Nic! First off I would like to welcome you here in the world of citrus! They can be a whole lot of fun to grow and very rewarding in many aspects.
You can either grow them for just the foliage, fragrance, fruit, or all three.

The first thing that set my radar off was the mix you are using. I would suggest to not use any kind of wood chips at all but instead pine bark or even mix in pine bark mulch which is better than anything.
The wood will decompose robbing your tree of Nitrogen, a very important nutrient to keep your tree healthy and green.

If you should decide to use the mix you are using, I would suggest watching for leaf yellowing over time.
That is where depending on how your tree reacts how much fertilizer and or what kind comes in.

You can use Miracle Grow if that is local. I have been very happy with Miracle-Gro 12-4-8 all purpose liquid fertilizer, or 24-8-16 Miracle-Gro granular all-purpose fertilizer - both are completely soluble. I also discovered that a product by Dyna-Gro called Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 works well too.

The thing is, all plants need calcium and Magnesium and Foliage Pro has this.
If you are going to use the Miracle Grow brands, then using epsom salts and gypsum do the trick.

The key is to provide ALL the vital nutrients it needs. But if your mix is not open and does not encourage a healthy root system then nothing will work or only for a short period of time.

So, to reiterate, use a very porous mix with a majority of it being pine bark, no bigger than 1/4 inch in size, and use a fertilizer that provides all the vital nutrients.

As for the lights? That is something I use to be successful with, but then gave up on due to teh high cost of electricity and pest problems. My trees like a break from growing just by natural sunlight in a cool and sunny room. Many here are efficient at using lights and will be very helpful.

Good luck and again welcome. Hopefully I started the ball roliing since lately participation has been almsot nill except from the few very helpful regular friends here.

Here is a link that will get you on the right track about fertilizing. If you would like one about how to grow in containers and all the know how's of what goes on in them, just ask and I will direct you there too.

Mike:-)

Here is a link that might be useful: All about fertilizing properly and good brands

Mike,

Although the conventional ratio for citrus is 5-1-3; I have found that Meyers do best with a 6-2-4 ratio NPK.

Some wise person recently pointed out to me that 6-2-4 is 3-1-2; or as those you recommended, stronger, but still 3-1-2. Too long since my last math class.

John

Thanks guys for the fertilizer help! I'm going to try to find a liquid fertilizer to fertilize every time I water. That link you posted Mike was very helpful; I'll have to read it again because it was a lot to take in.

As for the wood chips I figured I would use some because it seemed like the miracle grow mix had woodchips in there already. I'm guessing that's a different kind or the pine bark you were talking about. Would you suggest I just re-pot it now with different soil?

Here's a picture of what my soil looks like right now.

Hey Nic. Are you sure that was wood chips and not pine bark? Do you have the bag left over?
What does the bag say?

It looks good from here. Does it drain well? Watch to see how long before it dries out and how often you get to water, ok?

I would take out some of the mix from around the tree trunk until you almost see the roots with your fingers. It will not only help you avoid rot but will also look better.

Did you make sure you didn't over pot? if you use MG, you can get away with it as long as the pot is slightly larger than the roots.

Just be very careful about the bottom half of the pot as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter. Your tree will also slow down unless you provide at least 12 hours of strong light. That means the roots will not take up water as quickly. So watch your mix very closely and just be careful not to over water, under water. Evenly moist until almost dry through out would be perfect!

Mike

I got the wood chips from a friend who said she had some left over from I don't know what. Well I called her and found out that it was actually bark haha so that solves that. Some funny dumb luck I guess :)

The mixture drains very well. I've watered once since I put it into the pot last Friday and will again soon because the soil is starting to get dry now. I'll make sure it's drying farther down not just on the top though.

The top of the roots were about a centimeter from the top of the soil around the trunk. That's about where I want them correct?

As far as over potting my container only had an inch or so on any side of the rootball and that's what my little potting instructions I got with it told me to do; but if that's wrong feel free to correct me :)

Yeah I'm kind of sad in a sense that it's getting colder and I got the tree right when growth will slow down, oh well. Hopefully that just means I will really have the hang of this for when conditions are better for growth! I have noticed a couple of spots where I think it's trying to give out new growth so I'm checking on that daily now! Yay!

I got miracle grow, gypsum and Epsom salts today so I'll probably start that with my next watering here soon. One last thing is it looks like a few of my leaves have tiny holes in them. Just a few leaves and only one hole in each. Ive searched for any bugs and haven't found any so ill post a picture when I get home to see what anyone thinks.

So after looking at how porous the soil really should be on videos and pictures I decided to redo my soil. I'm thinking 5 parts bark, 1.5 part the MG citrus mix, and 2 part perlite. Think this would be good? I wasn't looking for this but many of my leaves were curled a little upwards so it was still "overwatered" four days of watering.

Also here's a picture of a leaf, it's only a few of the leaves but it's progressed into this. I've searched for any insects and haven't found any and it seems surprising to me that insects would have found their way to the tree in my apartment so fast! This tree hasn't spent any time outside at all! It's worrying that many holes showed up just today and the leaves seem a brighter color overall =(

Stop stressing, PLEASE... the tree and the leaf look beautiful. Have a little patience; it is a living breathing entity, not a painting.

Hey Nic...I agree with John..Your leaves actually look pretty good to me. I wouldn't stress about the leaves at all.

In fact, you may even loose some if you repot again. To me that mix looked ok but you will be the best at judging how rapidly it dries out depending on the conditions you subject it to.

Many here are successful in heavier mixes that what you have and yet lighter mixes too. There are great ways to check for moisture to ensure that you do not over water. But in the end, a porous mix is always best for the plant.

It's great to see your enthusiasm, but don't let that turn into worrying. Just relax a bit and see the results of your hard work:-)
If you should fail like I did dozens of times, before I found this forum and the great friends here, you will press on until growing a citrus in a pot becomes second nature. Believe me when I tell you that holes, deformed leaves, and bitten leaves can show up out of no where, even in an apartment. You will understand the call of the wild:-)
Stick around and come as often as it takes.

Mike

Nic...

My Mom says that if you begin to stress over it or worry over it, you loose the joy..
Sit back and enjoy your voyage...

Not me:-)

Hahah well thanks to you both and your mother for that wise advise.. I suppose it was just that I hadn't done as much research before I got the tree as I should have and it sent me into a bit of a panic.

Oh well that's good to know that the holes are fine and I'll sit back for now and enjoy =) Be ready to see pictures of when it flowers and hopefully fruits for the first time! And maybe once I really get the hang of this and it does become second nature and I decide to get another =)

Nic, you are so welcome.

Please, keep us updated on your tree and ask as many questions as you would like. Growing citrus in containers can be a challenging and educational experience for sure, but the ability to succeed is highly elevated with the good support you get here.

Mike:-)

So I noticed yesterday on my tree it has these little black nodes on some parts and I was wondering if that's normal. It starts out as just this tiny tiny black speck but starts getting bigger to the point of where I can see it actually sticking out a little bit. I saw it and got excited because I thought maybe it was trying to push out something new and I've got my fingers crossed for that!

I tried searching on google for anything online that looked like my tree and I can't find out what it's doing exactly. Anything with black spots or black nodes came up as disease or fungus but it looks nothing like this so I'm guessing that I'm right to assume it's just a normal thing and what a tree does when it tries to put out something new at first. If anyone could tell me what my tree is doing that'd be great! Fingers crossed for trying to put something new out like flowers =) well here's a picture.

Also, this I KNOW is something good and the tree putting out something new =) The picture quality isn't that great because the only camera I have is on my phone but it's for sure new growth. I can almost see new leaves! There are a couple of those on a couple of brances, pretty exciting. I must be doing something right! haha

Nic, can you scrape them off? Do you notice any sap or fluid if you scrape one off with your finger nail?

You may have bought a tree with some sort of pest, maybe immature scale, and not even know it. If it is a pest, it will show up now that you have the tree indoors.

I would make sure and treat with horticultural oil or Kneem Oil right now. It is always good to take precautions anyway. I NEVER get a plant from anywhere tis time of the year without treating it for pests.

Mike

The larger of the black nodes I can just pop off cleanly with my fingernail. Once off it looks like there was nothing there in the first place. No sap or fluid. I'll treat it right away though, thanks a lot Mike!

Well I'm pretty sure you're right about the immature scale. I feel a little stupid having thought that black spots that are slowly getting bigger might be a good thing... whoops.

I sprayed it with a mixture or neem oil and water so hopefully that does some damage to them. From what I've read about scale they seem to really be a bad pest.

About how often should I spray it with the neem oil mixture? And also how long do you think until they start disappearing; I haven't seen improvement, it just hasn't gotten worse. Should I spray it once in a while when the pests aren't there just to make sure they're gone or it takes a while for them to come back?

I've read a lot of ways to get rid of scale and they seem to vary in ways to get rid of them.

Just a quick update!

The scale has not gotten worse, I've picked off all the ones that are big enough too and I'm assuming the rest are dead and will fall off in time. I only sprayed it once so I guess the only question I have left is if it should be sprayed again eventually to really prevent the problem from coming back again as I've read that it's very hard to COMPLETELY rid the plant of scale. I'd say it's doing very well as far as that goes though! =)

The big update though is there seem to have been a bit of changes today! The new growth that I posted a picture of earlier is even bigger and looks great, though it is still very small haha. Also I've noticed what looks like new growth around all of the places where my leaves meet branches. They're very small right now however many of them I've noticed a purple-ish color to them! Which I'm guessing means my tree may do some flowering soon!!!

Hopefully very soon this will make my study room smell fantastic =) either that or I've heard just new growth can start out with a purple-ish color to it in which case my tree will just be growing more and will be able to flower/fruit more in the future!

Thanks Mike and John for the help and also calming me down =) I'm sure if I didn't have some help and advice from you guys I would have "cared" the tree to death!

I'll probably post some pictures soon! =) I'm very excited!

John and Mike have you covered. One thing I would like to add. I had my trees in the same pots you do and they are very unstable in even the slightest winds so be careful when you bring it outside. I try and keep all my trees now in pots where the bottom is the same diameter as the rim. I only use Nursery pots now. They are cheap and can be painted with Krylon Fusion.

Mike

Mike

Thanks for that. I was wondering how sturdy that pot would actually be since it's so slim at the bottom... Well I'm in this apartment for another year or two and it's a pretty bad neighborhood outside. I had an empty pot just sitting outside my door and it got smashed so I'm not going to put my tree outside here... However I know wherever I am next I'll want this outside and hopefully a second tree! So I'll definitely keep it in mind to get something more sturdy for when I move. Thanks again!

Nic