I have a New Zealand lemonade on C35 and on US897. I got 4 tasty unripe lemons from a dying NZL/US897 do to massive root rot. They wer 1/4 to 1/3 of way to color. I have 1 lemon this year on my C35. It will be at least 4 months till picking time. My NZL/US897 was knock back 23 months in growth. I would not prune your tree. Pictures would help other with prunning experiance to help you make a better choice on prune and where.

Can you plant the Lowes tree outside. It may be on flying dragon.

The problem is that the branches are about the same size as when the trees were first purchased. Not much to prune which is why I was inquiring about how to encourage new growth. The branches have leaves but these trees look bare compared to my other varieties. Sorta like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. lol. The variety is known to have branches being droopy. I know Owari mandarins are slow growers to start with, but I think they could look better. I just used fish emulsion which is high in nitrogen about 2 weeks ago so I am hoping that will do the job as some of my other trees/plants are showing lots of new growth. Maybe using the fish emulsion all summer is my solution?

The Lowes trees are from Saxon, Becnal & Sons. So they were either grown in TX or LA facilities and are standards. Not sure what the rootstocks are because I normally keep whatever tags that come with my trees. All I have are the ID tags that are pictures with growing instructions. The FWG tree may be on Flying Dragon as it was purchased in 2002. I am too attached to risk losing it by planting in the ground. I almost killed it one winter by not watering it enough. The tree is growing great now which inspired my question about same variety on different rootstocks. Every tree I have is in the same planting medium, apply the same fertilizers and water the exact same times. I feel like chucking the Lowes trees into the trash and reordering from FWG new ones, but the root stock will not be the same as the original one I have. Not only that, I can't do it because of the amount spent in purchasing each one. I would be throwing over $100 away and I am too cheap to do it. lol. There must be a way to make these trees more productive.

If you are going to pitch the bad tree you could pitch it into the ground outside. It might grow very nicely. I don't know your growing zone but I am in zone 6 micro B. If you are getting rid of it No loss if it dies. Best of all it will take less time to plant it than fit in in your garbage can and the excellent soil it is in will improve your outside soil whether the tree lives or dies. Any pictures?

No pictures. No smart phone and uploading from a camera is too much for this computer illiterate old lady. lol. I am in zone 8, but can't remember if it's A or B. I know the tree would die outside because we get down to the teens in January or February with the windchill.

I decided to move the trees around on my patio and see if it makes a difference. The trees are producing fruit, but not as much as I would like considering they are standards. I think I will wait and see how the fish emulsion affects the trees with the high nitrogen content for a few months.

To follow up here Saxon Becnel is currently using Kuharski Carrizo as their primary citrus root stock for everything except for kumquats and limes which are on C-22. As to the growth habit being upright this does not sound like Owari, at least not after the first couple of year, did they have Lowes hang tags on the them or Saxon Becnel hang tags, if Lowes tags they would likely have been put on at the store, and may have mis labeled as I think the Saxon Becnel grower band tag does not specify variety only has their name and nursery number, etc. Perhaps you have Armstrong or some other more upright growing Satsuma, perhaps Miho if it was bought in the last year or so, that assumes it is really a satsuma at all.

p.s. if you tell us what city, state you live we might be of more help with growing advice zone 8 covers a lot of land

High nitrogen fertilizer encourages growth, wait it out.

Ike, The trees are tall but the branches are slightly droopy which is normal for the Owari. I have both the Saxon, Becnal & Sons and the Lowes tags from almost every tree I purchased from Lowes. That is how I knew which nursery they came from. I am very familiar with the Owari fruit and know the trees are correct. I checked the nursery tags which came with the trees and they do say satsuma. I don't remember the exact year I purchased them, but have had these trees for over 4 years now. I am on the border of 8a and 8b as I am in the middle of the state. Definitely below the gnat line in GA. lol. I have been shopping for citrus at Lowes for a long time and I search through them pretty carefully. For the longest time they only carried the Owari mandarin and this year the Brown's Select was available so I picked one up.

I swung by Lowes this morning and was surprised to see a Clementine and Sunburst which they didn't have earlier this year. I guess they received a shipment after I picked up a Brown's Select.

Ok, just wanted to check Lowes is notorious for wrong hang tags on nursery plants. I have read that Saxon Becnel changed to their current root stocks in the last 3-4 years, though I think their previous primary root stock was also a Carrizo variant. Overall Becnels is fairly good, I have exchanged a few emails with Ricky Becnel over the last couple of years, he has been very helpful.

Whatever rootstock I have on my Owari, it is very good because it provides a sturdy trunk and the feeder roots were nice and thick when transplanting my trees this spring. I will have to research Carrizo to learn about its characteristics. Thanks for the info Ike.

Hi Denise great topic! I myself am interested as I have a few on swingle rootstock that just aren't growing great where as the c35 my Moro is on is going crazy! I tried to research what my gold nugget from four winds is on but I couldn't find anything on what rootstock they use. FYI my owari has done nothing the past two years I've had it, I got it from briteaf but I'm not sure what rootstock, perhaps it's the same as the lowes one you got!

I don't know a lot about root stocks as a whole and pick up things here and there. I am slow sometimes. lol. The stuff online is too scientific at times and way over my head because the info is developed for experienced commercial growers rather than for the typical container gardening. I was wondering if I was the one doing something wrong or is it the tree? I have a Eureka that has been doing poorly ever since I purchased it and it's a Record Buck Farms cutting. I broke down and purchased another from Four Winds Growers and it's growing just great. So now I know it's not me. lol.

Four Winds Growers doesn't want to reveal anything about their products. I tried once asking about their rootstock and they wanted to refer me to their propagator who was the owner. I felt intimidated about it because I am just the average home grower and didn't follow through. Now I wish I had because I have a lot to say about their growing practices because things have changed over the past few years.

As for the Gold Nugget from FWG, I have found it to be very picky about its soil compared to my other trees. I purchased a premium and it came with a very small rootball compared to a choice Red Smith from the same place. I was extremely disappointed and told them so. Anyway, the drainage has to be really really good for the GN or it's going to get root rot. I found some this year for the first time ever on any of my trees while replanting into a different mix. It was in straight Miracle Grow Potting Mix which is fine for the majority of my trees, but not this one. I added extra mini pine bark nuggets and perlite and it is growing extremely well. That is when I realized FWG changed their rootstock in addition to their changing over from dwarf to semi dwarf size trees. It's not us or our growing methods, it's the nursery.

Kendra Just said they are trying hard to keep up with the demand for trees because many nurseries are not shipping nationwide as they are. I think because of the pressure, FWG had to find something that will grow quickly to keep up with customers' demands. I am just putting 2 and 2 together to see why things are changing. I believe in the old saying, "if it's not broken, why fix it". My Meyer and Owari was purchased from them in 2002 and I love them because they are only 36"x36" right now and would like to keep them that size.

A few things to keep in mind, first many of the fast growing citrus root stocks also shorten the life of the trees as they tend to develop graft incompatibility after about 8-10 years. Also on the topic of root stocks, Carrizo has traditionally been a popular rootstock used in Florida as it performs well in slightly acidic sandy and sandy loam soils, though is not popular on the west coast due to its not tolerating calcareous soils well. Recently I have read that there is a movement away from Kuharski Carrizo in Florida as it is now considered to be more susceptible to HLB than other rootstocks, though I don't know if there is any scientific evidence to back this up.

This survey of Florida root stocks from 2012 may be interesting to you http://www.growingproduce.com/citrus/citrus-rootstock-selection-on-the-grow/ as you may note that none of the popular west coast root stocks that seem to get so much written about them are even on the list.

One of the biggest problems faced by all growers of citrus is water. I wish the developers would take this into consideration. Florida typically gets lots of rain and, with climate change, there is going to be more as years go by. At least, that is what is predicted for the southeast as a whole. I don't want to discuss if climate change is true or not, but it's possible the southeast may have some wetter than normal years. Hurricanes are always a threat as well so developing rootstock that can handle the sitting water afterwards would be a plus. Of course then there are the over zealous folks who just don't know better than to not overwater citrus because they think they are houseplants. lol.

Trifoliate, swingle, and kinkoji are rated as good for wet soils. Sour Orange is rated as especially good for wet soils. However, Sour Orange cannot be used in areas where Tristeza virus is present.

Denise - since you mention the FW Eureka, based on a huge shoot from the rootstock of mine last summer, I pretty much identified it as Cuban Shaddock (which is also one that is often-referenced that FW had used).

Here is an older thread from this forum that discussed some of the rootstocks (including FW -where a couple folks noted the wayward shoots that Cuban Shaddock will throw out as a rootstock) - [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cuban-shaddock-a-dwarfing-rootstock-i-doubt-it-dsvw-vd~2942396[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cuban-shaddock-a-dwarfing-rootstock-i-doubt-it-dsvw-vd~2942396)