UPDATE ON STORY TWO: that last citrus, my original meyer lemon, is now not much more than a stick with 3 or 4 leaves that refuses to put out new growth, not much hope for him :(

UPDATE ON STORY ONE: after much worrying, I GOT MY TREES TODAY, actually around 30min ago!
they came much MUCH better, not the poor bare rooted twigs i expected.
THey were nicely shipped rooted cuttings of the repective tree (i couldn't find a graft). They had great foliage. They had soil, in a good size pot, that was wrapped in something like a small trashbag that kept the humidity and moisture in. Here are pics of packaging.

first opened box

it looks like they care!

what are those? my trees perhaps?

note the nice holes in side to aerate

boy, when they said dwarf key lime, they meant it!
that is a SMALL little guy

here is the nice middle sized orange

the large meyer lemon

all the compared with my hand and each other.
Some of the leaves looked like they got cut at the ends to prevent growth, or maybe they had some kind of rot pre-shipping or something. They dont look as good in the pics as in real life, they angle i took the pics at showed much of the underside of the leaf, which, of course, is yellower

WHAT IS THIS?!?!
my orange put out some NEW GROWTH WHILE BEING SHIPPED, its pretty yellow, but not all to fragile, i think yellowing is because it has not yet seen the light of the sun

Aside from some minor shipping damage, they are perfect. These were shipped alot better than Four Winds, and had better foliage.

ON a different note, i have not posted in a while. This is because i didnt really have any news to post. I did check here every day or every other day or so. Just in case.
Although i didnt comment on the thread for this topic, i want me one of those dekapon! would they be classified as an orange?
Andrew

I can tell the meyer is not gonna be my happy camper. He (i guess these trees are all now officialy personified) insists on putting out some stubborn, juvenile thorns. Aint gonna happen on my watch :)
ANdrew

I love the pictures and experience you shared.

You can avoid any rot and root issues with a good well draining coarse mix Andrew since I yet to loose one from a cutting and many are growing very robustly.
You can be guarenteed fruit and blooms on those babies that small by summer if they are growing very happily.

You are going to have a great time with them since you will be getting them use to your care at that size.

Andrew: I hope you have all the tools needed to treat them well. In fact, I know you do:-) Welcome back.

Mike

Mike

I'd wondered where you'd been....I'm glad there weren't any family emergencies!

I'm real happy that you got your trees without any problem. They do look good.

Josh

I would sift most of the peat fraction out of any bagged mix until you have mostly bark left over.
Do 5 parts left over bark, one part of that sifted out peat, and one part perlite.
The smaller perlite will work well if you just strain the dust out with a sifter/spaggetti collander.

It would be better than any mix right out of the bag. In fact, you WILL need a better mix if you want those small cuttings to thrive, epsecially on those roots.

Let us know what you do. When you get some time, you should really look into investing some time into finding any of the ingredients you need to make the mix you use to be much more efficient and durable.

Perlite you can practically buy at any box store or nursery. Try and give them the best start as possible into anything better than what you described. You might want to watch they don't over dry out in those black pots since the hot sun this time of year can practicllay burn them in pots black, that big. Can you pot them into colored ones, or even better, clay?

Over watering and under watering can be very tricky in containers, black that size.

It is great to see you back buddy!

I love those little plants.

Mike

The orange has great leaves, i am really suprised. ANd on close examination of the key lime, it has great branching, it is going to make a great tree.

I would be surprised if they advertised dwarf citrus and sent you three rooted cutting trees. Sometimes the bud union or graft line is a little hard to see.

The lime looks a little like it has "winter chlorosis". Treat with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon Epsom Salts in a gallon of water. If you have hard (alkaline) water, acidify with a two teaspoons vinegar.

If it is an original West Indian lime, a.k.a. Key or Mexican Lime, it will have thorns even on mature (fruiting) wood. The thornless variety is much preferred for an indoor/outdoor container tree since you don't get stuck every time you carry it in or out. But I believe some of the thorny ones may be a couple of degrees more cold hardy.

It's nice to see your luck change for the better.