Pink lemon tree growing tips?

I’ve got a variegated pink lemon tree I picked up in May. I potted it with standard potting mix and gave it full sun (outside, zone 7B) and moderate watering. In that time it’s put out new growth only once and that was a few months ago. I repotted it again a couple weeks ago but added some perlite in case there were any drainage issues. It hasn’t shown any change since the first new growth other than losing a leaf or two every few weeks. Does anyone have any experience with these or any tips? Right now it’s inside my shed, next to a window as the cooler weather starts to come in.

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That looks very small for a citrus tree. I paid 30 something dollars for a dwarf cara cara from briteleaf and got it today. 50 dollars with shipping and tax and it is way bigger than yours. As for tips have yo fertilized it? I had to get citrus fertilizer for my citrus specifically. If it is indoors it is not going to grow much anyway. A good example of how slow plants grow indoors is I started peppers with only 30k SHU and they took from September to around April to grow peppers. It grew them none the less but it was slow. Take your citrus outside in the summer for faster growth. Also citrus is just very slow growing. From what I hear most citrus takes 2-5 years to bear fruit. If your citrus rootstock suckers take those off too because it will spend all it’s energy on those suckers.

I haven’t played with citrus in a decade or so, but I remember leaf drop when they came in every winter.

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They can loose more than 90% of their leaves over winter.

They also like sand in their soil.

ive had the exact opposite happen here. mine put out average growth + bloom in summer outside. when i bring them in they take right off. maybe its because its getting pretty cold when i finally bring them in to the warmest room in the house which is consistently 75f. my dwarf minneloa i bought last spring has 1 fruit ripening on it already. cant wait to try it.

I have a lime and it has been slow growing. I’ve grown seedlings that grow super fast…so maybe its a rootstock thing or transplant shock or something///although a lot of my houseplants did really crappy this year for some reason—maybe too much rain or sun. I’ve had mine about a year now.

been using osmocote 2xs summer 1x winter and some miracid to lower the ph a few times as well.

Your house is much warmer than mine. We keep the heat at 67-69 because it is too costly otherwise.

the rest of the house is set at 66f just this room is this hot. its our spare room closest to the furnace.

Horticultural sand? Do you order this online? I’ve looked around before but have had trouble finding it in stores

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How much sunlight does it get when you bring it inside? Mine is in my shed where there’s a larger window but I’ve considered bringing it inside the house where it’s warmer but mostly indirect sunlight.

Do you use the pink osmocote (indoor/outdoor plants)?

I would look up citrus soil mix. It comes in bags and is a much lighter mix. No vermiculite. No sand from the beach either. (Salt). You might be able to find it in a pet store.

I use 3 parts pine bark mulch, 1 part perlite, and 1 part compost. Cheap and works nice. Don’t use the colored mulch just plain pine bark. I break up the piece larger than a half inch,

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limeoct30

My lime…been inside about a week now. Looks pretty good, has some new growth. Probably will repot it late winter/spring. I think i used a mix of hardwood chips and compost//perlite.

Hardwood chip will use up all the nitrogen when they rot and will heat up and cook your roots. If it is just 1 tree you can get reptile bark $$$$$$$$.

Yeah they would have just went on the bottom and the sides since i was potting it up to a larger pot…its all i had on hand at the time. I’ll use the good stuff when i do it next time.

I would like to graft this onto seedling citrus. I have a few growing.

yes.

You mean like this