You say it's in a window, is that window a south facing one?

i think I would remove the flowers, you want to encourage foliage, not fruiting at this point. As long as your tree is in a sunny, warm spot, it should eventually regrow leaves. i would be very careful with watering until it begins to recuperate. Once it does dry out, I would fertilize it at half strength. I have had Citrus recuperate from 100% leaf loss, so it is definitely possible. Citrus tend to grow in spurts, with periods of active growth alternating with periods of inactivity.
Good luck!

I have heard this called WLD or winter leaf drop. It happens when the leaves get warmed by the sun but the roots stay to cool to support the leaves. A good digital meat thermometer can help you see how cool the roots are. Anything below 55f at the roots and they don't function. Jack

Don't remove the flowers, it will just encourage more flowering. It is in shock, and thinks its demise is eminent, thus it is flowering as a last attempt to reproduce itself. This is not "winter leaf drop". In ground citrus do not drop their leaves in response to cooler temps. Otherwise, I'd have 120 naked trees right now. Now, if they are exposed to a freeze, their leaves will be freeze-damaged and die, but citrus do not drop their leaves when presented with cooler temps. Yes, root growth will slow down or stop below a certain soil temperature, but this is not the issue with Tara's Meyer lemon, as her tree is indoors, and I doubt she keeps her house at 55 degrees.

Meyer lemons are particularly sensitive to changes in light, and this is probably 90% why the leaves have dropped. The other possibility is the soil is not well draining enough, and the tree is having issues with root rot. If you search the forum for "911 mix" or "gritty mix", you will come up with easy recipes for well-draining soil. You need to provide your tree with as much light as possible (south facing window is the best, next best would be west facing), and possibly add additional light from a full spectrum light source.

Re-pot giving the tree better draining soil. Fertilize with a high quality water soluble fertilizer. Most container citrus growers on this forum use Dyna Gro Foliage Pro because the NPK ratio is correct for citrus, plus it contains all the micronutrients. And, the N source is non-urea based, so no fear of biuret build up and root burn.

Lastly, be sure you're not dealing with any pest issues, which can plague indoor citrus (scale and spider mites and the top two offenders) and treat accordingly.

Patty S.

Tree is in a west facing window. Right next to my patio, so it is getting the same directional light source as it was when it was outside. Soil/pot drain really well. I don't have to water as much right now as I did when it was outside, it doesn't absorb the water as fast, so I have been doing lighter waterings, and not as often. I checked the roots, and there seems to be no rot going on, and the tree hasn't outgrown the pot it is in either. I think it may be trying to grow leaves, I've noticed some spikes growing the last few days in places where there used to be leaves. At least I'm being optimistic that they are leaves :)

If you check the light at your inside location with a foot candle meter as photographers use, I think you will find your light is much less than anywhere outside. Al

Tara, your tree is getting about 25% to 50% max the amount of light it received when outside, due to the filtration from your glass as Al has pointed out. Not nearly enough light for citrus. Your bagged potting mix can cause extremes from soggy bottom soil to hydrophobic bone dry soil. I suspect you've got issues with soil compaction and hydrophobic potting medium, then. I would check the very bottom of your pot. "LIght watering" would mean you may only be moistening the top couple of inches of the pot, and the bottom of the pot may be bone dry. "Well draining" potting mix is too dense with too many fines to work well for container citrus. I don't even use 100% bagged porous potting mix for my outdoor container citrus in S. California.

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Fri, Jan 2, 15 at 23:42

Sorry, but this sounds exactly like winter leaf drop. Indoor tree, next to sunny window where leaves get heated but the root zone doesn't. If I didn't heat my pots from the bottom the roots would definitely be below 55f and my house never goes below 60. I'm just offering advice which is check the temp at the root zone. If the root zone is warm enough then you eliminated WLD.

Tara,

Both Al and Patty are very experienced citrus growers and have helped folks (including myself) on numerous citrus issues. The only thing I would add is that I think Patty accidentally typed "911" for the soil type and it should be "511." (I guess it could 911 in your case ðÂÂÂ). Many folks have used this soil and with great success, and given KC's environment I think it would fair well there. I encourage you to read Al's original post that explains the use of both the gritty mix and 511 mix as it is enlightening.

Best,
Zach