Should I repot with gritty mix

9 years ago

- First Post
- Zone 10 Miami, FL

For Mother's Day (May 11), I purchased three trees from Harris Citrus for my wife. I went with what was immediately available so all three are are in clay pots with Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm and Citrus Soil and a bit of perlite. I started out watering/fertilizing with Foliage Pro and a white vinegar around day 6-7 (after testing the top few inches of the soil for dryness).

Now we're starting to get into rainy season and we've been getting rain ever other day. Using a dowel I can see that the bottom 50% of the soil is staying moist. I haven't fertilized again because I don't want to add any more water.

I'm concerned that the current mix may not be appropriate for the local conditions - especially in rainy season.

I've done quite a bit of reading about gritty mix and I've been able to locate Turface and #10 filter gravel from Florida Silica Sand Company. If I switch, then I would need to figure out an appropriate ratio as I think that 1:1:1 would be great for rainy season but not so much for dry season. I saw a 4:3:2 mentioned in one of the threads.

I'm not very keen on touching anything now as all three plants seem to be happy (pics attached) and they were just transplanted.

Here's the current status:

Giant Key Lime: Grafted on US802 rootstock. I have this one getting the most light and it appears to be going through a growth flush. It seems to have no problems with full sun - at least for now. It's going to get a lot hotter and I'm trying to be cautious. I've seen the occasional small egg which I've removed by hand as well as something that I think might have been a miner on one of the leaves.

Giant Key Lime - After Potting

Giant Key Lime - Tag

Giant Key Lime - Growth

Giant Key Lime - Miner?

Giant Key Lime - Egg

Persian Lime: Grafted on Kuharske rootstock. There is new growth in several areas. One of the leaves has a curl in it so I have this plant getting slightly less light. I've been gradually moving it closer to the Giant Key Lime and I suspect that it can also handle the (current) full sun. The leaves look good with the exception the one with the perpetual curl. I've left it on out of curiosity. One other leaf has a yellow spot, but again there doesn't seem to be any issues beyond the individual leaf.

Persian Lime - After Potting

Persian Lime - Growth

Persian Lime - Tag

Persian Lime - Spot

Persian Lime - Curl

Buddah's Hand: Grafted on Obovoidea rootstock. There is new growth in several areas, but it seems to grow much slower than the limes. I have this one below the roof overhang of the house. It's getting strong indirect light and some direct light for a portion of the day. The leaves were a bit beat-up when I received the plant with spots on a couple, but it seems to be doing nicely now.

Buddah's Hand - After Potting

Buddah's Hand - Tag

Buddah's Hand - Growth

Buddah's Hand - Leaves

Buddah's Hand - Spots

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! I'm trying to learn as much as possible and not screw things up.

This post was edited by dyer_maker on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 10:50

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Comments (5)

BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nice looking trees! I don't use gritty mix, just eb stone cactus mix, which hold a bit more water than gritty mix, as my summers are hot and dry, with no rain.
So I'll let others more familiar with the gritty mix address that question.

But as for the fertilizer question, you could add Osmocote Plus to the soil and let the rain water the plants. It won't burn, it's a slow release, only as the soil needs it, and you won't have to worry about over-watering to apply fertilizer.
Then you wouldn't have to worry about them not being fed enough during the rainy season.

Have no idea what the egg is, but yeah, that other is Citrus Leaf Miner. Spinosad works on that, and it's registered for organic gardening. You just need to spray the new flushes of leaves. Of course, follow the label.
angela1234
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
If you are noticing that the soil is staying too wet, I would recommend the gritty mix. I switched both of my meyer lemon trees that I got earlier this year to gritty mix from soil that wasn't draining well and they are both doing much better. They didn't grow for a week or so after I repotted but they also didn't lose leaves. Then they started growing a lot and they have flower buds now.

My citrus have both been inside since I got them. I'm pretty sure gritty mix is fine for the dry season too. I use the dowel method to check when to water. I also added Osmocote Plus (which I got at Home Depot) to the gritty mix and water with very dilute Foliage Pro.

Check Amazon for supplies. That's where I got mine because even though there are John Deere places by me, I don't have time to get there with working full time and school on the weekends. Also, you can get Repti Bark from the pet store.

I don't have any picture to load now but I can take some when I get home :)
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meyermike_1micha
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The gritty mix is a god send! I can tell you this.

If you don't plan on making the gritty mix exactly the way it's suppose to be made, then don't use it. Go for a much barkier mix like the 5.1.1 and transplant as needed after a couple of years.

Beautiful trees

Mike
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hey, Mike.
Indeed, Mike and I both strongly favor the 5-1-1 for Citrus....much easier to make, and just as easy to re-pot when the time comes.

Josh
angela1234
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I meant to take and post these last night like I said I would. Here are my meyer lemon trees in gritty mix. I'm a little wary to take them outside onto my buildings roof deck because I live in an apartment building and don't want other people to mess with my plants.

1st tree that I got
{{gwi:590142}}

New growth
{{gwi:590143}}

New Flower Buds
{{gwi:590145}}

The other tree that was a little sickly and is still recovering
{{gwi:590147}}

Lemon buds on 2nd tree
{{gwi:590149}}