It's a little like buttoning your shirt... if you get the first button wrong, it doesn't matter how careful you are after that.

Well, I guess I can do this all in front of a mirror, if you think that would help

What does your " grown DWARF tree's " look like, 25 gls containers are a bit large. I got a couple mini's that are growing in 10 gl containers. Pictures would help.

Shoot, I’m out of town this week so picture not possible. I’d say they vary from 4-6 feet in height. There are 2 Meyers, a kaffir, 2 Australian finger lime, A Bearrs lime, a couple of kumquats. Oh, and a brown turkey fig (a VERY rare citrus variety)!

I happen to be growing a Hardy Chicago kumquat. They are by far the most prolific and fastest growing of all the kumquats and kumquat varieties out there

Barbara, it sounds like you know more than you are giving yourself credit for! Certainly more than the average person. Foliage Pro - yes. 511 - sure, if you want. A lot of people use a lot of different soil mixes. As long as you get the watering right, the mix can be forgiving. There are knowledgeable people here you will give you great help! Good luck!

Thanks, I’ve been trying to do my homework and these various forums have a lot of info. The trick is in sorting the wheat from the chaff and distilling it all down into useable chunks. I’m just hoping that if I have misunderstood things, someone here can point it out before it’s too late for me and for the trees. Please, think of the trees!!! Barbara

What I would like to know and welcome by the way is why you plan on doing this now instead of the prime time of the growing season'?

If they were my trees and they seem to be doing fine, unless you have them in a greenhouse with lots of warmth or sunlight, I would put off 'bare rooting' them until prime time. If they are in desperate need of re potting, I would just up pot them until the first day of summer...

Does that sound right to you? What do you think?

Sounds like you have the concept under your belt and very good for you. Most don't when they come looking for help, but you seem to understand how water behaves in containers.

Too get your arsenal of all the stuff you need to be successful in order..

Make sure you have a good slow release fertilizer, vinegar, pest preventive program and pesticide, a good fan, a very sunny window or extra lights, and all the mixes you need to make yourself a good soilless mix which it sounds like you already have.

Mike

They are in the greenhouse and all are blooming right now. We get a lot of solar so it is already quite warm in there, and we are getting 12 hours of sun now. They won’t go outside for awhile and my thought was to let them settle in before putting them out for the summer. However, I have not ever done this procedure before so hadn’t truly thought about the timing. Maybe I’m too anxious to get them out of their substandard situation ?

and thanks for the welcome. Whatever I seem to understand (and seem is just the right word!) is from reading discussions by you and others that have put a lot of time into these forums. Thanks to all of you! Barbara

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring (March 20). If you wish to transplant now, I think it would be fine to do so. I have transplanted just about every week of the year with little or no problems. 5-1-1 is a good mix if you really stay on top of watering, especially during the warm months of the year. With 10 trees know that you will be watering just about every day from now until mid September. Water stress is very hard on the citrus trees, so be sure to insure the trees have ample water. I tell you this because you have not grown in a 5-1-1 medium. For a person that has never bare rooted a tree know that doing so can cause great damage to the tree's root system, so be very careful and do not be in a rush to get the job done.

Thank you Silica. I haven’t used the 5-1-1 and am heading in that direction because of all the info about citrus really needing great drainage. I didn’t realize that it would require water daily however...was thinking every 2-3 days, but apparently not.

I know there is no such thing as “one size fits all”, and I’m at 6000’ in the Southwest, so we are definitely not high humidity. That will probably cause them to dry out even faster in the summertime.

Is there another mix I should look at? I have not yet purchased the ingredients so changing the recipe not a big deal at this point

I am using 2-2-1 mix where the peat has been replaced with aged compost. Black with no ability to see what it was before.

Steve

Steve, would that be 2 bark:2 compost: 1 perlite?

Yes

Vladimir..thx for the input. I do plan on following the Tapla formula. The only real variable I can see is the nature of the bark fines. We all are rather constrained by what is available to us, so fingers crossed the Soil Pep product will work

I'm glad to hear you don’t have to water every day, because that is my main concern with this mix. Every 2-3 days I can handle. Of course I will keep a close eye on things especially during very hot spells.

Debbie..my thought on soaking , since I am going to be making a rather large amount, is to mix everything in a large tub and wet it thoroughly. Probably put a tarp over it. Stir it periodically to make sure the bark is evenly wet. I am doing this because it seems one would want the mix uniformly hydrated before use, and to start having the lime do whatever it is supposed to do

I recommend just repotting if it's something you really have to do until the optimal time being about Father's Day. You will risk loss of life if your not use to doing this. For you and us this is not the most optimal time of year but can be done especially if your providing great conditions as I said but remember they are still coming out of the non optimal time of the year. That's what Tapla would recommend, the same one that taught me the use of the 5.1.1 mix.

I too only have to water every other couple of days using Al's exact mix but I don't live as far south as you. You could always amend it to suit your needs

Good luck. Keep us posted please

I have 25 fruit trees in containers and it gets 100 plus where I live and I water 2 days and at most 3 days a week when it gets that hot never more with the 5.1.1

I know there is controversy over the effectiveness of mulch with container trees whether it works like plants in the ground but I use mulch with my container trees and it seems to be working out in my situation.

Mike, thx for the perspective. There is no urgency in repotting these trees, just want to do the best thing for them. (Enthusiastic, clueless !)

Nick, we typically don’t get anywhere near as warm as Modesto here, so it’s great to hear you don’t have to water daily. I used to live in the South Bay, and my sister was in Clovis, apropos of nothing.....as for mulch, why not? I am planning on a light layer of the same bark fines that are in the potting mix