SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
bryce_

Young Lime/Orange/Lemon health issues. Need some newbie advice

Bryce
9 years ago

Summary: We have several young citrus trees which don't seem
to be doing as well as they should. I am interested in
improving their general health.

All three were obtained and planted last spring, the lime
was the oldest/most mature at time of purchase, the
orange/lemon less so by a year at least.

Growth has been slow but seemingly OK, all three bloomed
this year, but the orange and lemon aren't looking as
healthy as they should (in my very amateur opinion...).
There is some leaf discoloration on the lemon and curl on
the orange. The lime dropped a lot of leaves over the
winter (some of which were pretty yellow; I think it might
have gotten too much water last summer due to my watering
schedule), but has some new foliage this spring.

The lemon and orange trees have very little if any new
foliage.

I've been watering them when they get dry down about 2
inches. I added some fertilizer stakes in the winter
before it warmed up (not saying much this year), this was
2-3 weeks before bloom probably. The stakes I used
were given to me by my mother in law, who is definitely a
green thumb. They were long (10"-12") and oval in
profile, and a reddish/rust color. I used 1/2 a stake
per tree, about 12 inches out from the base in each
case. I've used occasional applications of neem oil to
control some insect damage on the leaves.

I realize in typing all this out that I have basically no
idea what I'm doing, so some general advice would be
helpful, including any recommendation to a good intro text
to citrus care.

Thanks much!


Note: this picture was taken about a month ago, they all have dropped most of their blossoms at this point, but in general look about the same. Recently I weeded their beds and added some steer manure to the lemon and orange while turning the soil a bit.


Comment (1)