I just purchased a Meyer Lemon and a Kaffir Lime growing in 1 gallon pots. Any wisdom on how to keep them alive and growing in z6? I know they'll have to come inside for winter, but potting soil? Clay vs. plastic pots? How the heck to keep spider mites and scale at bay?

TIA!

Celene

10 gal. plastic pot, preferably on a dolly so you can move them more easily. Not fussy about soil, but feed with citrus food. As much sun as you can give them. Mites aren't a huge problem here, but Mealy bugs and scale are. Keep ants off of them, and if you can stay on top, Alcohol wipes or q-tips will kill them. If they get ahead of you there are many pesticides on the market, as well as insecticidal soap that list them. Whatever you use change it every fourth time so they don't build up a resistance. I would avoid any systemic, as these are food and bee crops. I hope you have some south facing windows, or sun room for the winter months.
Good luck!

I have west windows in my spare bedroom, supplemented by gro-lites, it's where I overwinter a couple other plants. Do you think that'll be okay??

I will do my best to keep ahead of the pests. Ugh.

Thank you!

I have no idea how they will do indoors.

You might want to try hydroponic lights. I have a store in my area, Roots hydro organics that sells lights. Critis is a light hungry group of plants but so is bird of paradise and those for me do quite well. I just keep the orange not the white that way it don't outgrow my facities.

Mine are reptile lights, which have thus far worked for me, but I'm getting hydroponic lights, I'm swapping two 48" fixtures for baked goods.

Celene, I have switched from T-8 lights to T-5H lights. These T-5H lights (6 tubes/fixture) produce extremely bright light, about 4X what the T-8 fixtures produced. They are so bright that I had to move them a minimum of 2' away from my cattleya orchids, and cattleya love bright light. The lights were actually producing "sunburn" on some of my cattleya! They will/should give you plenty of lumens to keep your citrus going.

They ones I'm bartering are T-5's. Any thoughts on LED? Gesneriads do well, and I've had some succulents do pretty well, but citrus need a lot of sun.

LED's are very expensive and if they are low wattage ones (the vast majority), they simply don't produce many lumens. You can purchase LED fixtures made for commercial greenhouse growing, but they run into the hundreds and some into the thousands of dollars. I have been disappointed in both the lumen output and the longevity of my LED's.

Oh, by the way. The T-5's, though producing more lumens than a comparative T-8, is nowhere near as strong as the T-5H tubes. Try to find those high intensity tubes. The fixture will be the same (I think that's right).

Thank you!

I guess I shouldn't complain about the Florida sun (and heat) again. My Meyer lemon tree is looking healthy and there's a lot of fruit growing. The key lime and Persian lime (in two separate huge pots) are also doing well.

I wish I lived in a warmer climate.

Tell me about it!