Absolutley ! Mine have been in and out for the past 3 weeks, way before my Magnolia opened up and it is still just starting to. It was 38 degrees last night which tells you that I still get very cold temps. I would put your tree out at day, and bring it in at night if you know temps are going to be below the 50's at night, until you get your tree acclimated to the outdoors for the next couple of weeks. I would wash all those leaves off, take no chances, since no one can ever be sure you do not have mites excpet you yourself, unless you examine the leaves as I suggested and even then you could miss them. But to me, that is a classic sign of mite damage since I am very familiar with these critters and how they affect my trees, just like yours. Your leaves also look speckled which is another sign. This is what I have learned from my trees over the years. Too much water being held in the soil causes leaves to YELLOW, first symptom, and then drop. It seems to me you are loosing green leaves, no? You can loose green leaves that easily fall taht are fully green and hydrated, NOT DEHYDRATED from the leaf sten, where it meets with leaf and or with the trunk, if your leaves suffered a shock from a lack of water beyond wilt. If the leaves to your tree are slowly loosing firmness, to the point when you bend them and they do not snap, then your roots are not taking up moisture over time and sometimes they will be hard to pull off of trunk. This is due to the inability of your tree to take up moisture either from poor temps, salts in your mix, extremely poor soil, rotted roots and so on. Sucking pests can also cause render citrus leaves not rigid. Poor root function can cause leaf distortion as can pests, extreme change in enviroment, too much fertilizer, too much of a certain nutrient and not enough, ect.. My first form of action would be to put it outside, check for pest and treat as if you have them if you can't, and look at the root zone as suggested my Silica. Good luck and please don't wait..:-) If your branches and trunk are still green, then you have a great chance of keeping those trees alive if you try some of our suggestions here. I have a tree that has been bare since last fall, but still fully alive. Mike

Looks like spider mites; you won't see them without a good magnifying glass. A good wash outside or in the shower will go a long way to getting rid of them. My advice... lose the fertilizer spikes and replace with a good soluble citrus fertilizer applied 3-4 times per year according to the label. Your tree looks to be a little underfed; and unhealthy trees are more susceptible to spider mites. I would also get a good foliar fert. and give your tree an application of that about every 15 days; I like Bayer Bayfolan Forte; lots of container growers here use Foliage Pro... there are others. Your tree looks a bit leggy; I am guessing it gets less light than it would like.

Sean, as long as your Vigoro has micronutrients, that's fine, but I would also hit it with a foliar application of Grow More Citrus Growers Blend. It is something you want in your "citrus arsenal" here in S. California. With all the heavy, cold rains we've experienced in the last 2 years, you're going to run into the same issue I have with citrus in the ground (my soil is mainly DG here in N. San Diego county near the coast): a leaching of micronutrients, especially magnesium. So, start with the Vigoro, but do make a foliar app with some micronutrients. You'll see the difference, promise :-) And Tim's right, no pruning for now. Wait until you obviously need to do some MINOR shaping. Remember, with citrus, pruning equals no fruit. Citrus produce fruit at the tips of their branches, so you're cutting off your next fruit crop when your prune! And Tim's advice about removing suckers is right on. Just break them off if they're soft. If they've hardened off, trim close to the rootstock. Our water isn't too alkaline here in San Diego county - about 7 to 7.6. Fine for citrus. But, for your little guy, acidifying the water with some vinegar and pouring it over the fertilizer may help prevent the micronutrients from getting locked out due to the alkalinity. You guy needs a bit of a rescue. Tim's advice is good. Once recovered, you probably won't need to acidify your water. You can also achieve this with your foliar application - acidifying the water you use to dissolve your Growers Blend in. When you pick up your moisture meter, pick up a decent pH meter (don't buy the cheapest one). It's worth having these in your gardening tools. I've had both my moisture meter and my pH meter for many years. Great tools to have! Patty S.

Please post pictures, and a good description of size and whatever else you see on the critters. Among the suspects common on citrus are aphids, scale & whitefly.