Valencia orange

Grapefruit

You have leaf miners in your orange and grapefruit leaves. They tunnel just below the outer layer of cells so the white dry film you see is the outer layer of your leaves. There is a lot of discussion about identification and control of leaf miners here....do a quick search and you will find more than you ever wanted to know abouyt leaf miner control. Someone else may be able to help you with your leafless tree.

Not sure why your poor Meyer lemon is failing. How frequently are you watering? Are these in containers, raised beds? Can't quite tell by the photos. I think you need to look at your watering and see if your trees are too dry or too wet. I would say you're looking at severe transplant shock for your Meyer lemon, and if you water appropriately, and fertilize, you may get it to spring back to life. Prune out any dead wood, as it can be a source for disease.

Patty S.

My sprinklers conenon 4 days a week for 5 minutes each section. These trees are in wooden pots/crates. I water them with the hose real good atleast once a week pmus whatever they get from sprinklers

Joe, these trees aren't getting hit with sprinkers are they? That will spell eventual death for citrus trees. They don't like their trunks being constantly wet. You would want them to be on drips, and not overhead sprinklers. Also, check to make sure they're staying moist and not drying out. I can't imagine they would be, getting watered that much. BUT, 5 mins. 4 times a week may just be doing some surface watering, and not getting all the way down. Find out how good a job your watering is actually doing. Are you also fertilizing? You'll want to fertilize, and probably more frequently than I would recommend with in-ground citrus in our area. I fertilize my container citrus about once a month with liquid fertilizer and use a time release product as well.

Patty S.

As a matter of fact the do get hit with sprinkler water. Now that i know that may be the problem ill try and position them to where they wont get hit. As for watering, i stuck a 3ft stick all the way to the bottom and its nice and wet all the way down. Wondering if i should use a 1/2 gallon jug to protect the trunk. Thoughts? Thanks for the help.

Joey

So i went in today and moved the meyer onto the patio. I pulled up the tree and looked at the root ball and i will include pics with this lost. The roots were not spreading any where. Looked the same as when i initally planted it. Soaked the rootball in a bucket for about 10 minutes. While doing that i dug iut 3/4 of the old soil and replaced it one my local nursery dude recommended. Again photos of soil and fertilizer will be attached. Please chime in and help me out. Thanks

Rootball

What the tree looks like now

Another

Soil from nursery

Another

Fertilizer

Back

Little better

Big rootball and no top......looks pretty serious to me.....Totally out of balance.
Did leaf drop start from the bottom and work its way up? Thats something i noticed every time i killed a citrus from over watering.if its too wet...the roots dont seem to grow in a hurry.
Personally.I would buy another tree and start again(i did that many times with container grown trees!....kept killing them)........Looks like they have been constantly wet in rootball and surrounding area.....were they getting much sun?.......ideally 8 hours plus a day.
Looks like too much water...lack of sun.....if your soil doesnt drain (a raised bed is good) but its a lot harder to kill a tree like that in the ground....than it is...in a pot.
You could try this if you must
1.tease out the outer inch of rootball all around....to encourage roots to search out.....prune away any yukky looking roots but no need to disturb roots too much.
2.Citrus tend to spread their roots near the surface...so dont plant the tree deep.
3.Prune off any dead/black wood as suggested.
4..Dig a hole not much bigger than rootball.
5.Amend surrounding soil with some perlite or pummice to improve drainage.
6..Water in with weak seasol(seaweed) solution to boost roots.
Do not add any fert to the hole or compost.......just leave it alone........we have citrus in the ground in perth WA and the soil is almost pure sand.....nobody waters them and summer temps reach 42C,,,so they spread their roots out(these are established trees i am talking about mind but you get my drift).....Dont give them such an easy passage to water.......If your roots are happy...then the top will show you....without good roots.....you have nothing......be patient.....those branches are green...so its still alive...If and when the tree recovers and you see some new growth...sprinkle some fert on surface and not close to trunk....about 30 cm out from trunk is good.......use half strength of what it suggests on packet......no need to mix into soil.....water in and leave it alone....any time it rains it gets fed...leaf miners= I have no experience of those sorry.......Good luck.
p.s that fert is pretty low in Potassium....seeing as its nearly a pot specimen.......a slow release fert like osmocote with an NPK as close as possible to 5.1.3 plus trace elements would be a good start when new growth comes....they do a dedicated one for citrus with added magnesium too(half strength to start)

This post was edited by laidbackdood on Wed, Sep 25, 13 at 22:33