There is an excellent fiber 15 gallon container manufactured by Root Maker Corporation, called a Root Trapper. Instead of using a conventional 15 gallon container, many growers use the white 15 gallon Root Trapper container that stimulates root branching by trapping root ends in a non-toxic fabric so that the roots are forced to branch. Root trapper fabric containers reduces water use by 30 to 35 percent, and reduces root zone heat in summer by 20 to 25 degrees.

Silica have you used this pot?

Sillica, i am using something very similar to the roottrapper because not only of the root pruning but i find to br more economical but i mentioned this on anouther post and people said they dont have good results because of root temperature in winter/summer, thr soil is disturbed when moved, ect. I did alot of research on them but i couldent find alot relating to citrus. Now im second guessing my decision. I want to do whats best for my trees.

I have two Oro Blanco and one Satsuma Mandarin in fabric Smart Pots with 5-1-1 potting mix. They seem to be thriving. All three trees put on a flush of new growth at potting and two flowered beautifully.

One advantage I like is that I can easily feel the fabric side of the pot to decide when to water.

I've recently transplanted three O'Neill blueberry bushes into fabric Smart Pots with azalea potting mix. So far, the plants seem to be resting, so fingers crossed that they do as well as the citrus.

Here are the pots I used: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Pots-5-Gallon-Soft-Sided-Container/dp/B002JUOWB2

On thing I like about the Root Trapper fabric pot is that it is white. Being white really helps with reducing the soil temperature during the summer months. In the direct sun black heats up fast to 110 and higher quickly. However black has an advantae in the winter when the sun is low.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I have had very poor performance of citrus in fabric pots. About 1-2 years ago I converted back to plastic and glazed clay pots with much better performance. Where I live, our summers are hot and very dry, so I wonder if the poor performance is simply due to the fact that the potting soil dries out so quickly. I wonder how this would be effected by white colored fabric. I know Millet over on the old citrus forumup website used to paint half the pot white, with the other half being black. In the summer the white part would face the sun, and in the winter the black part would face the sun; interesting idea.

I used the Red Boxer Root Pouches with a 60/40 potting soil/perlite mix and my trees do absolutely nothing in them as in didn't grow even a single leaf all summer. I have a large Oro blanco and a Minneloa in 7 gal pouches and formally a Washington Navel (rip) in a 3 gal pouch. I have 16 other citrus in various plastic pots with 5-1-1. The plants in 5-1-1 do much better for me. I suspect that its the soil that is the problem over the pots but I was trying to find if I could go a more cost effective route to grow my citrus with stuff I already had instead of the high cost of reptibark. You may have better luck with your growing conditions or different mediums though so take my experience with a grain of salt. Pac and I seemed to have similar experiences but that is likely to be expected as we are both in the PNW with similar climates. What I don't know is if Pac used a soil based medium or a 5-1-1 so maybe he will chime in with the details. I am torn between putting them in 5-1-1 and plastic like the others or to keep "experimenting" with them and doing promix in the pouches or 5-1-1 in the pouches and see if that is better.

Sammers, I planted pineapple (2 years old) and cherry tomato in Promix in fabric containers this year. My pineapple plant died by the month of August, but my cherry tomato is huge and loaded with fruit. Go figure! I think it depends on root vigor of the plant in fabric pots and also too much rain played a role in the death of my pineapple plant.

I have had both bad a good luck with them, usually my fault.

If I forget to water, and that is in most soil mixes in these, depending on the mix you choose which can either dry out way too fast, I have lost a few trees and or branches here and there. mostly in the winter time.

If I kept up with watering as I should, they would do good, so good that the roots would grow so fast that they would dry out again too fast. I have re potted many of them, with the roots being ripped apart from the fabric itself because I couldn't keep up with the root growth or watering,,

If I were going to offer an opinion, I would first want to know how the fabric "pots" affect soil temperature. Has anyone measured the soil temp. vs, say plastic? I know from experience that in cooler climates more porous containers, such as terracotta cool the soil; and citrus roots will not grow in cool soil.