Planter Box for my Cara Cara Orange Tree

I recently purchased my first citrus tree, a Cara Cara orange tree. I Rather than buying a pot, I thought it would be cool to build one from scratch.

I picked up 25ft of 1×4 and 5ft of 1×2 of redwood from my local lumber yard and got to work! This was also my first project with a Mitrebox.. can’t tell if I love or hate them.

I ended up cutting the 1×4 boards into pieces:

• 12 1×4 @ 14 inches long
• 8 1×4 @ 15.25 inches long

Once I had 4 of the 1x4s cut, I could stack them and take the measurement needed for the 1×2 corner spars (right term?).

Once I realized how much effort I had put into the box, I became paranoid that it may walk away from me (I am planning to set it out front of my house). I looped some steel cable around the inner frame, and drilled some holes for the cable to pass through the bottom of box.

After installing the security wire, I drilled a few more holes in the bottom of the box for soil drainage.

It was time to re-pot the tree into the box! I used some citrus tree soil along with some fertilizer. The tree’s name is Eugene (after an eclectic friend of mine who likes Cara Cara oranges).. we’ll see how he does!