hi iv had my orange tree for 1 1/2 years. but in the last three weeks the leaves have started to fall off. i took it out of its pot this morning and the roots crumpled into my hand until there was a fist sized root bundle left. the crumpled root were brown and the ones that are left are white. please help i dnt want to lose this one it was a special gift. what shall i do with it????
if you're keeping it in a pot, is it a bonsai? I am not sure how to care for a potted citrus, so this link may help. http://www.plantingdirections.com/Citrus-Trees.htm the bottom half, is devoted exclusively to potted citrus plants. I hope this helps. White roots usually mean that there is still life there. At least that's what my grandmother always told me. I have found that potted plants choke themselves in their pots. The dead roots deny it space for the new roots to grow in.
The brown roots are dead if they disintegrate, perhaps from under- or over-watering. Repot the plant using a porous, quick draining medium. This could be a regular potting mix amended with bark chips and perlite. Consider pruning back the tree if the mass of healthy roots is small in relation to the top growth.
It's difficult to go into specifics without more details. If you feel the root system that remains is insufficient to support the top growth then you could prune back the top and side growth. The amount to remove is a bit of a judgment call. Perhaps someone with experience in this area can comment.
