Brown meyer lemon

10 years ago

Hello I am new to this but I am trying an organic route to growing my own food. I started with an improved meyer lemon tree about 2 months ago. It looks beautiful, so many flowers and one small green lemon. It obviously took a while to ripen but when it started to turn yellow, it also started to develop brown spots on it, almost overnight. The leaves look beautiful, it gets full sun about 6 hours a day, I water it, use espoma organic citrus tone fertilizer with fafard organic soil. I did notice some purple aphid looking bugs and small flying gnat looking bugs in the soil about 2 weeks ago. I purchased some ladybugs and they hung around for a few days, ate the aphids, then left. The gnats are still here. About 2 days after the ladybugs left there was a fungus like stuff growing on the side of the pot. Everything I saw it did not look like ladybug eggs in te slightest, it wasn't even on the leaves. I removed it all (i think) and i haven't seen it since. Are they the cause of the lemon turning brown or was it just a fluke lemon? What else can I do to get rid of the gnats? Any information is helpful. Thanks!!!

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Comments (3)

lgteacher
10 years ago
The plant would do better with more sun. Can you move it? You also may be overwatering. Soil gnats usually indicate too much water. Citrus trees drop immature fruit because they have many more blossoms than the tree can bring to maturity, so it's not unusual to see some on the ground - it's called June drop. Aphids produce a sticky substance that is an ideal growing medium for sooty mold. If those black spots can be rubbed off, they're probably sooty mold. You tree is just a baby and might not produce fruit for a while. Some nurseries to things to artificially help the tree to produce a few fruit because they sell better. The fruit falls off later. If the leaves look healthy, don't worry.
johnmerr
10 years ago
That is not a ripening lemon; it is an aborted lemon that will turn yellow and then black, if it does not fall off first.

The fertilizer you are using is the best I know for those who want to stay organic.
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angelbb757
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks so much for the info guys! Lgteacher- I can but the other side of my house brings the late afternoon sun which is less amount of time and the sun is much hotter. We will be moving soon so hopefully I can find a place at the new house that will be perfect for it. But I do agree with the dropping because the tree is small for the amount of blooms it has. I actually tried to find one at our nursery without lemons because I read it is better to buy one without any. I didn't notice t until I got home. Johnmerr- thanks for the confirmation about the fertilizer! i was hoping i was using good stuff. I will let it be and not worry about it because it really is a beautiful tree. Thanks again!!!

Brown meyer lemon

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lgteacher

johnmerr

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angelbb757
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Brown meyer lemon

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lgteacher

johnmerr

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