We decided to get an indoor tree about a year ago after seeing some really lovely ones on Pinterest. But we waited until this summer to buy one in order to give it the best chance of surviving.
If you missed our previous discussion about plants, check out episode 7 and episode 8.
I got to see Tovah Martin, one of my plant heroes, speak at the New York Botanical Garden. Her books The Indestructible Houseplant and The Unexpected Houseplant were the first to make me feel like I could keep plants alive.
In preparation for our own tree, we also listened to the Bloom and Grow Radio episode with MIGardener about indoor citrus. Most of our info about growing citrus indoors came from this conversation.
MIGardener also has a YouTube channel with an instructional video about growing indoor citrus, as well as a specific episode about leaf drop.
Maria of Bloom and Grow Radio recommended Via Citrus as a source for Florida citrus trees. We chose their key lime tree, which came in a box with two-day shipping.
This is our living room grow light setup. It includes this lamp from Target, this full-spectrum CFL lightbulb, and this timer.
Our bedroom grow light setup is the same bulb and timer with this Urban Outfitters cord kit. We plan to find a shade for it at either a thrift store or flea market to make it a focal point, but for now we’re working with the exposed lightbulb to keep the tree alive.
We also used the cactus soil and perlite we already have to keep things low maintenance.
Donnie bought Trash Can fertilizer for his garden because I’d seen it on Instagram, so I also used it in the citrus pot. We may try EcoScraps fertilizer—which MIGardener recommended—in the future. Both are made from food scraps.
This is what the tree looks like now, after dropping all its leaves from transition stress and maybe overwatering.
Apartment 26 Podcast 
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