"David Ross" wrote in message
...
I looked at your photos. If there is a nutrient or salt problem,
it is minor. Your plants look quite healthy with only slight
chlorosis.




I've added e few pix there if like to share opinions.
http://www.angelfire.com/blog/hermann188/

However, the container looks quite small. My dwarf citrus are in
18 inch (45 cm) redwood tubs, cylindrical and as deep as they are
across. I will soon replace one tub that is rotting with a
terra-cotta pot 20 inches (51 cm) across -- tapering to slightly
less at the bottom -- and 17 inches (43 cm) deep. It is very
similar to the pot in your IMG_3231.jpg.

You aren't the first person that argues about the pot size...my "guru" here
in Italy told me that the foliage shouldn't exceed 15% of the pot size
(diameter).
It looks like he is right, looking at those pix I've shooted them this
summer at his site:
http://www.angelfire.com/blog/herman...ence/index.htm .....
For the height of the pot, I've read on a technical citrus book that the
roots widespread instead of moving down a lot...It looks like the diameter
is more important than the depth. Looking at the pix of the "Guru" it looks
like they're using conical pots instead of cylindrical (forgive my english!)


You need a large container so that you can keep the soil moist
without it getting soggy. Too much water in the soil is as bad as
the wrong pH or too many minerals. Indeed, excess water causes
chlorosis.

My guru says the soil should be always moist, but not soggy. To achieve so,
I was advised to stuff 1/3 of the pot height with stones, etc to drain
perfectly the water. Also elevating the pots would help. And I did so.
To keep the soil moist I need to water the plants every day in august.


With a large container and an acidic, well draining potting mix
(with acidity maintained with acidic fertilizers), any excess
calcium in the water or nutrients will readily leach away. This
cannot work, however, in a small container because the soil gets
too soggy before proper leaching occurs.

Maybe the slight chlorosis occured for multiple factors:
- Fertilizers excess
- Calcium carbonate and high Ph.

At the moment I've removed the old fertilzer and feeded the plants with a
special chelating micro elements mixture, that is to be used when
deficiencies occurs
(http://www.gtozturfservices.com/page.../chelamix.html).

At the same time I'm using demineralized water hopeing it helps to melt
salts eccess and calcium carbonate in the soil.

Let's cross our fingers

Hoping to here from you...

Best regards




--

David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

"Atlas" wrote:
...snipmagnesium deficiency/snip...

I've added e few pix there if like to share opinions.
http://www.angelfire.com/blog/hermann188/

My understanding, it applies to the Human body as well
as plants, is that calcium and magnesium need each other.

I don't know much about the details or what the right
answer is, but if you have an excessive amount of calcium
it might be that the magnesium deficiency is because of
the excess calcium. I don't know what the ration of calcium
to magnesium should be but there IS a ratio. They seem
to be directly proportional as well.

So if you have excessive calcium, you have a few options:
1) Change the calcium in some manner where it won't
be utilized, thus balancing the magnesium/calcium,

2) Add more magnesium, thus balancing the magnesium
and calcium. (I don't know what a good source for this
would be, but maybe banana peels? I just don't know.
Someone else might be able to suggest something.
Banana peels add potassium and nitrogen.)

3) Perhaps there is something that feeds off calcium, a
bug of some sort that could use the calcium and be
happy. This goes back to 1) above, but I thought I
would provide it as a separate item. Maybe someone
else has an idea or a suggestion.

Just throwing ideas up in the air. I only have clues, not
answers.

I think epsom salt is a good source of magnesium. I've got
a feeling though banana peels might be a better thing to put
into the soil. Don't take my word for it though. I just don't
know.

As far as pot size goes, I think of it like this... The pot
should be as wide as the branches. The reason being,
center of gravity. Think of it like this, if you have a huge
tree that grows high and branches out wide, it needs the
support underneath it, otherwise a small wind could blow
it over and uproot it. Kind of makes replanting it to soil
a little harder, but if you intend to keep it in a pot, I tend
to think the pot should be as big as the average width of
the longest branches.

--
Jim Carlock
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