Problems with a Tahitian Lime

20 years ago

Hi, I was wondering if some could tell me what is wrong with my Tahitian Lime. I have recently planted a citrus garden consisting of the lime above, a Lemonade tree, Eureka lemon and a Emperor mandarin. All seem to be doing well, the Eureka lemon and the lime have put the most growth on in the 3 months that they have been in. Sounds good so far, BUT the new growth on the lime seems to be limp and the leaves are curling. The rest of the tree looks as health as but all the new growth is where the problem is. The leaves are curling up to form a U shape and are green. All the bed were prepared the same. A slow release fertiliser was mixed in at planting. They receive 16lt of water every 3 days from drip line. Have mulch and just this week have been given a mix of Seasol and Powerfeed. When the soil was preped I mixed in a 10lt of cow manure. They have a wind break and are in full sun. We have been experiencing very hot weather lately. Thats about all I can tell you. So if someone can help it would be great!

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Comments (9)

Raymondo
20 years ago
No expert on citrus, but limp growth could be just water shoots. These are very soft shoots that I prune off. Citrus should put on an autumn growth spurt too. Sounds to me like you've done a great preparation job and they get well looked after. My advice would be to prune the water shoots, mulch heavily, give them some chook poo early autumn, and forget 'em.
sarah_may
20 years ago
I agree with Ray, so long as the rest of the tree is healthy don't worry too much, the new growth may just be sensitive. I'm sure from such an accurate description that if there was anything else, such as leef miner, that you'd have noticed it.
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Pale leaves may indicate a deficiency of nitrogen, and/or minerals such as iron, zinc, manganese, or magnesium. Usually, with a mineral deficiency, rather than lack of nitrogen, you will see the veins of the leaf are a darker green than area between the veins. You should probably check with a local nursery or gardening expert to see which minerals are usually needed in AU. You might experiment with a high-nitrogen soluble fertilizer, or blood meal or fish emulsion. You can also try foliar feeding the minerals (this may work more quickly than putting them in the soil). For the long term, you should scrutinize the label of the fertilizer you are using. It should be high in nitrogen, and also have the minerals (sometimes called micronutrients). It is normal for citrus to require more of these nutrients than other plants. Regarding the nitrogen levels of your fertilizer, beware of advice from Americans as we measure fertilizer ratios differently than the metric world does.
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To me it looks like at some point the soil was let to get dry to the point of severe wilting of the leaves. And it looks like it was left that dry for a fair amount of time. Drought looks like that; brown shriveled leaves that stay on the plant. By contrast, too much water or a soil that stays to wet causes root rot which causes the leaves to become limp, yellowish (sometimes) and they fall off easily. If you fertilized while the soil was dry, that will speed up the desiccation of the leaves. Never feed a dry soil, always soak the soil the day before, really flood the container. Then feed the next day. Your stick may be damp because it was left in the soil all the time, condensation over time of the little bit of moisture left in the soil will make it look damp. The stick is not supposed to be left in the soil, you just push it in for a few moments, then take it out and look at it and feel it. I think you got a false positive, as it were, by leaving it in the soil all the time. Gritty mix needs to be watered thoroughly and often. That's the point of it, you can water quite often and still have lots of air in the mix, so the soil won't get waterlogged. But at the same time, Gritty mix drys out quite fast, so you NEED to water a lot if you use it. I'd follow Patty's advice, and hope and pray. But I really don't see a lot of good plump green cambium (the green part of the bark), what's there seems a dull green, dry and shriveled. Not many trees recover from that point, but you can try. If it were me, I'd get a new tree, but you never know, it might come back. Good luck.
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finbar
20 years ago
Did you check for leaf miner? They love new young growth. Look for tiny white trails on the leaf, like little squiggles.
Gordo_01
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi, Guys thanks for the help sorry I have not replied sooner but have been away. Sarah and Finbar I have looked for leaf miner but there was not a sign of it. In addition, Ray thanks for the advice. However, I think I might know what the problem is. It could be a copper deficiency. I have just spent about 1hr looking at what the department of Ag's web site and there is mention of deficiencies. I looked at all of them and think it could be copper. Here is an extract "The leaves are often dark green and smaller than normal, except for a few giant leaves found on vigorous S-shaped branches which emerge from stunted bushy trees. Twig growth is weak and likely to die back. "(from http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/citrus/h2311.htm) This seems to fit the bill but I am still not to sure.
finbar
20 years ago
Odd that only one would be suffering a deficiency if they're sharing essentially the same ground. Have they had any citrus food? Good citrus fertiliser contains micronutrients like copper.
Gordo_01
Original Author
20 years ago
Thats what I was thinking! All of the trees were planted with a slow release fertiliser that is designed for Citrus.I have since added Seasol and Powerfeed. All the others look great. I have added a trace elements package (that contained copper) since my last post and it looks to be turning and the limpness seems to be improving. Let you know how it turns out.
finbar
20 years ago
Mmmm. Re-reading your first post, they've been in the ground for three months. Citrus are very hungry beasts, especially when young. Give 'em another citrus feed. I never subscribed to the two big feeds a year for citrus theory. Less, more often, was my go, once every six weeks or so.
baycades_clear_net_nz
15 years ago
i have problem with my lime fruit going soft flower end skin breaking down and falling off
jed3359
10 years ago
I have had the same problem, my Tahitian lime has had leaves that are curling, I have stopped watering which I had been doing weekly and the new leaves look much better

Problems with a Tahitian Lime

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Problems with a Tahitian Lime

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Raymondo

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