Changing from potted to in ground

[Cjpflaumer]

Hello everyone,
First I’d like to introduce myself my name is Curtis I am from the Inland area in Southern California just outside of Riverside.
I am growing Algerian clementine, bearss lime, Mexican lime, W murcott, and tango mandarins, and a Washington Navel Orange.

My question is about this:
Probably around 5 years ago I bought a willits and Newcomb semi dwarf Washington navel orange. I couldn’t ever decide where to plant it and if I ever moved I wanted to be able to take it so I left it potted. I now know that was far less than ideal since I live right near riverside a perfect climate.  It’s in a huge pot probably at least 2 feet high and wide. The tree stayed small (of course). I would like to plant it now that I have several citrus. I’m sure it is severely root bound so can I stimulate some growth on this tree or after this long is it pretty much going to stay this size? I was thinking maybe I could root prune then plant it in the ground. I’m mainly asking, because if it’s going to stay this small maybe I am better off just buying a new tree and starting from there straight in the ground.

I appreciate your help everyone!

[brian]

I planted a bunch of trees that I had growing containers for years into the ground in my greenhouse, and they tripled in size the first year.  I expect yours will get large fast once it is settled into the earth.

[Millet]

Go ahead and plant your tree in the ground.  If taken care of, the tree should do fine.  As the size of the root system grows, the size of the tree will also grow.  Soon you should have a nice producing tree  I am familiar with the Riverside area, home of the famous Washington Navel orange tree that started the California citrus industry.

[kumin]

The timber industry refers to the ability of trees surviving under suboptimal conditions (shading) suddenly being exposed to full sunlight as "release response". Different timber species have varying responses to such release. Some remain in a bonsai - like stunted state for years, even permanently. Others quickly take advantage of the new opportunities and begin to grow vigorously.

I have seen Citrus languish several months adapting to the new conditions, then make very vigorous growth.

A graft that remained dormant 2 months, then quickly grew 5-6 feet and continues to grow.

[Cjpflaumer]

Thank you everyone for your help! I’m really glad to hear you guys think it will be fine.

Should I do anything with the roots when I plant? I’m guessing they are circling around the pot should I at least trim some of those?

[kumin]

If they're flexible, the ends of the roots should be oriented outward from the center of the plant similar to the spokes of a wheel. Somewhat like the outward spread of branches of the top of the plant. A few roots growing in the completely wrong direction may need to have ends clipped where a smaller sub-root points in the correct direction.