Help/advice requested, not quite Bonsai

[Ophitoxaemia]

Apologies this is not a Bonsai question, but I'm hoping your expertise could help a plant I have that's in trouble.

In 1967, when I was 3 years old, I planted a grapefruit seed from my breakfast. The resulting tree has lived since then, mostly inside kept less than 3 feet high, now 47 years old. It bore fruit 4 times. It's currently under the care of my parents, my father is a retired Plant Science professor and my mother also has an advanced degree in same. When they say they've run out of ideas, I have few places to turn, and I'm hoping someone with Bonsai experience might be kind enough to have some advice.

Here are two pictures:

http://www.thevenom.net/plants/plant1.jpg
http://www.thevenom.net/plants/plant2.jpg

The main trunk died a few years ago and now a secondary shoot is the one with leaves. The second picture is split bark on the truck, apologies for the quality of the photos.

We think the main problem is that the roots have become one huge, solid ball, and the tree is not able to make new productive roots.

Anything I can do? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[jkd2572]

Probably just needs to be repotted or put in a larger container.

 

[GrimLore]

I would guess the same but hard to say unless you update your profile so we know what zone you are in. Welcome by the way There are many here that can help and will do so it is just a blind guess unless we know.

Grimmy

 

[Jason_mazzy]

if you are near NC I will take it off your hands LOL. I was just looking into growing an indoor citrus!

 

[fraser67]

Sorry, I have to ask...based on what you wrote, has it ever been repotted? In 47 years? If your parents are botanists...most certainly it has been??? I agree with the previous posts...it needs to be repotted...regardless of where you live. I'm no expert, but what you wrote is concerning...
Best,
Jonathan

 

[QuintinBonsai]

What's all that blue stuff in the pot? I personally use Dynamite Citrus Food for my citrus. http://www.seedworldusa.com/products/dynamite-palm-and-citrus-fertilizer-13-5-11-2-lbs It doesn't have to be that particular brand name, but any commercial citrus feed should perk it up. And it could stand a repotting in the spring. That pot is a bit on the small side.

 

[Ophitoxaemia]

It has been repotted many times, and often is planted outside in the ground during the frost free months, which have often been good for it. My parents live in Upstate New York and have run a speciality crops farm for 25+ years. They can't manage a larger/heavier pot.

I live in zone 17, which would allow it to be in the ground all year, but I can't import live citrus across the state line.

I have no idea what the blue stuff is, decoration likely. I'll ask. Thanks!

 

[edprocoat]

Ophi, it looks healthy on the growth that is present. If the root ball is solid why not try making cuts down through the soil and removing thirds, like a triangle in the pot your tree being at the triangle center. Cut one side of the triangle at a time, remove the soil outward from the cut and treat the ends of the roots with rooting hormone and replace the soil, I would use some of the original soil and some pumice or lava chips that would allow free draining and root growth. Then after some growth time 5-6 months cut another part of the triangle. This would be less harsh on the tree and allow some space for new fine root growth to develop. I assume the pot has a drainage in the bottom, you want the water to be able to flow out the pot and not rot the roots by just soaking them. I assume it does or you would not have the new growth, the tree would have completely died.

ed

 

[wireme]

It's funny, I have a citrus with the same story. Planted from a store bought seed in 1975 when I was 3 years old.

Mine nearly died about 12 years
Back after a cat repeatedly peed on the soil. I washed and repotted and a week later the dog threw it off the deck and it sat out roots in the sun for the day, looked pretty sad after all that but is fine now.

Mine also goes outside some but not all summers, gets sunburn easily when it first goes out. Otherwise it has sat in a variety of spots near windows with no supplementary lighting.

I water it when the leaves start to visibly droop a bit. I would guess that yours might simply be getting overwatered, the most common cause of problems with houseplants. A few sources have told me that potted citrus love to be root bound. I don't know but mine has only been repotted twice in 39 years.

If your tree were mine I would not cut any roots. I would poke through the rootball with a sharpened stick wiggling and pushing dirt through rather than raking out. I would loosen the sides and bottom of the rootball as much as possible in this manner then repeat but less aggressively into the interior of the rootball. Then repot with something proving some aeration, pushing some into the loose spots of the rootball interior etc.

Truth is with my orange tree, it has done well for so long treated as any other houseplant, ever since I was a kid even more clueless than now. I don't really want to try any of this b.s. bonsai horticulture on it!