It looks strong, and would probably be fine to save. Citrus have very good recuperative powers as long as they don't have any underlying diseases.

Knowing where this tree is, and any other information such as; how often is it watered and for how long, has it been fertilized and how often, and with what product, what kind of soil is it in and how is the drainage, and how old is it, and how much sun, in hours, does it get, will help us to answer your question fully.

I'm inclined to do what you can to save it, as you've found, mature trees give the best fruit. The answers to the above questions will help us help you.

Ok so based on my initial research I believed I had bugs and lack of watering. Theres no way anyone was watering it for a good 4-6 months. There were some really dead limbs down below I cut that were criss crossing. Trust me this thing looked really dead before I trimmed it up, so many dead twigs up top. Should of taken before pics.

The tree is on the north east corner of my lot. Id say its pretty much in the sun all day. The side that is more plush and running into the power lines I think gets the most exposure in the morning since the sun light seems more direct.

All the watering done so far has been done by me. I moved in March 1st. I can't really exaxtly how much I was watering, but it wasn't to much but I was trying to soak it as opposed to every day.

When I started really realizing wait I minute this thing isn't looking good. I watered it really good for like an hour coming out of a house. it was not the fastest running water, but enough to kind of flood the area. It doesn't drain that well, after I have it soaking for an hour I have about a half inch of water around all this area I am posting below pics (see below). That water soaks up in about 30-45mins.

I just did it again like 2 days ago, I only waited 6 days because at this point I was pretty sure it was thirsty. This time I moistened the ground a little bit first, dropped 5lbs of Arizona's Best fertilzer for citrus trees. It was 13-10-4. The bag said mature trees can handle 5-10lbs. I sprinkled this all around the tree. I made sure to keep the fertilizer at least 18 inches away from the trunk. After all this I soaked it again for a good hour - hour and a half. Again I had my house turned like just enough to get it flowing that wasn't considered a drizzle

Also I doused it with Neem Oil for the bugs. Going to do it again after sunday since it calls for rain. I did it like 40 hours before it rained, and saw little white spider things climbing on it today after it rained.

I cant give you an answer on its age honestly. I just know its about 14-18 ft maybe bigger. Me standing at the very top of a 6ft ladder and branches are towering me and im 5' 9".

front right side bottom of tree. again its not much. A lot of pavers.

back of tree, again a lot of pavers and about 3 ft of dirt that spreads past the drip line

this area here only about 3 ft out before I hit pavers

also heres some new citrus

buds?

Fingers crossed for you! We purchased very neglected property with many varieties of citrus. We lost the bearss lime after 2 years of a slow death. It had a disease. Sad. Going to replace it with a fig and have planted a new Bearss lime far from that diseased spot. Good luck with this! That sure looks like buds to me!

Your tree is going to be fine and you seem to have a real good idea of how to bring it back in shape. Expect it to put on a pretty good flush of growth around early summer. You might also expect some sun damage before the new leaves cover up the branches from the sun. The bark is what gets sun damaged and the reason for the white paint. If you are really industrious, mix up a spray bottle of half water, half white interior latex paint and paint as much of the exposed bark as possible to reflect the sun.

I would also expect it to drop most of the oranges this year to concentrate on growing back its canopy. If it does, don't worry. The oranges will be back next year. You've just put it into shock with the heavy foliage removal. If the oranges it has stays, then it's a win win. Absolutely keep it. I'd imagine it's a Washington Navel. If so, you can start harvesting in early Dec. but the best oranges in my opinion will be in Feb. and on.

Great the oranges are obviously something I want, but I am more concerned about having a nice looking tree!

You said mix the paint in a spray bottle, will it hurt the tree if I get it on the leaves? I thought I should paint the bark too in the front of the tree since I can see the sun hitting it. I just wasn't aware if it would hurt it or not.

I can pretty much paint as much as the branches as I want right without harm? Also I didn't really trim back anything that was living. I accidentally snipped some branches that had a few leaves, but nothing that was major. My whole canopy was filled with dead twigs.

That sounds promising. I am in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am not sure if we have similar soil. I have an assumption that your soil would probably be more rich, but who knows. Im pretty sure most soil in lawns here is not native, but again idk. I've only lived here for 4 years so Im not up to par with that kind of stuff.

When you say you loosened the soil, did how did you do that?

Gotcha, with regards to most of the pruning being dead wood and not living that would throw the tree into shock. Several other factors could cause the tree to abort fruit yet. It knows it needs a lot more foliage so will produce that foliage. No telling if that flush of growth will cause fruit loss. The baby oranges look a lot like mine right now which is why I figured it for a Washington. With any luck though, it will keep those oranges.

I suggested a spray bottle because it is easier to cover a large section of branch verses a paint brush, but you can do either. A bit of paint on the leaves won't hurt but you want to keep as much on the bark as possible. Leaves that have paint get blocked from photosynthesis.

Ill make the decision brush vs sprayer once I see the viscosity. I can use just regular white interior latex paint right? Or is there something special to buy?

Also, by spray bottle, do you mean like a handheld one, like a windex bottle? Or you talking about a pump up sprayer for like roundup.

I get the cheapest interior latex I can find. It's called builder grade, though you can use anything you have lying around if you have left over latex paint. I use a spray bottle like a windex bottle. Home depot sold a heavy duty one but any old squirt bottle will work. You could use a pump up sprayer also, if you want. That's what the big nurseries use for a lot of trees. Anything to get the 50/50 paint mixture on the tree.

I just used a narrow shovel , like a trench shovel, and carefully rotated the dirt being cautious of its roots. My soil is clay like, but not rich in my opinion.

Thanks for all the advice! I have a lot more faith in my tree and feel like my efforts haven't gone to waste.

Couple more things in general, for the paint, if im not sure if the branch needs it, should I just do it anyways? Im leaving Arizona to visit family from mid may - mid july so I won't be around really to check up on it. I have an irrigation system being put in right now so it can be watered, and one of my roomates is going to atleast keep an eye on things for me, but I don't think he really has an eye for tree sunburn (neither do I).

My soil is pretty clay like too, how should I setup my drip irrigation? Should I make a bowl/pool like area around the drip line so the water can sit there better and soak better?

Also how long should I have the irrigation running and how often this time of the year and considering its stress?

I fertilized it April 16 and am leaving May 18. Should I hit it with another 5 lbs of fertilizer before I leave too, or just wait until im back?

Sure, paint it anyway... can't do any harm. I would not paint the cuts of limbs, as it may inhibit healing. As for fertilizer, wait until you come back; then give it a shot at the dripline and water in well.

I would suggest painting all of the main branches. Those are the ones that will be hard to replace should they get badly damaged. If you try painting each and every branch, you will be there forever and gardening is supposed to be fun so....

On drip systems. Experts say to water when you dig down a few inches and the soil isn't moist. My orange gets water from the lawn so it doesn't get supplemental water. My other fruit trees are on drippers though. I water between once every 2 weeks to once a week in the hottest part of the summer. My trees are heavily mulched in part to keep in moisture. If you use a low flow dripper like a 1 or 2 gallon per hour, you won't need to create a berm to hold in the water. Just place the drippers about halfway between the trunk and the drip line of the leaves. I might try four of the 2 gallon an hour drippers to start, and run them for half an hour to an hour and see how the tree responds to that. Supposedly, trees respond better to a slow release drip system like mine verses dumping 20 gallons on the ground with a hose in a few minutes.

I just realized the drip system to the trees is also connected to all the plants. All the trees have 4 lines around them which are orange tree ive been posting about, another struggling orange tree, and 2 Mediterranean palms that I just planted, not sure the output on the drip but I can figure that out.

This is a little off topic from citrus, but I feel like I might flood my other plants connected to the drip (bells of fire). Each of these have 1 line running to them.

Would it be better to just cap off the drip to citrus trees and manually water them? Just got the irrigation system installed about 20 mins ago so Im real new with this.

Can you install an inline valve to close off the drip to the plants when watering the oranges heavily? http://www.amazon.com/Drip-Irrigation-Perma-Loc-Coupling-Valve/dp/B004TACMDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430077642&sr=8-1&keywords=drip+1%2F2%22+valve You could also switch out the emitters on the bells of fire with half gallon drippers so they get much less water. The two (trees verses plants) require different watering schedules.

I think changing the emitters would probably be best. Do I need to get the guy back here and change the hose or is there a cap I can buy?

As long as you have the time and want to make the effort, the drip system is about as easy as it gets to DIY. Does he have the emitters directly into the hose? If so, you will need a pair of diagonal wire cutters or something similar. Cut the emitter off flush with the hose and push a new emitter into the same hole. This will leave a bit of plastic inside the 1/2" hose. Once you have replaced your emitters, unscrew or unfold the end of the hose and flush all of the bits of plastic out. Then you should be good to go. If he has the smaller spaghetti style 1/8" hose leading to an emitter, that's even easier. Just cut the old one off and insert the new one.

Yeah so everything is that 1/8" black spaghetti hose. Here is an illustration of how it is setup. Currently everything drizzles out of these hoses.

Green = newly planted Mediterranean palms

Pink = bells of fire

orange = orange trees

black lines = each head of the 1/8" spaghetti line

All of this is setup on the same line and timer.

With some sort of cutter, cut the emitters off of the bells of fire and possible the palms. Cut as little off of the hose as possible. You will be able to re-use the emitters you cut off on other trees if you are careful. You can buy new half gallon emitters at home depot, lowes, or amazon.com. Just insert the new emitters into the hose. A heat source such as a lighter helps if the hose is stiff. Just a quick touch of heat works.

Ideally, the oranges and any other fruit trees would be on their own timer. You would water those for a longer period and with many more days in between compared to the other plants. The palms also probably requite much less water. I think you will be OK though by replacing emitters. Just keep an eye on everything to get a feel for how they are responding.

What I am showing you in the picture, there are no emitters on it, its just the hose coming out of the ground. They are currently just drizzle water out. Im assuming where my main valve box is is how I control that pressure, because in my front yard I do have emitters. 2 on a new tree spit out a good amount of water vs the plants that have emitters that drizzle.

Also in response to your thread about watering them for an hour with those drippers, should I time it for every week? I am leaving town May 18th and coming back July 7th so I am a little nervous about all the tweaking when summers about to come in. Would it be worth hiring a gardener of some sort?

I'm sorry, I don't know how the guy who set the hoses up ran everything. It's really simple stuff though so you should be able to figure it out quickly. He might have only opened up a valve a crack so there is little water pressure. On my system, the hoses would whip around without the emitters on the end to regulate the water.

On the timing. I'm sure the oranges and palms would be fine with once a week watering. I don't know about the bells of fire. I wouldn't spend the money on a gardener. Can you have someone check in maybe once a week to see if they can spot any obvious wilting? Mulching the bells will go a long way to making sure they make the most of the once a week watering. Without knowing how much water is coming from those hoses, I would be reluctant to leave the water on for an hour at a time also.

Good news, I decided to quit being lazy and just measure whats coming out of the drip lines. I let a gallon milk carton fill up for 10 minutes. I had about 5 cups of water, maybe a little more. At 5 cups/10mins I concluded I got 30cups/hr which = 1.875gallons/hr. Id assume its probably 2 gallons. I wasn't trying to be very accurate, based on what I remember there was more then 5 cups. So safe to say 2 gallons an hour.

Id assume the emitters can slow down this drip for the plants and palms?

So the past 2 mornings I have noticed like 30-40 new leaves that fell from the tree to the ground.

Im kind of confused since they are all mostly green looking. The tree looks a lot better. A lot less yellow leaves and less curling, new growth, etc.

Why are leaves falling now? Could it just be thirsty again? I watered it real good last tuesday (april 21st) it then rained on April 26th. I was going to add some water again today since the rain came down fast for a few mins and then drizzled a little.

I thought at this points its either a) over watered b) still thirsty or c) under stress due to the weather getting cold (about 80 degrees no sun) for a few days, and now its really how, about 100 degrees in the day with sun. I read the climate shift can do this to the tree, but I feel like way to much is falling off

I've noticed sometimes when a citrus is water stressed for too long, even when it gets water again it will still drop leaves for a while. I'm wondering if the leaves are damaged when it's dry and the extra water is too late for those.

I've never seen a tree die from this leaf drop though, usually it will grow new leaves to replace them a few weeks later. The weather change imo, isn't a factor here.

Since it's been over a week since you watered it, and 5 days since the little bit of rain, I think it's fine to give it a good watering again, especially as it's going to be hot.

Great to hear. I was going to give it a good watering again today, and spray it down again with neem oil since i still see a few of those spider looking bugs on it, cant remember what their called but I know they go for citrus. Overall though the tree looks really good.

Ive noticed some new baby fruit fall off, but I was also told not ever new bud makes it.

Don't use the neem oil today if it's going to be over 85*F today. It can burn foliage when the weather is hot. Yes, citrus are good at self thinning their fruit.

Also, if you're refering to Spider Mites, you really can't see them with the naked eye. So if the bugs are large enough to see easily, and look like spiders, they probably are just regular spiders, which are harmless to citrus and generally good to have around. If you can take a pic of these bugs, post them here and we'll try to identify them.

No they aren't mites, I could of swore I identified them to be something with some pictures. They are definitely not spiders, just spider looking. Kind of like an aphid, but not green. Definitely gray.

I was going to wait until the sun started to set to apply the neem oil, as I read that this is the trick when its hot outside. I got some type of bugs I can tell just by how the leaves are eaten and stuff. Whatever bug causes leaves to yellow and curl is what I was thinking the spider like bugs were.

Psyllid maybe?

I found this site where you can identify plant pest insects. It may help.

http://www.garden.org/pestlibrary/

Here is what I have been seeing. Funny how I spot it today, when last night I sprayed the tree down with about a gallon and a halfs worth of neem oil solution.

I thought white flies maybe from the link you gave me BarbJP, but this did not look like it had wings

That looks like a katydid. It's a kind of grasshopper and yes it will eat the leaves. Neem oil won't do much to kill it unless you spray it right on it, but then you're just drowning it, lol! Chewing insects like this are best dealt with by Spinosad. That's the pesticide's name, look for it in the ingredients in several brands. Bonide's is Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, there are other brands too.

Spray it in the early evening when bees have gone home. Once it's dry, when the bees come back in the morning, they can walk on it and it won't hurt them. An insect has to ingest it for it to work, so the kadydid will have to eat a little more leaf with Spinosad on it, but then they stop eating and die. Spinosad is good to have on hand too if you get Citrus Leaf Miner, which usually shows up in the fall and spring.

Thanks I will try that.

I noticed these little orange bead like things on a bunch of the new leaf growth. Only reason I think I paid attention was because of the website you gave me with all the different bugs. My guess is they are scale insects? Wasn't sure since these are so noticeably orange. I scraped off what I saw. Only seemed to be on the new growth

I think those are Swallowtail Butterfly eggs, based on what I've seen in this forum (we don't get them in Nebraska!). The caterpillars can do a number on foliage.

I believe spinosad takes down anything that eats the leaves. Hopefully that works!