Had to cage my Meyer Lemon Tree
puglvr1
10 years ago
Something ate about 80% of my leaves last year around this time...this year I noticed they were back and starting to eat them again...Had to put a fencing/cage around it or I'm afraid I'm not going to have any lemons again...its bad enough the CLMs ravished my new growths once the new growths started. I didn't want them to eat the flowers too...any idea what might be eating my Lemon tree leaves...Deer?
Here's a picture of the leaves they ate last year...
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Comments (11)
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
10 years agoRelated Discussions
I need help with my Meyer Lemon tree!
Comments (2)Welcome Emily and Hello John! Emily, first and utmost, where do you live? When can you put your tree outdoors? That tree is small enough to wipe every leaf off with warm milk and water often. If it can't be oudoors for a while, I would watch your watering closly as John says. I must say it looks like it is in a great mix. Is that the 5.1.1 mix many here use? Mostly bark? Very porous? That was a great catch on your part, finding the mites. Most would not be aware of this factor so my hats off to you for controlling it. I would make sure it gets lots of sunlight at this point. even if it should drop all the leaves, at least the roots will stay strong and still push new growth accustomed to new light levels. I have many times actually plucked every leaf off just to have the tree come back bushier than ever. They are more resilient than one might think. I would of held back on fertilizing after an attack as so, because you don't want to encourage new growth in your warm , dry conditions unless you can figure a way to discourage mites from coming back to eat the fresh foiliage about to grow with 'constant' air movement aimed to blow towards under the leaves. Never shut your fan off and see if you can use a small table one with low speed. If I have had a mite infestation,I would actually snip of all the new growth until I can almost put them outside to be on the safe side from stragglers then treat and treat all summer so I don't bring them in the following fall. I always make sure the environment for mines are just right to reduce mites infestation possibilities. For instance. >If they are indoors, in my house, in a sunny window, I like to keep the room very cool with fans and moisture in which mites or any pests detest. >For those in the greenhouse, I fertilize regularly for new 'strong' growth along with moist air, and air that is constanly being moved my fans. I am not worried about spindly growth in this case or tender desirable leaves because they are getting all day sun and grow tougher. In there, I deliberately let temps drop to the 50's at night though again which mites despise. >At work, where conditions are very dry, I constantly wipe the leaves off those with warm milk and water, and shower them once in a while to keep the leaves clean. Keeping your tree in a well draining mix, in a full sunny south facing window, leaves clean, fertilizing very lightly to discouarge fresh tender foliage until you are ceratin you have no mites, will help your tree make a full recovery in time for outdoors. Please, don't fret if those leaves fall off, since many citrus shed leaves anyway for various reasons. As long as you are not loosing branches due to root issues caused by over or under watering or a poor soil mixture, it will come back strong once it sees the great outdoors if not sooner:-) Mike...See MoreWOndering if 1 of my Meyer Lemon Trees in not a Meyer afterall?
Comments (12)Sorry I could not get sooner to thank you all for posting so far, but I had some internet connection problems. All seems ok though now! Thanks for sharing all of your opinions and even pictures!!!! Thank you Mike for the congrats! This year is my first pretty good year getting fruit on most of my trees, some for the first time. I had given them a plant light last year, along with a new fertilizer I found this spring, and that seemed to help. I still need to get a better light for them now that they are inside. I started a post a month of so ago, and got a lot of helpful info from you all (thanks!). I am just deciding whether I am going to keep them upstairs in the living area where they have always been when I bring them in every winter, or transport them down to the basement. If I do basement, I would go HID, but if I stay upstairs, the HID would be too much, so I would just need something to supplement. Even the cheapy GE plant spot light I got last year helped well compared to just window light, so I am sure if I moved up to something a little better, I will be able to keep my leaves, flowers, and fruit attached for the whole winter season. ANyway, so I am finally getting good fruit to grow after all these years of waiting and learning how to keep them happy while indoors for the winter. (oh, and another MAJOR thing I learned from here that helped was how to make good REAL container mixes for citrus). Although I did not think of this before until mksmth said so and mksmth is right, that the flowers are all white so far. I will check again over the next few days as they get bigger. A few should open up soon. I guess the last test will be tasting it. But I feel so happy that the tree got fruit for the first time, that I am waiting till the last possible moment to pick them because I am enjoying just seeing them on the tree finally! I am also wondering what would be the correct thing to make with the first lemons. I would like to make something special with them just because they are special. Any suggestions? LOL! I will keep this updated as the blooms get bigger. THanks again for all of the help! Christy...See MoreMy New Meyer Lemon Tree
Comments (8)He took off the smaller pot it was in and set into a bed of potting soil in the big pot. I had some Expert Plant Food the one that is blue and you mix with water. After he put it in the larger pot, I put about a quart of the Expert Plant Food mixture. I thought that it would give it a boost to continue to grow. It has not dried out, I would water about every 2 days. But recently, it has been heavy raining a lot like once or twice a week. I just put the Expert Plant Food just that one time about March. I haven't checked to see if the bottom is too wet. If it is, do I have my husband drill more holes for drainage? I don't know how to check for PH, . My husband put a layer of red mulch, It is like bark.. Do I take it off? I hope I have given you some information and also sending pictures to see if that helps. We have had this tree about 2 months. The little lemons are not shriveled, they are nice and firm and it's flowering again. Thank you for your help and advice. I never had any fruit trees nor lemon trees, so I have been leaning on the help and advice in the websites. I hope that all these pictures help. Thank you again for your time and advice...Vickie...See MoreMy nurseryman says 125 watt CFL is fine for Meyer lemon tree ,houzz sa
Comments (1)What does this have to do with "125 watt CFL"?...See Moremeyermike_1micha
10 years ago
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
10 years agopuglvr1
10 years agopuglvr1
10 years agoWanted to update this thread...FINALLY after several years of very few to sometimes NO fruits at all I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the long dark tunnel...the tree has bloomed at least twice since Feb. and I'm seeing more lemons that this tree has ever given me so far...growing slowly but surely.
johnmerr
10 years agomeyermike_1micha
10 years ago
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years agopuglvr1
10 years ago
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