I'm sorry that you noticed it late. I hope it did not sit in the box too long. Check it carefully and separate it until it's bug free. I have one of those and the fruit was quite good. Show us when you get it planted. Congrats!

Plants are often traumatized in shipping. No way around it. It has lots of time to recover this summer. Looks like a great plant! Jealous. Would love to get one! Any Mandarin that ripens early is one to get for northern growers.

I would drill way more holes in that pot... I killed a bunch of my trees last winter because I didn't have enough drain holes and salt built up. You have more than I did but I would still do some more.

Silica: It's so you can charge more of course! :P

that was the quick hit prelim, i drilled more today

decent root ball, NO BUGS, soaked rootball in water/dash of epsom, some broke/some trimmed, stakes gone

Modified 5-1-1, as I re-added back 1/2 of original container mix to my pot, some trimming, preventative spray for buggies (alcohol/peroxide/insecticidal/water)

resting in semi shade under my faux palm, a hemlock I've owned for 25 years in pots, gives you mini pine cones come the season

What size drill bit? I was just about to prep some pots but don't know what is a good hole size for a 5-1-1 mix.

If you are using the 5.1.1 mix drilling is not needed. One hole on the bottom would suffice because the 5.1.1 mix is very porous and even the amended one you are making. It will not hold salts if you freely water each time you water)

By the way, that tree looks good considering and great job with your mix choice!

Your mix does look good and I love your garden and that beautiful hemlock. .

Mike, I use the gritty mix and the 5-1-1 and as far as I am concerned the more holes drilled the better.. lol.. I do flush my pots often though..

The more holes the faster the water drains. However, the number and size of holes is not related to the amount of water retained by the mix given sufficient time to drain.

For a five gallon container, I drill five 3/4 inch holes, which is more than necessary.

My experience last year was that I did not have enough holes/large enough holes and water did not drain as well as it could. Salt did crust some of the hole openings reducing them further. Also there was green algae on the insides of the pot when I dumped them out in spring indicating to me they stayed too wet too long, plus fert build up. The roots looked healthy and had travelled throughout the pot so I don't think the mix was too peatty. Also the decline happened super rapidly.... they had a nice flush in late winter/early spring and then took a rapid dive.

My thoughts are more holes can't hurt so why risk it? Seems we are about split 50% so far more holes to less lol.

Hobby, the few citrus that I had potted up in those white buckets also had the green algae inside the lining when I repotted my trees in a different mix and pot. I had a good number of holes drilled and it did drain pretty well. I wonder if the lighter, clearer plastic grade from the pot might have caused more light to penetrate through causing the green algae? I used clear cups for transplanting young tomato seedlings one year and the same thing happened. Someone on a garden forum explained that it was because of the light that seeps through.. I have a few different vegetables growing in a few of the same buckets and you can see the green algae forming showing through the bucket.

Good point I actually remember that from my fishtank days... sunlight creates a major algae bloom!

while this is a new potup, I just did repots (pine bark mix too)and my experiences were similar with the algae etc. the holes were only 1/8" and there were less of them, and I modified the pots. Hence I'm going with more holes at 1/4" diameter here at a new potup.

Why such small holes? No wonder they get clogged. I drill 3/4 inch holes and lose little if any 5-1-1 or gritty mix and that is only after I first put it in the pot.

I drill large holes like Vladimir as well. I don't lose much if any 5-1-1 either.

I used 1/8" last time since I was using a smaller Pine bark locally sourced, the reptibark chunks are much larger/thicker and 1/4" should be fine. I went up high along the sides with the holes because i heard some really good things about the air pots

too pricey for me and on another forum one old timer has a dirt cheap version that he gets from his local hydroponics store and its essentially a pot with screened slits all the way up vertically in the pot, alas i can't find those or I'd try one, none in white either

these he says are like $3, so the concept of going higher with air is out there

That's also a hydroponic style of pot ;-)

It's refreshing, though, that you want to water more often. Many of the criticisms of 511 are that people don't want to have to water so often. Adding so many holes will surely encourage your containers to dry out sooner.

I repotted a Moro into a larger plastic container recently, and the holes at the bottom definitely had to be screened to prevent the mix from falling out. So I'm experimenting with the adhesive dry wall tape that one can buy at damn near any hardware store. I cut sections to cover the holes, then filled the container with mix. So far, so good....although I'm not sure about the durability. But by the time the stuff degrades, I'm sure the mix will be "set" in place.

Greenman, I often use the drywall mesh to cover my large holes in my pots too. Works good for me as I drill 1" holes in my pots. It holds up. I think it also helps keep large bugs from entering through the large holes in the bottom.

Cory

Good point about preventing access for large pests, Cory.

Finally found my pics.

Yes Greenman. That is what I use too.

Cory