Please help my Meyer lemon

9 years ago

Hi everyone,

I desperately need help figuring out what I'm doing wrong. A few weeks ago, I noticed a few random yellowish spots on the tops of my tree's leaves. On the bottom of the leaves there were some rough brown-ish patches. I posted a pic of them on this forum and it was suggested that my tree had spider mites.
I immediately moved my tree outside, hosed it down, and then when it dried, treated it with a mix of Neem oil, rosemary oil, and Dyna Gro Pro-tek. I repeated the Neem oil treatment every 3-4 days for about two weeks.

It's been three weeks and it's getting worse!! :(

I've scoped the whole tree with 10x and 20x loupes and can't find any mites, but the spotting is getting worse. A couple leaves have turned completely yellow and brown at the base and fallen off. They almost look like they have dark brown bruises right before they fall off.

Can anyone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?

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Comments (6)

KHershey
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's the rough brown-ish patches on the bottoms of the leaves. Also, the spots only seem to be on the older dark green leaves. I can't see any spots on the new growth.
Please help!
poncirusguy6b452xx
9 years ago
When you ask a question on the garden web by posting a new thread as you did, it will stay at the top until someone responds. When you add another picture in the manor you did the web register that the question has been answered and it drifts on down. I am bringing it back to the top as I don't know what is wrong
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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
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johnmerr
9 years ago
Looks like mites. If you have a 10x loupe, check it with that; if you don't, buy one because a lot of things that attack citrus cannot be seen without it. If it is mites, you can do a search here for citrus mites treatment, and you should find lots of suggestions. I could tell you what I use; but if you don't have a pest applicator license, you likely cannot get it.
KHershey
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Poncirusguy! I'm new to the forum and still learning.

Johnmerr, I do have a 10x and 20x loupe. I have been over almost every leaf and stem on this tree and can't find any mites or webs. To be safe, I've done a Neem oil/rosemary oil/Protek spray treatment every three days for 2+ weeks. I've moved it outside, and tried hosing it down, and it just seems to be getting worse. :(

In my very VERY humble opinion (I'm definitely not an expert), it doesn't look like mite damage when the sun isn't shining behind it. The transparent spots have a yellowish appearance, and there isn't the "flattened" dry look of sucked-out mesophyll. The whole leaf is thick and glossy- yellow spots and all.

It doesn't seem to be happening on any of the new growth, just the older, dark green leaves. I'm starting to notice stress drop on the more heavily spotted leaves. Once the spotting reaches the base of the leaves, they're detaching at the base of the leaf, leaving the petiole attached to the branch. :( By that time, the leaf usually looks largely yellowish through the midrib toward the base, with smaller mottled darker green spots throughout the yellow.

I am definitely not ruling out spider mites, but I'm kind of at my wits end. If it is spider mites, then the more organic treatments aren't working, what to try next? My husband has a pesticide applicators license, if it comes to that. Desperate times call for desperate measures, haha. :)

Could it be oedema or a fungal infection? Just brainstorming and wondering what to rule out before I start spraying the crap out of it with stronger stuff.

Thanks for your time and info!
KHershey
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to update on my Meyer lemon with leaf spots. When none of the spider mite treatments were working, I decided to send in several leaf samples to the local university Plant and Insect Diagnostic Lab. Based on their findings, there is no insect or fungal damage to the leaf. According to their findings: the the leaf spots are burst cells in the mesophyll of the leaf caused by oedema. My tree doesn't have good enough drainage in the Miracle Grow Cactus Mix it was in and was getting too much water. Will be re-potting to a soil-less mix ASAP. :S
Thanks everyone for the time and advice! Hope this helps someone in the future.
johnmerr
9 years ago
Thanks for the follow-up; that's how we all learn here.

John

Please help my Meyer lemon

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