Kevin, members with a lot of knowledge tend to find most forums boring. Some forums attract a larger group of the more experienced people.

I just help out for what little I know, they can take it or leave it, some give you flack, others don’t. No biggie!

The problem I see is, a lot of members and newbies in particular don’t read older pages, it’s all there. I personally still write things down.

I would almost wonder if they're trying to use additional watering to compensate for the dry winter air instead of using humidity trays or a humidifier. Not providing nutrients may be an attempt to not encourage growth of the plant during the time when there isn't a lot of sun, but may be a holdover from old technology. Old grow-lights weren't as efficient or as bright as some of the modern LED kind, and cold weather can damage young shoots. I might also think that they are attempting to solve the spider-mite issue through periodic drowning, (by watering really deep and flooding the soil you might smother them? I've had issues with them in the past in other houseplants and eliminated them by submerging the entire plant in a tub for 2 hours. The pests and the eggs are destroyed, you drain the plant, and they don't come back. So it could be some variation. But that's a one-time treatment and you don't repeat it.) But I would imagine that the root rot would negate that. Not an expert in any way, and definitely still learning (I like to read the posts as well and have learned a lot from this forum.) but it would be my best guess at why that would be a common answer.

Kevin, I believe that I saw the same facebook forum than you. There’s a lot of newbies there which is ok because citrus growing in Canada is new to a lot of people. What they must understand and it’s not applicable only for citrus growing but for all type of gardening is that there’s no solution that will fit to all the context. We have different home temperature, we have different lighting and different size/type of containers which means that we must have different care for our plants. Like you,I saw a lot of advices about watering more and people just follow the advice without questioning. If you do a search on the forum on the person that advocate to water more you will see that he has a lot of his trees in very small pots. This work for him because the medium will dry faster. I saw a post when he put one of his tree to a bigger pot and he has root rot.

Here’s a link to an old forum that summarize pretty well the care we need to provide for each situation:

http://citrusgrowersstatic.chez.com/web/viewtopic5925.php

Kevin, talk about great answers from great people here. I hope you always stick around here and I hear what you mean.

Perfect example...Some say that coco chips are excellent for citrus and others say they are the worst thing.

But one thing is sure, here the info has been pretty much consistent and the sentiments are always the same. I see you have learned quite a bit and even know enough to help anyone become just as successful as you )

I have always been a firm believer that pictures speaks a thousand words. Here there are so many with such great trees, perfect fruit and in areas you would not even imagine, that I tend to follow what they have to say more than those that can't prove by pics.

Mike and Amy, I find it interesting how there seems to be a prevailing sentiment among many that what works in one place will work in others and there is one way to do things. So much depends on your environment, and the environments at two houses in the same city can be so different. There are some overarching ideas that work for most, but not all. A person could think they have a black thumb only to move and grow everything because of a better environment.

I, too believe environment plays the biggest role. A lot of people use the 5-1-1 mix. But, I have not had success with it. My summers are so hot and dry, I wound up having to water twice a day. So I no longer use the 5-1-1 method. All of my plants,(citrus, gingers, palms, bird of paradise and everything else) are in 100% compost. Saying that, the compost has a lot of bark/small pieces of un-composted wood bits. I have been using this for many years now and only water every other day during the summer. This seems to work better for my particular environment. However, I wouldn't recommend that way of growing to someone who is much north of me, or someone who grows mostly indoors. My trees are usually only in the greenhouse four and a half months of the year, (November thru mid-March), and I usually only water the largest every two to three weeks, the smaller ones only once a month. The only plant still in anything close to a 5-1-1 mix is my Avocado, but I have to watch it closely in the summer and water accordingly.

Mostly, you have to know your environment, and grow your plants according to that environment. There is no absolute in gardening. At least not for me.

Redneck, I would add Turface, it hold a lot of moisture.

Bonsai, and that's not an understatement. Just try asking for advice on growing orchids. Nothing anyone tells me to do works unless I figure it out on my own. Ugh

Amy, Nice to see I'm not the only one that's seen that forum and its weird ideas. I kind of think its funny that that guy has had root rot in his larger tree... They have a weird system where they blindly recommend the same thing for everyone and like you said, it just doesn't work like that.

Seems that for me, it all went better for my trees as soon as I stopped overthinking everything and just let them be. My system's not the best but it works for me. I give them 12-16hours of lights, water as needed, keep my two good trees in grow bags and normal pro-mix and they have rewarded me by doubling sizes in 8 months. Putting on new growth even now in a closet in January. Its so much easier, I check on them every couple of days.

Mike, I hear you about orchids. I have been told so many times that it is impossible to grow the more exotic kinds of orchids where I live. Most of the time I find out it's because they try to apply cultural practices from dry and hot environments to an environment that is very wet. The medium they use never dries and the plants rot. I've even been told that you can't grow them here because you can't put them outside. Makes me laugh though going home to my phalaenopsis and zygopetalum orchids that bloom annually and have almost outgrown my environment.

And we are not talking about growing vanda lolll. The first one that show a picture of vanda in a vase was crucified on the spot and yet, he/she was the one to succeed! So yes, learning to know our environment is the first step. Pushing the limit of our environment is the next!

....following...

in CA I've never had an issue with overwatering container citrus... but mine stay outdoors unless temps go below 26F.

Amy, I just love your attitude and thinking, no stopping you. You are getting close to the top.

A girl that far north, AMAZING!!

Amy, I hear you. Once you understand your environment, you know what you need to do to compensate for its particular deficiencies.

Socal, I think that's the difficulty with finding information for how to grow anything in each, individual, environment and why there is such a variation in experiences. If I'm trying to grow citrus in Canada, but all my resources are in Arizona, I'm headed for trouble. So much is trial and error for where you live.

Having small indicator plants with similar lighting and moisture needs growing alongside Citrus can help to read the light level and soil health. One basic rule that also applies to tomato seedlings, is that higher temperatures require higher light levels, and also the inverse: cooler temperatures have lower light requirements.

There are 2 approaches toward monitoring soil moisture: reading the plant condition and responses, and monitoring soil tilth and water/air balance. Reading the plant condition is a delayed approach, potentially discovering issues after the fact. Learning to maintain healthy soil condition is a more preemptive approach.

Over watering is problematic in both high and low temperatures. Oxygen deprivation is critical under high temperatures. Under lower temperatures oxygen levels are less critical, however, excessive moisture mitigation is a longer process due to slower evaporation and transpiration.

Herman, good post.

Amy, that was the forum that got me started on citrus, username: boneyard3, you probably could still find i. Forum is now under a different Name, same administrator, same members.

The knowledge I pick up from them is enough for me to get going. They go a little deeper on citrus, spending time there you get comfortable growing citrus in a hurry. They take the guesswork out.

Herman, good post. And good point on the indicator plants. Might I add that it may be helpful to attempt to grow them before trying citrus. Especially if they are faster growing, they can provide a less expensive alternative to learning the ropes and an easier transition.