Anyone?

Does the soil dry out between waterings? What kind of soil do you have them in? Looks to me that maybe they're being over watered.

I think your trees need a better mix and a larger pot. They are quite tall for those small containers. Try searching for 5-1-1 mix here to get the ingredients. If you have questions, we can help you. It seems daunting at first to make your own mix, but it is quite easy and very worth your while. Your tree also looks undernourished. Many here use Dyna Grow Foliage Pro with great success. I highly recommend you get some and start a routine fertililization schedule once your trees are repotted. I fertilize mine about once a week and also add Oscomote Plus to the 5-1-1. I recently added more Oscomote just because we have had so much rain around here that I was afraid the liquid fertilizer was just washing away. I'm sorry not to have responded sooner. I saw your post yesterday but knew it would take me a while to type a response. My day was quite chaotic and I forgot. Definitely ask for help if you need it. Best wishes to your tree.

Many people on this forum use either the
gritty or 5-1-1 mix, both of which are fast draining and do not retain too much
water.. The ingredients for 5-1-1 are easier to find. This is what I use:

My version of Al Tapla's 5-1-1 Mix

· 5
parts pine bark mulch (remove ½” pieces through 1/2 inch screen)

(Some people use Repti Bark instead of
mulch. They do not screen it.) Be sure to soak the bark overnight.

· 1
part sphagnum peat

· 1
part perlite (coarse, if you can get it)

· 1 Tb garden
lime /gal 5-1-1 mix (measure the 5-1-1 mix)

· Osmocote
plus (follow manufacturer’s instructions). This is optional.

Moisten well and wait at 2 days before using, if possible.

When repotting into a different kind of
soil mix, remove all of the old soil mix by dunking the root ball in and
out of water. You may have to use a garden hose to gently force the old soil
off. Or, use something like a screwdriver: stick it into the root ball and pull
down to loosen the soil. Dunk and repeat.

Just keep in mind that "bigger pot" doesn't mean huge pot. Make sure its an appropriate step up. too large of a pot can cause issues as well.

Thanks for all of the input.

Bmelz, I suspect over watering also. Every time I put the moisture meter in it goes to WET. The fact the we have been getting rain every few days hasn't been helping dry it out either. I was afraid I was killing the roots. My blueberry plants where also suffering. They were all in a mix of 30% sand 30% Pete moss 30% miracle grow potting soil.

Trying to save the container plants I came across the 5-1-1 recipe prior to checking back on this thread.

I transplanted the lemon trees into a 5-1-1 mix and the blueberries into the mix minus the lime. I had to make two batches the first batch I let soak overnight the second batch was rushed with no soaking just a dry mix.

The tall tree is actually just the root stock the meyer part died. I am going to grow it out and air layer clone some of the bigger sections to get them ready for grafting some bud wood on. I plan on taking some bud wood off the meyer and I have some kishu mandarin budwood coming in September.

When I transplanted the rootstock roots were very large probably occupying 50% of the container. The smaller meyer roots were occupying 25% of container. I was afraid to work on the roots too much but I shook off most of the dirty but it still contained some deep in the center and I was hesitant to really get in there out of fear of damaging the roots.

I put them in the new mix and gave a dose of osmocote plus and watered thoroughly. The 5-1-1 mix seems to work pretty good so far now even right after a vigorous watering it reads on the low end of wet but quickly moves to the moist zone.

Currently the meyer tree is much smaller and has fruit set. I was thinking of taking the fruit off to help it recover from transplant and focus on growing bigger. Do you guys think that will increase the vegetative growth or should I leave them on?

Thanks for the feedback Vlad, Laura, Meo, Bmelz!

Removing fruit will probably help vegetative growth. Moisture meters are very undependable, especially in coarse mixes like 5-1-1. I rely on my fingers: dig down a couple of inches and feel the mix to see if it feels and looks moist.

Looks like you got great advice...

BUt one thing, are you sure that tall tree is the root stock? It looks like the leaves of a Meyer and it looks like it comes from above the grafted part..Can you take a close up of leaves and the graft area?

Mike))

Will do. If it is not raining I will upload some pics tonight. Ok Vlad I will keep an eye on the moisture. How often do you guys have to water when in the 5-1-1?

Thoughts?

Those leaves look like they come in threes, in which case that is the rootstock. Watering frequency, of course, depends on many variables but in the summer, with no rain, I water once a week.

Yeah that is what I figured. It will make a nice specimen to try the air layer cloning method. I can probably divide that tall guy into 3-4 decent rootstock through the summer. Then when I get some kishu mandarin budwood in september I will graft it on. Thanks for all the info!