“No! Try, not. Do or do not; there is no try.”
(Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin Kershner, 20th Century Fox, 1980)
Citrus trees are best put in a container where roots aren’t touching the ground. Having the potting container with drainage holes suspended inside a larger container, preferably terracotta or plastic, is ideal.
Do not let the roots soak in standing water, do not let the container sit in standing water. When in doubt, monitor the roots and make them work a little harder to find water; especially since they are prone to rotting from overwatering.
Monitor root growth and condition: if roots are growing far out past the current container and are looking dry, then they need somewhere to grow, so re-pot it in a bigger container soon to allow for expansion. When in doubt, leave it be, because re-potting will cause shock, and the younger a shoot is, the more vulnerable it is.
In Zones 6-7, re-pot these specimens when emerging from seasonal dormancy: late winter/early spring. In Zones 5 and above, you may experience slower growth and your mileage may vary. But generally, it’s not recommended to re-pot when it’s resting dormant in the late autumn and winter, and peak season growth could be interrupted by re-potting too late in the summer or early autumn.
Choose a container one size bigger, but avoid an overly large one. Think of it like buying shoes for growing children; prioritize for short term growth within reason, knowing that jumping straight into adult size shoes would be both impractical and counterproductive.
In my first experiment with the lemon shoots (RIP), I used both tall and deep containers and a shallow and wide one. I noticed the shoots seemed to do better in the tall/deep style.
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Only clean, fresh potting soil should be used. Never reuse soil from other plants, no moldy parts, no organic bits of matter that could rot. If you have access to good quality compost, use that, too, but only use compost that you trust. Well-cured, healthy compost will provide excellent nutrients and root support to the tree, but improperly cured compost will cause rot, odor, and attract pests.
For indoor growing, I do not recommend adding in coffee grounds, used tea bags, or anything that might cause fungus. I think that caused a particularly bad infestation of fungus gnats in that first batch of shoots. By completely drying the soil to kill the gnats, I inadvertently dehydrated the shoots and weakened them, breaking in the breeze. With these shoots, I added enough soil acidifier when planting these so you should never need to add un-composted organic material.
Adding a small amount of sand aids drainage, although too much sand can prohibit root development. The sand I used in this mixture was taken home from Jacob Riis beach in an 8 oz. takeout container. Hand-gathered beach sand should be sanitized by spreading it on a rimmed baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, and thoroughly cooled before mixing into the soil. Anakin Skywalker, who hates sand for Tatooine related reasons, could never (it gets everywhere).
Cleanliness is important because citrus trees are especially vulnerable to diseases and fungal infections** that are very difficult (and costly) to control. If you use soil or tools that were exposed to diseased plants, or if you use containers that haven’t been thoroughly cleaned, the tree will have issues from the start.
** Because citrus trees are so vulnerable to disease and pests, and because almost all the citrus trees growing in California are grafted clones with little natural built in protection against hitherto unknown diseases, the state of California highly regulates all citrus plants, fruits, and leaves entering the state via flight and freight. One can easily drive into the state with plants in a personal vehicle, nobody checks that anywhere, but you are running the risk of introducing pests and diseases to native trees. So, if you care about the health of tree species on a larger scale: Please do not transport these trees into the state of California, it’s technically illegal.