A.K.A. Makrut lime, this, and my other indoor plants all seemed to need re-potting this year; I thought it had been 3 years, but it was only 2 years, I found out on another forum. Today, I didn't finish my SIPs, due to the wind - would have blown the covers away, as I would be trying to cover them. Plus, making the soil mix would not have been easy, with the perlite and vermiculite blowing all over. I already had the mix made up for re-potting the kaffir lime trees, so I did the smaller one today. It was definitely rootbound, with some roots growing upwards, into the mulch. This soil mix I made with 2/3 peat, and 1/3 coir, plus some perlite, a little less vermiculite, some granular diatomaceous earth, some DE powder, for the upper few inches, plus some mycorrhizae powder, to inoculate it. The lime tree was put outside a couple of weeks ago, when I trimmed it considerably, brought indoors the last couple of nights, due to the cold, and I trimmed it even more. Looks a little scraggly, because I trimmed all the branches I had to, that were growing on top of each other. It will recover quickly, as always, and I had already seen several areas of new growth, triggered by the first trimming.

This tree is around 10 years old, or a little older. The larger one (which I still need to re-pot) is 20 years old.
The rootbound kaffir lime tree, showing the roots that had grown up, into the mulching medium. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A couple of the leaves are showing a little sunburn, since putting it outside a couple of weeks ago, but nothing serious.
Kaffir lime tree, finished with the Re-potting. 4-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I am going to be re-potting my Valencia Orange this upcoming week. Waiting for this last cold snap to pass. Thanks for the photos. They were helpful.
I have a Calamondin Orange that got too dry down in the greenhouse this winter and dropped all its leaves. The stem is still green, so I gave it a good pruning. Do you think it would benefit from re-potting? It has still not put out any leaves and it has been 3 weeks.
Thanks!

[mention]friedgreen51[/mention] You say it's stem is still green, so I assume that it's not very old? What size is it, and what size pot is it in? I can't remember these things ever dropping even half their leaves - that must have been incredibly dry! Hopefully, it's still salvageable. Check the roots in the pot, to see if it is rootbound; that's how I could tell these needed re-potted - even after soaking, they dry out fast. Mine needed a severe root pruning, but I wouldn't do that with all those leaves gone - you want the roots to help feed it, for the leaves to hopefully start coming back. Maybe just loosen up the roots some, if it's rootbound, and put it in a larger pot; if not rootbound, maybe still re-pot to a larger pot. Good luck!

Some wicked thorns on those guys!

You're right, [mention]PlainJane[/mention] - these things have the worst thorns of any plant I have ever seen! When getting ready to move, or re-pot these, I do a "pruning" of the thorns, and snip the tips of the ones I will be most likely to contact!

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:04 pm @friedgreen51 You say it's stem is still green, so I assume that it's not very old? What size is it, and what size pot is it in? I can't remember these things ever dropping even half their leaves - that must have been incredibly dry! Hopefully, it's still salvageable. Check the roots in the pot, to see if it is rootbound; that's how I could tell these needed re-potted - even after soaking, they dry out fast. Mine needed a severe root pruning, but I wouldn't do that with all those leaves gone - you want the roots to help feed it, for the leaves to hopefully start coming back. Maybe just loosen up the roots some, if it's rootbound, and put it in a larger pot; if not rootbound, maybe still re-pot to a larger pot. Good luck!

Thanks. I will pull it out of the pot and check the roots. It is a 10 year old tree. When I said the stem was still green I meant under the bark. The thickest part of the trunk is probably as thick as skinny broom handle.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:15 pm You're right, @PlainJane - these things have the worst thorns of any plant I have ever seen! When getting ready to move, or re-pot these, I do a "pruning" of the thorns, and snip the tips of the ones I will be most likely to contact!

Lol, now I don’t feel bad for snipping the thorns off my lemon and lime trees!

I'm not re-potting, but trimming the older plant - around 21 years old - as it was getting too dense. The other one needs trimming, too, but I left it, so you could see the difference! I'll trim that tomorrow. You can also see a lot of the leaves that I knocked off the one on the left one. The curry and bay plants didn't grow as much, but still have plenty of leaves on them, and I've used a lot of them.
Middle lime tree trimmed, 2-14-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Branches trimmed from the older lime tree, as it was getting too dense. 2-14-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Today I trimmed those Makrut/Kaffir lime trees, that I have trimmed several times through the summer (they had a bunch more new growth, from last time I trimmed them), but they needed a lot of trimming, to ready them for re-potting (might only re-pot the large one, as that's been longer), before bringing them indoors, for the off-season. I probably have to trim a little more, but it started drizzling out there again.
The younger, 11 year old makrut/Kaffir lime tree, trimmed way back, to re-pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The older lime tree, a little over 21 years old, trimmed way back, before re-potting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A lot of trimmed branches from both of the lime trees, prepping them for re-potting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr