Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees

14 years ago

We inherited a Meyer lemon tree and an Orange tree over a year ago. Before we took over, we knew they survived a summer without much water. Both trees seem to have lost half their leaves and the other half turned yellow. Since we took over, the situation had not improved or may be worsen. We asked the locally nursery and they said it might be caused by not deep watering them. So we followed the deep watering instruction for a year and it stayed the same. This year, the orange production reduced by 90% (3-4) oranges. Lemon is about the same as last year, probably ~10. However, they definitely seem struggling..please help!!!

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Comments (8)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years ago
Have you been fertilizing them? Citrus need regular fertilizer, about three times a year if in the ground and monthly if in a container. Citrus labeled fertilizer is available from garden centers where you live. Your trees should have dark green leaves if properly fed. Al
Axel
14 years ago
If your trees are loosing leaves now that it's been raining, then it's obviously not lack of water. You need to post a lot more details, such as your location, sunset zone, and type of soil.

Citrus fertilizer is generally a poor choice, nowadays, the common wisdom is to fertilize citrus with rhododendron acid plant fertilizer. It works like a charm in revitalizing citrus.
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I believe they are grafted. The trees look super healthy. Had a problem about 4 months ago with scale but it's been taken care of and the trees really look good. Is it possible that the fertilizer is working to promote new growth - which is abundent, instead of promoting fruit growth and if so, is there anything I can do? This tree is like my third child, it gets so much attention :)
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Amber, check with your local ag agent, or one of the well respected citrus tree growers/nurseries in your area, Maybe not the person you bought the trees from, as their knowledge sounds a little wanting. New citrus don't need a lot of fertilizer the first year, but after that year, you should start fertilizing in the early spring (after any chance of frosty temps have passed), then 4 applications during your growing season, which would be roughly February through Sept/early Oct. The spots - not sure, can't really see them up closely enough. Doesn't look like an insect. Looks more fungal in nature to me, which I find odd since you're in such a dry area of the country. The damage to the leaves in the first photo could be from snails, earwigs or other leaf-eating bugs. I try not to treat (except for snails, which I use an iron phosphate snail bait versus a metaldehyde snail bait, as metaldehyde is very poisonous to dogs, and dogs are attracted to it. No so for iron phosphate snail bait.) You can also use Sluggo Plus, which is iron phosphate and spinosad, which will kill sails, slugs and earwigs. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: UC IPM - Managing Pests in the Garden: Citrus
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Ed, this is what I would do... You have a few options. Th first option is what I would do if the mix was too compacted and suffocating the roots. If you think it will get by, then options two and three would work fine. I would remove that tree from that soil into a better draining mix asap if compacted. I would use clay, a light colored ceramic or plastic pot. I would use a wooden dowel that checks for moisture deep into the root zone for all options. I would stick that tree in an area where it gets part sun until it gets use to its repot, probably into the shade. Summer time in a very hot area is the worst time to transplant anything, especially bareroot, but if it must be done, then it must be done. Once you use a pot that repels the hot sun rays and your tree has acclimated to a repotting, then your tree will enjoy full sun no matter where it sits... Although as Ken said, make sure the roots cool off at night in order to do proper photosynthes... Roots must cool at night and never over heat. They must have oxygen just as we do in a mix that allows that. Your second option? You could stick that plant, pot and all, into a bigger pot full of mulch that repels the hot sun rays..The mulch or other soil mix will suck the moisture from that pot away from the bottom encouraging it to dry down better and quicker.. This will prevent a 'pwt' in your container and will encourage your roots to stay cool until your repot come next spring. It will also help your mix to dry out and stay evenly moist. You should also flush the mix out at least once a month of accumilated salts with fresh water until you can change it in the spring. Option three...Use the wicking method after you have flushed your mix out... ****Use option one for sure if you feel that your mix is just too dense and compacted. MIke
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Theres a chance its spider mites, if so mix a spoon of oil, a tiny drop of dishwash liquid and a litre of water, spray the leaves and stems top and bottom (try not to get on the soil to prevent it getting too wet) , it should kill any spidermites, if there there they are so small you probably wont see them, like tiny specks of dust on the leaves normaly, you can usualy see red on a tissue if you wipe the bottom of the leaves, but not always If you can get neem oil , use a spoon of that in the mix and then it will kill most pests as well. The tips of the leaves look (where they are brown) possibly like a build up of salts from fertiliser or the water, if so you can sort this by a spoon of white vinegar in the next watering, its not a real problem though, bt worth doing The fertiliser realy needs to be a citrus one, as they need a high level of nutrients, and unlike most plants they need a wide range of minor elements to keep them happy, fertilising over the winter if its not outdoors is a good idea (just les often due to less water use) , the fertiliser will be used to build the plant up to flower next year I would have thought they should have flowered, this can be down to fertiliser, but more often due to lack of cold hours in the winter, they need a certain number of hours of winter to make them flower next year, about 600 to 800 for most citrus, you can do without this by shocking the plant by letting it dry out for a long time, but its best to let them have cold hours, below about 16 deg C, but not too cold to kill the plant!
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figara
14 years ago
Are yours in containers?
Same thing happened with my container lemon. I was watering too often and too less. I started to water it once a week very good until I see no more bubble coming out and I fertilized it about once a month with citrus fertilizer( I did not know about rhododendron fertilizer) and know I have green leaves and lemons like I never had before.
Good Luck
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years ago
Except for one or two brands all citrus labeled fertilizer will have all the minors listed on the bag citrus requires for healthy growth. It is not practical to provide these from another source. Those brands not listing minors on the bag SAY they do contain them. I prefer to buy the brands with the complete list of contents on the bag. Al
number2
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you everyone for the questions and advice!! Both trees are in my backyard, not in containers but in this I would call a raised bed?! The previous owner loves gardening so I think the orange tree probably got quite a few years in it while the lemon looks pretty young to me. Since I took over a year or two ago, I fertilized about twice a year with those MiracleGrow sticks for citrus. The trees receive a lot of pine needles from several huge pine trees on a slope behind the orange tree, however, I have not tested the soil PH. I'm in zone 10 and my yard unfortunately is facing northwest which I believe resulted in less sunlight and colder temperature in the winter. Below I've posted some pics of the trees:

Here is a link that might be useful: Meyer and Lemon Trees
number2
Original Author
14 years ago
Oh I looked up more info about the zoning: I'm in USDA zone 9a-10a, Sunset zone 16, Climate Zone 3 (not sure what this is).
ashleysf
14 years ago
If you are putting your citrus on an automatic watering system (looks like it from your pictures), stop that and water deeply once a week. Citrus do not like wet feet and constant watering. And also, switch from using the fertilizer spikes and use either a good citrus fertilizer or azalea fertilizer. And application of iron and epsom salts once or twice a year is a good idea.
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years ago
Your pictures show trees starving to death. The leaves are not supposed to be yellow. They should be a dark green. Citrus fertilizer has at least 3 times the nitrogen as other ingredients. Your trees only have about half as many leaves as they should have. For the next three months I would fertilize both trees monthly with about a half cup of a good granular citrus fertilizer, watering it in. You should see a lot of new foliage growth as well as the leaves turning green by the end of the three months. From your pictures I can not tell if your trees are getting the full sun they prefer. Al

Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees

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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9

Axel

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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9

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