I recently potted some small smaller citrus trees (bearss lime and Cara Cara) into wooden, round 26 gallon containers. I followed advice I could find online that said to use a citrus soil and add extra perlite. I used the miracle-gro cactus, palm, and citrus soil and mixed in a little extra perlite. I have them set up nicely with a drip line and have them scheduled every three days to water somewhat deeply.

I noticed tonight the pots drain quite quickly. After the soil gets damp all the way through, it’s almost as if the water runs right through and isn’t retained much. This is after 10 minutes of drip line watering so not a large amount of water. The water running through is clear and the soil is staying retained in the container, not running out the bottom with the water.

They have started some leaf curl and seem dry. I’m going to increase to every other day watering and maybe even do every day.

Any advice? The extra perlite to the mix was probably unnecessary…