Growing citrus in gritty mix in New Mexico?

I have found myself to be the new parent of several citrus trees. This is my first time growing citrus and I may already be at a disadvantage due to my location (Albuquerque) so I want to do things right from the start. Right now I have Meyer lemon, rough lemon, tangerine, Valencia orange, and something called a dwarf venous orange. They are currently in a mix of coco coir, vermiculite, worm castings, and a small amount of basic potting soil (with azomite or glacial rock dust mixed in) that I had on hand and use for all my other plants with great success.

The current mix mentioned above I use for everything including my indoor cacti, succulents, dracaenas and various houseplants, as well as my outdoor tomatoes and peppers with great results. The indoor plants I water from the bottom and the outdoor plants get watered from the top. I've been using this mix for two years or so and all my plants have grown huge and have no issues. Would this mix be acceptable for citrus as long as I stay on top of letting it dry out between waterings like I do for my cacti?

Alternatively...

I have been trying to find the most suitable medium for citrus and keep coming back to Al's gritty mix. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the basic mix is conifer pine fines or reptibark, turface, and chicken grit in equal parts with the addition of foliage pro or a suitable fertilizer each time I water, right? My concern is that this mix will not be adequate in terms of water retention for my dry desert climate even with daily watering. We have hot dry air and hot dry winds that sap moisture from leaves with a fury here and I don't have the option of putting my plants on a drip irrigation system. Has anyone else had success with the gritty mix in a dry desert climate? Would the addition of somthing more water retentive be detrimental to the whole mix or plants?

Right now all the citrus are little babies not much more than a foot tall but I want them to have the best start possible. I have a south facing yard that gets full sun for the most part, there is a 10x2' strip of partial morning shade in one spot because of a tree and around 4-5pm I start to get a little shade against the house but not more than 10x3' along the exterior house wall (gives off heat, good in cold temps bad in hot temps). We get a fair amount of wind, I'm renting so cannot put up a proper wooden fence or mesh bur am trying to grow morning glories up the chainlink to slow the wind a bit. I'm looking into a shade sail or structure at least for the plants to help protect them from the sun and help them conserve moisture this summer.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. My kiddos are very excited with the possibility of citrus in a few years and I don't want to mess this up. Thanks everyone!

Edit: also if anyone knows a good source for the ingredients for the gritty mix please let me know. I typed them into a few online retailers search box with no results.

This message was edited May 24, 2015 8:05 PM

Your concern re water retention is one commonly voiced, and HOW you go about increasing water retention is important to how well the mix CAN perform, but the gritty mix was conceived with the idea it should be adjustable for water retention w/o sacrificing aeration, which in most other soils is virtually mandatory. By changing the 1:1:1 ratio of screened bark: screened Turface MVP or AllSport: screened grit, you can increase or decrease the amount of water the soil holds. EG, by using
3 screened bark
4 screened Turface
2 screened grit,
you retain the aeration/ drainage plants love while increasing water retention significantly. I prefer to keep the volume of the organic fraction (screened bark) of the medium to no more than1/3 of the whole to minimize shrinkage and prevent any chance of structural collapse.

You can use pine or fir bark, ideally IN THE 1/8-1/4" range, and you'll need to scout that up. It might be found as soil conditioner, clay soil conditioner, premium landscape mulch, or a number of other names.

For Turface MVP, try

Helena Chemical Company
Albuquerque
(505) 797-5800

or John Deere Landscapes:

Albuquerque
8601 San Mateo Blvd. Ne
Albuquerque, NM 87113-1687
(505)821-4441
branch45@ewing1.com
Lakeway
4419 Hudson Bend Road
Austin, TX 78734-1643
(512)266-9530
branch163@ewing1.com

Look to elevators or feed stores that sell poultry grit (but not from crushed shellfish). Ask for Gran-I-Grit in grower size (you might consider also getting starter size and mix a little in for more water retention), #2 cherrystone (again, a little #1 size product will increase water retention), or MannaPro poultry grit.

Al