fruitnut: you amaze me! how do you measure for brix?

may i ask if the trees in the pots dwarf or standard trees? also, what type of potting soil are you using or could recommend a good potting soil mix "recipe?" i'm still reading up on al's gritty mix as well as the 5-1-1 mix but wasn't sure if those mixes were good for "stone" fruit trees as well?

i was hoping to repot my new citrus and plum trees this weekend. if i'm not able to get all the "ingredients" for al's gritty mix, i may just use a mixture of cactus, palm and citrus (whitney farms) with etna's best potting soil. all of which i already have on hand. think that will be okay?

thanks for posting these photos. they're WONDERFUL!!!

yodiana:

Brix is measured with a hand held refractometer. A couple drops of juice is placed on the lens and by looking though the lens you can read brix. Usually anything above about 19 is good stone fruit.

My mix is similar to the 5-1-1. Call me chicken if you must but I won't repot anything right now. Especially if you plan to bare root the trees as recommended by Al on containers forum. I'd wait till the cool days of winter.

The number one requirement of any potting mix is good drainage. And it must be pretty stable so it maintains good drainage. But I think you know that.

fruitnut: Yes, I am slowly learning that its not a good time to do any re-potting or transplanting.

Would you recommend leaving the trees in the containers that they came in for another 5-6 months or is it better I re-pot now? I've always been told that I need to re-pot as soon as possible.

One (Citrus) is in a 15-gallon and the other three (Plum) trees are in 5-gallon pots which I was going to pot up to either 10 or 15 gallons pots. If I can leave them in their original pots for another 5-6 months, it would certainly buy me some time to get the ingredients for Al's gritty mix or the 5:1:1 (not really sure what the difference is, yet).

If you're a chicken, then I am the biggest of them all!

yodiana:

I won't be afraid to pot up now as long as much of the rootball stays in place. Cut off the bottom and some on the sides if needed. Get rid of any circling roots. Then place the tree in the shade to recover for a couple weeks. I haven't done this but it's similar to planting a potted tree now. The advantage is you can easily protect the tree while it recovers.

I had a citrus in a 15 gal pot for 6 years. Then pulled it out and planted in the ground in the greenhouse last October. It is looking OK and has some fruit set.

fruitnut,

Clearly your techniques are amazingly successful.

I have a question. Why did you choose to put three trees in one pot instead of just one tree?

Thanks

Fruitnut: Thanks so much for the detailed instructions. I'll do my best. This is where I become really chicken. Afraid to cut off too much and not sure if I'll be able to identify circling roots from non-circling ones. Ugh.

Really hope I can get the gritty mix. Otherwise, I'll give Whitney Farm's Palm, Cactus and Citrus mix with Etna's Best Potting Soil a try, I guess... :(

losh:

Because I was short on pots. The purpose was mainly to see if those are varieties that I like. I can get enough fruit off this method to see how they taste. Plus I have trouble getting enough water deficit on in-ground nectarine to get the fruit quality I want.

The Honey Fire are very good at 22-28 brix. But probably not good enough to want more. I'll give my evaluation another year before making a decision. If a variety is really good I may give it a pot by itself.

thanks

Had three more Honey Fire today. They ran 29 to 33 brix with very rich flavor. So this one little tree taking up 1/3 of a 15 gallon pot produces a dozen fruits that money can't buy. Why isn't anyone else doing this?