If you can get a feel of the trees weight when it is dry you will know to water it when it gets that light. This could happen every 2 weeks or every day depending on wind and temperature. I live in damp cold winters of little sun. I cannot begin to tell you of its watering and soil needs. You will need to hear from a hot climate expert.

Most of my citrus are in ground, so i'm no expert, just some thoughts.

1. you can start with a 10-15 gallon pot, always can repot later.

2. you have to feel your soil and the weather in your area, i'm in So Cal, and i usually water it once/week at this time. Stick your finger to the soil for about 1-2 inches and water when it's dry.

1. What size pot should I get for it?

You need a BIG pot if you want it to live. It needs a big root system to support its fruits.

2. What watering schedule should I follow? I see some browning of the leaves. Not sure if thy were like this when I bought it.

Similar to roses, deep watering. Depends on your weather, it may be once a day or every few days. Brown leaves can mean it got sun burnt and lack of water.

3. It's supposed to be a full sun plant. Right now it sits in the sunniest part of our backyard, facing west.

ok.

4. Do's and don'ts?

I would cover it with a net to avoid the birds/bats eating the fruit.

You do not need nor want a BIG pot. Over sized containers causes problems. When it is time to transplant your tree, move it into a container approximately 2 - 3 inches larger then the preceding container.

I agree with Silica. Up-pot every couple of years and increase pot size by 2-3 inches. If you do not, then you should root prune instead otherwise you will get circling roots that will eventually throttle your tree.

Best of luck!

Silica and Jason,

Thanks. I think I'm seeing problems already with other plants which I repotted using much larger pots. I think big pots make it very hard to guess how moist the soil is ten inches below the surface.

Right now I have a few vines that have yellowing leaves and I think it's because the soil five inches from the surface appears dry but below that it's still moist.

You can NOT move your citrus across quarantine boundaries, if at all in HLB risk areas in California. Please check for status of your area and related restrictions.

It is reported that a family moved from so cal to nor cal with their citrus pots last year. And brought a breeding population of ACP. Irresponsible to say the least.

It would be an out of state move (if it ever happens...), molewacker. However, I would never move a quarantined species without it being examined by a specialist first.

I am very new to CA and just now I'm learning about quarantines.

Silica..I have a question?

At what point does one stop potting up one size before the pot gets to big to handle?

Do you throw away your trees after they get too big to lift or pot into anything bigger?

Or you cut the roots and the tree back to keep putting it into the same pot that one can handle?

What if one wants to keep their tree in a 5 gallon pot indefinitely?

MIke

Just to add, the best time to ‘bonsai’ the tree is late winter just before the dormancy break.

Bleu, if you’re in SC, man, you’ve got a lot of popular citrus you could choose from for container gardening. Kumquat is often chosen as a cold hardy variety, because nothing else will grow there. It is the only citrus I can keep outdoors here with no protection that will maintain most of its leaves through the winter.

You may be overthinking it. You have ideal conditions for citrus. Just follow common sense and make sure it gets adequate water in that southern California sun and dryness.

Silica,

My grandmother taught me to repot/transplant plants this way:

1. Get plant out of the old pot and submerge it in water for a few minutes to loosen the soil.

2. Add a layer of perlite (or fine gravel) to the bottom of the new pot.

3. Add good quality soil that matches the plant's needs.

4. Place plant in container carefully.

5. Add fertilizer if repotting in late winter.

6. Water.

I have been doing this with great results but this is my first citrus tree and I want to make sure this would also work for this little guy.

Thanks!

theniceguy,

I may be overthinking it, yes. What happens is that I am very new to SoCal and I'm having to relearn gardening, you know.

This year it seemed as if the winter would never arrive. It finally did a couple of weeks ago, when temperatures started to drop a bit, but then we would get a heatwave and there we were back in the upper 80s for three or four days and no rain.

And the plants I bought and put in the ground last October have been acting nothing like what I would expect (used to gardening in short and humid summers) so I am never sure if the yellow leaves I see are because of too much watering or too little.

Back east it used to be that when you saw yellow leaves on any plant it generally was because of too much water. Here, it seems to be the opposite but I can never be sure. A bit frustrating... A year from now I'll laugh about this, I know.