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Gardening in Oz

Dwarf lemon tree losing all its leaves!

10 years ago

Hi all,

New to this site and fairly new to gardening. I have a Dwarf lemon tree in a large pot that is losing all of it's leaves. It's about 2 years old and didn't lose any leaves last year. I pruned all of the blooming fruit from it about 4 weeks ago. During that time the Jacaranda that is above it has lost all its leaves and that combined with the time of year has seen the sun exposure to this plant increase from about 4 hours of indirect sunlight a day to about 8 hours of direct sunlight. It's watered about 1 to 2 times a week and gets the occasional hit of fish fertiliser and white oil. The branches all look green and healthy. Should I be worried? Cheers, Pete.

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Comments (5)

funnelweb
10 years ago
For a start, Pete I'd take it out of the pot a have a look at the root ball; 2 years, it might be getting a bit pot bound even though it's in a large pot. Also, being in a pot it's food source is really dependant on it's minder - 'fish fertiliser' might not sufficient for all its needs, If it was mine I'd be considering a more complete food regimen: citrus in a pot can be demanding. Also, how's the soil medium's drainage? By the way, what type of lemon is it?
PeteG999
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks funnelweb.

I've (hopefully) loaded a photo of it. Not sure what type of lemon it is. It gets some blood and bone as well as fish fertiliser. I'll hit it with some compost too. Before all that i'll take it out of the pot and have a look at it. It drains fairly quickly, don't know if that is a good or bad thing but it does have a saucer tray under it to hold in some water. There are some buds starting to grow on it so hopefully it will come back. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Pete.
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funnelweb
10 years ago
Yeah doesn't look too good, does it? I'd be considering cutting it back below that dead leaf line and cutting off that dead branch back to the main trunk. The buds and stems look healthy enough, I can't think of anything other than maybe it is too dry, too well drained, those leaves look as though they died of dryness!
PeteG999
Original Author
10 years ago
I trimmed all the dead stems off and have hit it with some compost. Here's hoping. Thanks funnelweb!
funnelweb
10 years ago
Good luck with it Pete, you might also mix in some water saving crystals as well or perhaps some peat moss or sphagnum moss; certainly looks like dryness mate.

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