Wow Patty, nice post. That thread is really interesting - an eye opener for sure!
You’re very welcome, bleeding. I was a big hole amender for years. But after reading a fair amount of corroborating research, this concept really has fallen out of favor, and the research shows it can do more harm than good in almost all cases. Really, the only time researchers and the experts are saying to amend, is if you’re needing to amend ALL your soil. Such as when you fill a raised planter bed. Or, if all your topsoil has been scraped away in lot grading. So, this one is well documented.
Here’s my 4 in 1 potted Cherry tree which I dug up in January. I think I had amended it. The root ball looks rich but it could just be the potting mix. I wish I had washed the soil off to check the roots.
Before this discussion, I’d already amended the hole. No way to take the compost out so I just have to play along.
This morning I headed off to my friend’s house with a 25 gallon container hoping to wrestle a giant root ball into it. I started by digging a trench along the drip line.
The root ball was surprisingly small. I pruned very few feeder roots. I trimmed off all lower branches so I could get closer. I also pruned back the waterspouts heavily. They had nasty 2 inch long thorns.
I tried lifting the tree gently with my shovel underneath but I felt a lot of resistance. At this point, I got my fingers in in search for the anchoring roots. I found 5 thick roots that went straight down into the ground. I tried to dig them out gently.
But then I got a stern reminder from my wife about the trip to the zoo planned this morning. Awww crap…I forgot completely. Now I had to prune out these roots and I was left with a very small root ball. So much so that I ended up holding the tree mostly by the thick trunk.
I drove back home and placed the tree in my wheeled cart. I then dumped a cubic foot of chicken manure compost on the roots and watered it in with a bucketful of water.
As soon as I got back home, I planted the tree in a mound as I had planned. I watered it thoroughly and here’s the final result. Should I prune it some more?
I think you’re fine. You may want to provide some filtered light for a while, to help with transpiration and water loss through the leaves to help curb the transplant shock. I probably would not have dropped down all the chicken manure - an awful lot of N. Better to just water in well. Once the tree shows signs of recovering, consider adding more amendments like chicken manure. If you feel compelled to fertilize now, a low N fertilizer is probably the best choice to promote root growth and re-establishment versus vegetative growth. The deep roots are the tap roots, they’ll grow back. And, make sure those watersprouts were not actually coming from below the graft. If so, monitor for those, and rub them off as soon as you see them sprout, since they would be rootstock, and not the cultivar. Watersprouts above the graft line of course are the cultivar and yes, they can have some wicked thorns. They do subside, but I think a good idea to prune them back, so the tree sort of “forgets” about that adventitious growth to focus on root re-establishment. I think you did a very nice job.
Thanks for the reply Patty. The chicken manure compost smelled very earthy. I hope it doesn’t burn the roots. 
I also added it on top, I did not mix it in. Most of it is the border of the berm.
I also don’t plan on adding amendments for at least a month. The tree looked a bit nutrient deficient at my friend’s house. I have a box of Dr Earth waiting for it next month.
The pic is probably not clear but I can see the graft line clearly, no suckers.
Well, hopefully the manure has broken down and composted itself, some. And, not sure that’s your graft line on the tree. I think it’s probably above that red arrow, at a diagonal, where the tree begins to branch out. In any event, if those water sprouts were above the branching, then they are, indeed, water sprouts. Nothing to worry about, I usually recommend to folks to simply prune them to the edge of the canopy. They’ll settle down and produce fruit. Just a sign of a healthy, happy tree.
I just checked and you are right again. The graft union is where all the main branches originate.
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Well done!!!
Thanks Patty!
Here it is today. Good growth and lots of blossoms. One tiny fruit managed to hang on to the tree last winter. It was very tarty so I probably picked it too early. But it had a ton of seeds. 
I wonder what variety it is.
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Here’s the tree today. Fruit started changing color last week. Any idea what variety it is? @hoosierquilt?
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Wow! That tree is fantastic! Wow again!
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Beautiful!
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Boy, Vin, you just have to pat yourself on the back for such an excellent transplant job. Looking at the fruit I would have first guessed Gold Nugget, because GN has this very distinctive “lumpy bumpy” skin. But, it would be awfully early for GN - it’s a later mandarin (February-June). So, being that it’s December, I’m thinking probably a satsuma of some variety, probably Owari. One of the dead giveaways for satsumas - you can’t pick them by hand from the tree without the top part of the peel pulling off at the stem - you have to cut satsumas from the branch (which is why you see satsuma mandarins in the store with leaves and a small stem - although I think now the commercial growers are stripping off the leaves). So, when you decide to test one for ripeness, try to gently pull it off the stem. If the skin at the stem connection rips off and some is still attached to the stem, it’s almost certainly a satsuma 
If they aren’t really ripe until February, and you can pick them cleanly off the tree by hand, you’ve got Gold Nugget. GN holds on the tree exceptionally well. Satsumas do not, they get baggy, and can get dried out if left on the tree too long. Both are pretty much seedless, with GN probably being more seed-free than Owari satsuma.
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/goldnugget.html
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/frostowari.html
Patty S.
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I second @mrsg47, that tree and the fruit looks great. Good job on the transplant, Vinod.
Can only dream aboot growing citrus here, it was a smooth 16° here last night.
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Patty,
I forgot to mention, last year I got one fruit and it was incredibly seedy. Maybe (hopefully), it was an aberration. Satsumas are seedless, right?
It’s probably not GN since I have it on a standard rootstock nearby and its fruit is still green.
Okay, then definitely not GN If it is super seedy, it could be Murcott or Clemnules, but the skin looks more like a satsuma to me, especially if they have a neck. And if the skin pulls off at the stem. Both are excellent mandarins, with Clemnules being one of my very favorite. It is the mandarin I always got at Christmas, stuffed into the toe of my stocking. My absolute favorite thing in my stocking! (Bound to be a citrus aficionado, no doubt, lol!!) Murcott is seedy to super seedy (not to be confused with W. Murcott Afourer, which is seedless), but if you can get past the seeds, the fruit is excellent. Clemnules is just somewhat seedy, but both are worth it despite the seeds.