How to repot my Orange tree?

[barbs01]

 

 

Hi fellow gardeners, hoping somebody can give me some advice please. I have a potted Navel orange Tree ( approx 4 years old ) in a black plastic pot 100 litres. it has been struggling to produce fruit, it only had 6 small oranges this year ( first crop ). I'm not sure if the potting mix is old and depleted or being in a plastic pot the roots are not growing from poor drainage and oxygen exchange, or are spiralled around the pot.

I wanted to repot it into a larger grow bag with improved new potting mix with the hope it will grow out and produce more growth and fruit, but I am not sure whether it is too late now. It has just started to produce new leaves and flower buds. If I repot it now will it go into transplant shock and drop it's flowers? Should i leave it alone and wait until next winter? Thank You

[JacobZ]

Hi @barbs01,

Thank you for your question about repotting an orange tree.

As your orange tree has already started to flower and show new growth, repotting the plant could certainly place it under stress which could cause some issues, however being so early in the new growth season, you might be ok if you are careful not to disturb the roots too much.

Let me tag @Noelle, our resident gardening guru, to see their thoughts.

Jacob

[Noelle]

Hi @barbs01 

Now is the right time to repot citrus as the weather is starting to warm and transplant shock should be minimal.

Re the lack of fruit: Keep in mind that normal sized citrus trees (that is, non-dwarf varieties) will not be as heavy fruit-bearing as trees grown in the open ground, because their root systems are confined by the size of the pot and have both limited moisture and nutrients available due to the volume, or lack thereof, of potting mix. While flowering may be prolific, the tree will only set as many fruits as it feels it can ripen to maturity, so there could be significant fruit drop when the oranges are still quite small.

Citrus like cool root systems. Grow bags and black plastic pots can absorb quite a lot of heat so if you can, repot into a half wine barrel or similar which will not become as hot over summer. If a grow bag is your only option, then try to position the tree sop at least the bag (and the roots) are shaded during the warmer hours of the day - from mid morning to late afternoon. The top growth may be in the sun, but keeping the roots cool is vital.

Use a quality potting mix formulated for citrus and ensure it is kep moist, but not too wet, over the peak growing season, from mid September to March.

[Jason]

Thanks heaps for your expert advice as always @Noelle.

@barbs01 - you might also find Noelle's step-by-step guide How to pot a plant very useful for your project.

Jason

[barbs01]

Thanks Jason 

[barbs01]

Hi @Noelle, thanks very much for all that advice. 🙂 You have given me some important tips that I wasn't aware of. I have already bought some green grow bags because i thought these would breathe better and drain better compared to the black plastic pots, and also allow for more root growth, plus they were reasonably cheap compared to half wine barrels, but maybe it wasn't a great idea. I might try them anyway and see what happens, as i have a mandarin and orange to repot, but I will definitely try to shade the pots in summer like you have mentioned. I had bought the standards because i was hoping to move into a house where i could put them in-ground, and thought the pots would just be temporary, but it never happened!

Just with repotting the orange tree now, will i be ok doing that and not losing all the flowers? Do i remove the old soil from around the root ball if it is compacted and trim or tease any spiralled roots, or just keep everything intact? or am i beer off leaving it alone and maybe removing some of the topsoil and replacing with fresh mix, manure, compost etc? Thanks so much.

[barbs01]

Thanks for your advice Jacob, that's what i was concerned about, disturbing the roots too much and putting the tree into shock. I'm just not sure what condition the root ball is in until i remove it from the pot. It may be spiralled and rootbound or the soil might be compacted too much around the roots and they may need teasing to allow new growth, but then i don't know if that will stress the tree too much.

[Noelle]

Hi again @barbs01 

You might lose some of the flowers/buds in the process but the tree looks to have a lot more than it would be capable of ripening anyway, so no harm done.

I'd be inclined to repot now into fresh mix, rather than just top up with compost or new mix. The tree looks healthy enough to cope and now is the right time of the year to do it, rather than later on when it is trying to set fruit and make lots of new growth.

Don't disturb the roots any more than absolutely necessary.  You can knock some of the old soil/potting mix off the top, but don't tease out the roots or remove the old soil from around them unnecessarily.  If some falls off, don't stress.

[barbs01]

Brilliant! thanks so much @Noelle for that awesome advice. These are the grow bags i bought. Do you think they will be ok? Do i need to sit them on a timber base to raise off the pavers? Do these breathe and allow for air pruning of the roots?

[Noelle]

Hello again

The bags are fine - yes they do breathe, will air-prune roots and do not need to be raised above the pavers as they will drain freely.