Huntro: I think watering thoroughly at least once a week is your problem. Yellowing leaves, followed by leaf drop, is fairly typical of overwatering. Try watering only when you are certain the soil in your pot has dried out; that may be a period of two weeks, depending on your soil. Citrus requires less water than most other fruits and potted plants, and it is easy to rot citrus roots in waterlogged soil. I also believe it is good practice to re-pot plants like Meyer Lemon about every third year, just on general principles. Fresh soil that drains well and a little root pruning should help to re-invigorate your plant, and that is what I would do with it now, just in case there is some life left in the roots. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I bonsai Plants, and currently have a Tangerine * and an Avocado no bigger then a small dog* in my care. My tengerine needs a good root pruning. Ya thats what I said a root pruning. As long as the Branches to not exceed more then half of the root ball, then your making a very healthy plant. This will back up any statement I plan on saying, Look up the art of the Bonsai. Which involves a lot of pruning roots and branches even citrus trees. In containers it is often that the soil gets compacted, this causes the little issue I am having, ware its winter and it needs it roots trimmed. * I hate using garbage bag in doors and it just gets messy* the act of simply loosening the soil, helps a lot, since containers do not have earth worms to keep it nice and airy. however in instances when in a pot, your roots tend to out grow the leafy part causing well the loss of leaves. Roots need energy to stay alive as well. If you have to much of a Leafy top to your tree, you loos leaves again, resulting in again your's and mines issue. However mine is simply due to it being that time for a root pruning, as my roots have out grown there leaf top. That and its pretty compacted in there..... I should probably changed the soil all together, but its winter ware I am at in winter potting soil is a rare find.

Your tree will take it's time coming back after who knows what it went through, or will start putting on new growth as soon as tomorrow. I don't understand why you waited this long to put your tree outside? Why may I ask you? Mines just limp along in the dead of winter and barely hang on by spring, and would drop all their leaves of I waited this long. I would rather give them tons of sunlight and cooler temps, what I mean is no lower than the low 40's.Less stress, believe me on my trees and myself. f I held them hostage inside longer than 5 months they would do poorly, unless of course if mine were in warmth and full sun in a greenhouse. Did you ever tell us where you live? What zone you are? It's also hard to be positive with you in saying with confidence that it will do fine when no one knows or will ever know exactly the care you give it all year long, especially in doors. What we can say is that a good watering regimen, a good quality mix and a good quality fertilizer with the right pH will do wonders for any citrus grower and their potted trees) Mike)

Hi all. I take care of a university biology department's collection of plants here in Connecticut and have grown citrus at home for over forty years. My take on the above issues follows. First, my Meyer lemons that get a good dose of cold before I move them inside (this year around Halloween) often drop many of their leaves and then soon break out into the same kind of flowering cycle seen on the second plant. They are more prone to dropping most of their leaves in November than any of the other citrus I care for. Next, when the tip of a branch begins to die back as in the photo, you should use a sharp pair of secateurs (sterilized in bleach solution) and prune it back to green wood just above a leaf node ASAP. Leaving the dying tip is only causing more tissue to die. Next, I think both the plant that shed all its leaves in a week and the one that consists of just a single stem are in pots that are much too large for them, especially given that they are in regular potting soil and seem to be in cool home environments without a great deal of sunlight. The single-stemmed plant would probably be quite happy in a five inch diameter pot. Over-potting makes the cooler conditions the plants encounter in the fall and indoors more likely to cause root rot which can kill a citrus tree quite quickly (I've done it to a couple of my own trees: they drowned). The test I'd do is to get them out of their pots and see if there are a decent number of roots spreading through most of the soil. If a plant that has been in a container for several months is lifted from the pot and when this is done large gobs of soil simply fall away, that's a good reason to put the plant into a smaller container. There's no good rule for this, but I'll note that most of my older citrus (15 to 30 years old) are in containers that are about 1/3 as high and 1/3 as wide as the plants. A typical example: I have a Key lime in an 11 inch wide and 10 inch tall pot (with soil to within three inches of the top and an inch of bark chips on top of that). The Key Lime has a 1 inch diameter trunk at the base and is roughly 2.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. Soil considerations. At home, I long used regular brands of potting soil picked up at Home Depot (non-moisture control) with success for decades but then had a bad experience when I used a more expensive brand from a garden center that had too much ability to hold water--the bottom of two pots turned to mud. In the aftermath of that experience, I researched my options. For what it is worth, I've adopted the following mix at the greenhouse: 1/2 Al's Gritty Mix plus 1/2 ProMix BX. Al's Gritty Mix consists of three ingredients 1/3 Turface (the stuff used on baseball infields), 1/3 Grani-grit (rough granite chips for chickens to grind their food in their gizzards), and 1/3 fine bark mulch. I do not sift or sieve any of these things but simply pull out any overly large bits of wood from the bark mulch or mix if I see them. I found that Al's mix alone drained and dried out far too quickly in the greenhouse. You can obviously vary the amounts or omit one of the Al's ingredients and still have a much better mix than what you'll buy at Home Depot. A cactus might get 1/3 ProMix BX and 2/3s Al's, etc. I use the 1/2 and 1/2 mix for most succulents and cacti, including Desert Roses. Oh, and I've found that covering the soil surface with larger bark chips is a great way to reduce the fungus gnat population, but that problem is also helped by shifting to a mix that has less peat in it or by NOT repotting your plants just prior to bringing them in for the winter (the fungus gnats are particularly attracted to new potting soil with its fresh peat).