitely move them to a better draining soil ASAP after the tree recovers from any shock from its journey in the mail.
Citrus trees here grow to full maturity, in sand. Selling you something you don't need is a probability. I just removed from so called citrus soil, that is killing the tree. After pulling the plant &.not watering for a week, the soil on the bottom is still wet. There's literally 1000s of trees that are huge, & give off 1000s of fruits, planted in sand. So that's what I'm going to use.
I would say the leaf drop was simply over watering ...All you had to do is stop watering it and the leaves would have grown back ... Your lucky the grower worked with you ...
I was sent a plant that was sopping wet with root rot. The potting mix had degraded into silt. That's the grower's fault.
I'm going back to 85% sand with a bit of potting soil. I don't know what I was thinking. There's mature trees all around me, growing in sand. With healthy delicious fruits year after year. We don't even feed em. There in the green belt & get watered along with the grass. Dig down, it's sand. Not an expert,. Just stating the facts
The Millennial Gardner, Hello , hope you able to give me some advice 1st I love lemons and trees found out today that one of my trees the pH is in the pH of 8 one was in the pH 7 range not good huh, I live in AZ I the soil is bad for the short term for making this work, now I built these 2 wooden boxes out of 2×6 they are 30"×30" ×22 Deep open to the ground I and going to buy the mix made by E B Stone it's made for acid loving witch is approx 4.5 -- 5 .5 range the problem is that the water coming into house ( I think ) is alkiline so when I water how do I maintain the right pH in my containers and I have 3 others that are in the ground , are you able to give some advice on this thank you Gary From AZ
Do you still have that pink lemonade tree that you save from root rot
I'm having an issue trying to figure out what is causing my leaf drop. It's been going on for about 5 months now. Only the center of the leaf gets yellow and then the leaf falls off or is easily plucked off. Do you have any idea of what this might be? I checked nutrient levels and only phosphorus is low. I plant in buckets so I pulled the entire tree out of the bucket to check if the soil was sloppy wet but it was damp like it should be. The roots are tan, but seem fine. The leaf petiole and midrib turn yellow, but the rest of the leaf stays green. I assumed I was under-watering or over-watering.
Do you have a more recent video update on how this tree is doing?
The tree re-potted in this video was killed in Hurricane Florence in 2018, unfortunately. We had to evacuate for 8 entire days, and the tree couldn't survive the conditions for that long. It's a shame, because it was making a recovery. Just bad timing with the weather.
Thanks for another excellent tutorial. 6oure my go-to fig guy, now go-to citrus also. Just received a baby Yuzu tree. It's in a 4x4x9" tree pot. Do you recommend repotting now or wait till spring?
Thanks!
Thank you! I will be making more citrus videos in the future. Now is a good time to re-pot it, because temperatures are cooler and the sunlight is relatively gentle. If you want to plant it in ground, that's a different story and I'd wait until spring, but for moving it into a larger container, now's a good time.
What's up with the shoes? what's the point of the strap? why are there toes? gotta keep em separated?
They're for the gym. Shoes with arches are very bad for your feet. They encourage muscle imbalances by partially atrophying the middle portion of your feet, which leads to all types of muscle imbalances and feet/back pain later in life. I try to walk barefoot where I can because it's much better for you, and it's much easier to plant your feet at the gym.
Do you have any issues with orange dog caterpillars on your citrus? If so can you tell me what treatment you use
I live in a climate that is far too cold for citrus, so I do not have any natural citrus-related pests. Aside from overwintering them indoors where they can become vulnerable to aphids, they stay pest-free all season.
do you have to do the same with palm or living in florida do you know the deal with palms? I'm dealing with a palm tree I thought was dying from a mite infestation but I actually wasn't watering it enough. The fronds are rebounding but still kind of dry. I'm worried since the soil it is in is not specifically for palm it might get root rot.
Hi Low Water Oasis. You just asked an incredibly complicated question! I will try to answer it as best as I can, but rather than just answer, I want you to know why I'm answering it in the way I am so you understand the concept.
Not all citrus trees are the same, and how much heat they need is directly proportional to how sweet they are. Sweet oranges, for example, need a lot of heat to ripen and need a long, hot summer to produce good quality fruit. Lemons, on the other hand, do not enjoy lots of heat. Lemons, believe it or not, like cool temperatures: 50-60 degree nights and 65-75 degree days. Lemons can be successfully grown in-ground as far north as British Columbia and thrive in their mild climate of 40-60 degree nights and 50-80 degree days year-round. It is for this reason that lemons make EXCELLENT indoor container plants: because of their naturally compact size, and the fact that indoor room temperatures are perfect for them, all they need is a sunny south-facing window and they'll do great indoors. Oranges, not so much! You can overwinter them indoors, but they need long, hot days to make tasty fruit.
I am assuming my lemon tree was kept in a "lemon tree house" from whatever nursery shipped it, and that's why it had root rot. Lemon tree houses are usually kept cooler. Why is that important?
Because root rot isn't really a concern when it's hot and sunny out. If your citrus tree or palm is outdoors in full sun and daytime temps are 80-90 degrees or higher, over-watering is not such a big deal. Root rot isn't common when it's 90 degrees out. Root rot occurs, especially in containers, when it's cool out - 65 degrees and below. If your container-grown palm or citrus spends 10 months a year outside and you only bring it indoors in the winter, you can water it pretty liberally when it's hot out outside. If your container-grown citrus or palm spends a lot of its life indoors, or if you're in a temperate climate, that's when root rot is a real issue. When kept indoors, or when daytime temps don't get into the 80's or above, you're better off leaving your container-grown palms and citrus a little on the dry side than a little on the wet side. Since it is August, and you mentioned you're in Florida, there is no reason to under-water you palm tree if it is in a sunny spot! Your soil will stay 80+ degrees I'm guessing, and the roots won't rot unless you're keeping it sopping wet all the time. Most palms, with the exception of swamp-palms like palmetto, don't like "wet feet," so you shouldn't be doing something crazy like keeping them in standing water, but when it's hot out don't be afraid to keep them a little moist.
Now, you also mentioned Florida, which next to California and Texas, is the most climatically-diverse state in the continental US. Where are you in Florida? If you're in northern Florida, your watering schedule will be very different than if you're south of Orlando where it hits 80 degrees almost every day, year-round.
Now that you have some background knowledge, I would recommend re-potting your palm in a container that is 20-25% larger than the one it is in now (if it has "grown into" its current container) using a potting mix specifically designed for citrus, palms and succulents. If you can't find a mix that says "palm" on it, anything citrus-oriented is fine. If it is in a sunny spot with constant 80+ degree weather, water it liberally. You may need to water it as much as every other day depending on how hot, dry and sunny it is. You only need to be concerned when winter starts setting in. If you're in a place like Jacksonville where nights are routinely in the 40's and daytime temps don't get above 65 in January, you want to keep your palms on the drier side.
Can i use fish emulsion? I have a clone citrus i resently got and the soil is clay and smells like rot. It was just planted 2 weeks ago and im scared of moving roots again so soon. What is my best option?
If you think the soil is sour, you're going to want to get rid of it. I would recommend a good quality mix, something like the MiracleGro Palm, Citrus and Succulent potting soil in the orange bag. It's a really god mix for citrus. Watering it in with diluted fish emulsion is best to help with transplant shock. Don't expose it to strong light until it recovers. Check the roots and make sure there is no rotten roots. Remove any rot with sharp shears.
Hi, I have a citrus tree which leaves are wilting. I think I have neglected on watering it for more than a week. It still has its leaves, but the leaves are wilting. I have repotted it into a new pot and it still as good and healthy roots and the branches are still green, so I think it is probably underwatering. Do I need to remove and defoliate the leaves? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
I would not defoliate the tree. Citrus are a rare potted tree where it isn’t bad to let them wilt on occasion. They can take it. It SHOULD perk back up if you gave it adequate water.
Did your citrus tree make it or did it die? I'm going through the same issue with my tree. It's lost maybe 90% of it's leaves so I'm hoping for a positive outcome
The citrus tree in this video was, unfortunately, killed in Hurricane Florence. I've since found a way to succeed with potted citrus much more easily: self-watering containers. They pretty much eliminate the root rot issue. Since switching to self-watering containers, everything is flourishing.
I’m a novice to citrus as well. I wish I watched this video before I repotted my kumquat tree yesterday. Is there any reason why you chose to repot into a plastic container as opposed to a fabric pots or clay pot or air pot? The reason I ask this question is because plastic pots tend to hold so much more water. Being that citrus trees are prone to root rot, plastic pots don’t sound like the best choice to me.
How are the trees doing now?
I moved it into a plastic pot because I anticipated moving the plant indoors for the winter. I don’t want the fabric pots indoors because they can be messy. I love them for outdoor annuals like tomatoes and peppers, but for long term indoor pottings, I wouldn’t recommend.
Unfortunately, the variegated lemon tree in this video was killed during Hurricane Florence. It was hanging on by a thread with the repotting and didn’t survive while I evacuated. However, my red lime is doing great (and covered in little limes) and my satsuma and blood orange are looking great as well.
I've just had the same thing happen to me - I live in the UK, so have my citrus plants outside in summer and inside in winter. But there is not much selection in citrus plants here, so I ordered a Meyer lemon from overseas. The soil it arrived in was nigh on impossible to dry out, and remained wet despite the heatwave here. The leaves started to turn yellow and fall, and root rot set in. I've just repotted mine into a mixture of citrus potting mix and perlite, and hoping it perks up. When it arrived it was flowering and there were lots of pollinators about, so there's dozens of pea-sized green baby lemons on it. I'm not sure whether to thin them out to give it a better chance of recovery?
I would estimate that if the tree is as small as the one in my video, it won't be able to hang onto more than 1 or 2 lemons anyway. I'd say take them off and allow it to recover. It won't have the energy to properly ripen more than 1 or 2 as a healthy plant at that size, so it needs all the energy it can muster to recover. I'd remove them, let the plant recover and hope for a small crop of 3-4 next year.
That's a rooted tree. No way a year old with that little root mass. I have rooted (cloned) a good amount of citrus. And within a year they are root bound in a pot twice that size. Where in SNC are you? I was born and grew up in ILM...
I'm in the Wilmington area.
Hi, Awesome video on taking care of citrus trees, quick question, you said that you can find citrus trees everywhere in NC, but I've been looking in Lowe's , Home Depot, Tractor Supply and haven't found any, is it local nurseries then?
Nybble where are you located in NC? I am on the coast in Wilmington and here, citrus trees are very easy to find. My Lowe’s had a sizable selection, and we have a local nursery (Shelton Herb Farm) that grafts some mother trees, as well as a local plant store called Transplanted Garden that gets in a lot of varieties. Home Depot had some but sold out quickly. I expect them to restock. They get multiple shipments a year.
If you are further north or further inland there may be less selection.
@@TheMillennialGardener aaaah, maybe that is why, I live in Charlotte, like smack in the middle, probably why.
Nybble I would still think your big box stores would get some. Even when I lived in PA, Home Depot would get a small selection of citrus and avocados for container gardening.
Never fear, though. It is a short drive to Scranton, SC, for you to McKenzie Farms, the biggest and greatest citrus nursery north of Florida. Go see Stan McKenzie! You’ll be overwhelmed with choice and some of the rarest cold hardy citrus on Earth. He may have a few things you can plant in ground in Charlotte. They’ll be seedy hybrids but talk about a conversation starter. I suggest taking the drive. It is an easy and beautiful, scenic drive.
@@TheMillennialGardener I was thinking of going there after watching your other video, I might just do that, your videos are awesome btw, keep it up.
Thank you! I suggest calling him first and seeing if he has something you can grow in ground if you’re interested in that. He does his own grafts so stock can be sporadic. But he has things you can’t find anywhere else. It is an amazing place.
Can I re-pot if it has blooms? I just bought one today
Geneva Armstrong is your tree healthy, or do you suspect root rot? If your tree is thriving in its current container and blooming, I would leave it alone. If you suspect the tree is becoming sick, I would rather risk losing the blooms than the tree.
The Millennial Gardener no it seems to be doing really well. I plan is to plant it in the ground but I was told to wait until the fruit is about dime size. What’s your thoughts on that? TIA
Geneva Armstrong my opinion is the further along the fruit is, the greater chance you will shock it by up-potting it, unless the fruit is mostly mature. I think dime-sized is when fruit is most likely to drop, in my opinion. My thoughts are if you must up-pot, the sooner the better, and make sure to water with fish emulsion after up-potting to reduce shock.
Do not let a baby fruit ... You want growth ! ... Fruiting takes to much energy from the branches and stunts growth as a baby tree ...
My lemon has termites in roots i sprayed pesticide termites killed but tree still not recovering helpppp
Swati Kashyap have you re-potted the tree? You can pull the tree out of the pot and lightly hose off the roots until the soil washes away. Inspect the roots, prune off any dead roots and re-pot it in fresh soil. This isn’t guaranteed to work if the tree is too far gone, but it is probably your best chance. Good luck!
@@TheMillennialGardener sorry but the tree is too large to be pluck out
Was this successful long term?
Sort of. The tree recovered and was growing back leaves, but then Hurricane Florence hit and I had to store it in the garage. I couldn’t get home for 8 days, and it died in the garage. The garage was about 100 degrees and 100% humidity while I was away, and it killed a lot of my stored plants. I never imaged the entire city would’ve been cut off from entrance for over a week, and the tree could not survive 8 days at those temps with no light and fresh air. A sad story.
If I didn’t have to evacuate, it would’ve been fine.
Thank you for replying. It’s a shame such a horrendous event finally ended it, but a tribute to you that it was brought back from the edge, thriving. Instead of ‘sort of’, it DID. Until it was taken out of your hands.
Thanks again!
Bella Blue you’re welcome! Next lemon I get will be a Meyer. They handle humidity and too much rain better.
BrdMan Fether I’ve heard. It is such a shame. The monocropping of citrus in Florida has done so much damage. You may want to look at this. It may be helpful.
ruclips.net/video/jtO0Pa6tD8s/видео.html
Trying to rescue my baby tree.
Hopefully this video was helpful. Best of luck. If you find the roots are rotted, you'll want to prune off as much of the dead roots as possible.
85% sand, with a bit of potting soil. Seems like people are making it complicated. Citrus trees in the desert, planted in sand, 1000s of them, fully mature, Mass amounts of fruit year after year.
I use to use the miracle grow citrus & cactus soil in the past, but no longer. Citrus plants are especially finicky, so extra care is the upmost importance. I make my own soil since miracle gro cactus soil is still too water logging. (btw, that was some real water logged old soil) I use plastic pots in most cases, but never again with my citrus plants. I only use clay pots as it wicks away water/moisture very quickly. BTW, do you have a moisture stick you can use to measure your pot?...so you don’t water until absolutely necessary? Also, that root ball or lack of root ball is far too small for that large of a pot. There will be parts of your pot that gets water logged because not enough roots soaking up the water. That is why potting up is so important. I use to be lazy and always went from store containers to my very large or final size pot. Then I realized that potting up is part of the process and shouldn’t be avoided/skipped.
Yeah I saw the replacement medium seemed to be mostly soil, not enough large particles to allow for good drainage.