Beautiful tree, Laura! Is the fruit different than Lisbon or Eureka when it's ripe?

In the bottom photo, in the pot to the right of Teresa what is growing in that pot and also covering the soil? It looks beautiful.

Thanks guys! Sunshine, it is supposed to be one of the most aromatic lemons with a very high percentage of oil in the rind. Not sure how it would compare to Eureka though. Vladimir, that is a huge pot of sage and some mint balm I rooted. The sage overwintered there outside and grew back beautifully this year. I need more recipes that use sage ;-)

How is your 5-1-1 better now? I have just started to use it so I've got lots to learn. You have been adding (dolomite) lime, right? I have read a bunch of posts suggesting yes/no on using it , so I dunno.

Do you happen to recall the volume of the 24" pot? Looks like you mixed it up in that 20 gallon muck bucket and there is some left in it.

Teresa. Perfect :)

Hibiscus, I put too much peat in it before. I use less than 1 now...more like .75. I also now use extra coarse perlite which is really great. I use garden lime (dolomitic), and mix in oscomote plus. Oh and I use more than 1 for the perlite...so I guess my mix is more like 5-2-.75 ;-)

Why did you decide to decrease the proportion of peat? Was the mix too water retentive?

Mine is Valdamir. I have got fungus gnats in my 511 mix for citrus plants.

Vladimir, I have no official evidence, but I do feel it is too water retentive with more peat. I like it the way I have been making it and the trees appear to like it as well. I can't give you a good scientific reason as I often go with my gut, but it is the way I make it now. I have you to thank for the extra coarse perlite idea/link. I just ordered another huge bag of it because I am going to move Alexander (meyer) and Seth (persian) into bigger pots where they will likely stay for their lives. After they outgrow that, I will resort to the Tintori method for root pruning. One more thing about the mix...over the Maryland summers, I find myself watering sometimes every day because the heat is so great the trees look stressed. I feel that with the more porous mix, I can get away with that and not endanger the roots. Last week here was awful hot...I had to get out there with the hose and cool them off in the middle of the day on several occasions. Oh and your namesake (the Rangpur lime) has about 10 limes! Can't wait to try them!

Just started...we were typing at the same time...lol. If you have that issue, play around with the mix like I have. I think it has helped. Maryland summers and hot and extremely humid. If I had these trees in a drier climate, I would probably need more peat.

Laura - I have been switching my trees from 511 to gritty because I find that the 511 stays damp too long with the trees not requiring watering sometimes for more than a week or two because of the rain we have been having. Also, I found that trees that were not doing well in 511 very often improved after repotting into gritty. So now you have me wondering if I should not just decrease the peat portion instead of switching to gritty although I do like the idea of not having to repot as often with the gritty mix.

Since you are using 1/4 less peat, I wonder if you should use 1/4 less lime since peat provides acidity to the mix.

That's a good point about the lime Vladimir. I can't handle the gritty because of the weight. I can't move those heavy trees and some of my trees are in big pots.

I just realized how my mix is different from yours. You use Repti Bark which has no fines while I use mulch which consists of particles of 1/2 inch to dust (Al Tapla's recipe), which adds to the water retentive nature of my mix.

Why did you suspect that your tree was pot bound? How do you decide when to repot?

Your tree looks great Laura. Can anyone give me the recipe for the gritty mix ? Thanks !

I'm going to be re-potting some tree's very soon.

Laura, I am certain your tree is going to be very happy!! Great job.

Like you, I go with my gut too. ha...I have made different varieties of the gritty and the 5.1.1 mixes based on what I have on hand. My key is to remember how I made it for what plants...Ugh...

I did finally transplant my largest Orange Tree I have and I will share with all soon. Weighed a ton and I am pretty proud of myself..Great job Laura. You certainly help others embrace loving their trees..))

GRITTY MIX RECIPE
1 Part uncomposted pine or fir bark

o Screened through ½” then through 1/8” to remove fines

1 Part Turface MVP

o Screened through window screen

1 Part Gran-I-Grit (grower size) or #2 cherrystone

o *Screened through window screen

Osmocote 0.5 scoops/gal of gritty mix (This is optional.)

*I do not screen the Gran-I-Grit because there is very little fine material. Some people rinse it instead. I do not do that, either.

Mike, what is your current recipe for 5-1-1?

I, too, do not remember which version of 511 I made for which plant so I just now started a record using Excel spreadsheet.

By the way, I have not had a chance to go to Griffin's.

Vladimir, finally nice hot weather days in a row, right,

I usually use both versions of the 5.1.1 depending on my mood or plants. I will use the composted pine bark that Al uses and then at times I will use the Repti-bark. I find the the Repti-bark one dries out much faster then the other. Too, when using a bit too much peat mixed with Repti-bark , the peat tends to bypass all the Repti-bark and sit towards the bottom causing a perched water table that almost always rots the bottom roots. It does not do this with the composted pine bark. I kind of get confused at times as to which one to use for which plant, if that makes any sense.

I am tired of having to water every day without loosing certain plants or trees because I can't get to them twice a day, that is for shallow planted ones and small potted ones, and then others I don't mind. I can't even use the gritty mix on certain succulents in small pots on my sunny window sills in winter because they dry out way to fast and stress my plants more than you know.

So order to get by mixes that dry out too fast for certain plants, I like using the one Al uses, because I find that the composted bark holds moisture longer without the fear of root rot, or I will use the gritty these days amended with extra turface on my succulents and others...

In my case I can't say one size fits all, unless I am home to water several times a day on certain potted plants...

So therefore the reason I have to remember which plants I used different versions of..

Thanks guys. Nick, I'm glad Vladimir posted the gritty mix recipe because I don't remember it. Vladimir and Mike, the tree was not root bound at all. I realize I jumped the gun a bit. However, I did notice that the roots along the top 2-4 inches were very crowded and out to the sides, while at the bottom, they were almost nonexistent. It did have one long group of roots spanning to the bottom of the container, but it had not filled in the pot all the way yet. I judged it based on the look of the tree and the width and size of the canopy. I did notice that the mix was thicker at the bottom than at the top, but the roots looked good. However, that mix was made with too much peat and the fine perlite.

A container will have a perched water table even it the container dose not have a bottom to it.

Good call on your part Laura...That can happen when using Repti-bark, so good catch and your tree will be well prepared to grow better deeper roots through the rest of the season and beyond!

Mike

Silica, how much of a perched water table and how deep or high it is in a pot is dependent on particle sizes used for a soil mix. Some can virtually have none at all such as in the gritty mix which is the reason why I struggle at times using in on certain plants, unless of course I create one myself by using particles that hold more moisture. Good point

Can you guys explain this perched water table issue please? What I noticed was that the bottom of the mix was more dense and had more peat than the top. What I did was take that mix, which was denser, and mix it with my new mix and added more reptibark and perlite. The reptibark still looked good and solid and I did not want to waste it all. I think because the mix drains so well I can get away with a bigger container for it. I hope I will not have to mess with that tree for at least 2-3 years.

I just noticed it is already sprouting so it must be happy.

While I have you guys' attention, why do the lemons have that light area near the base? They all have it except one

Thanks Mike. I may do just that experiment...good to know for me, and a science experiment for my kids ;-)