Well, I see a few things that might be causing this. It looks like you've got a situation where you have a LOT of grass competing with both water and nutrients . You really do need to create a much large cleared area from underneath your little trees. Grass is a huge nitrogen hog. It will simply gobble up all that nice fertilizer you're putting down for your citrus. Not familiar with that particular fertilizer, but you'll want a fertilizer formulated for citrus, that is higher in nitrogen and also contains a good amount of micronutrients as well as your NPK macronutrients. And if your trees are being sprinkled by your lawn sprinklers, this is NOT good for the trees. This actually can eventually kill a small young tree. They don't like their trunks sprinkled. You'll want to put your trees on a drip system, and give them a long, deep drink one or twice a week (depending up on how hot it gets.) Doesn't look like sunburn, and yes, young citrus trees can get sunburned if you live in very hot, dry, sunny areas (like AZ, interior S. California). I agree with John's recommentations, fertilize at least 3 times a year - I fertilize 4 times a year - February through September/October. And, I use a foliar fertilizer especially if we've had a cold, wet winter and spring, which for me tends to make micronutrients unavailable since my soil is mostly DG. Grow More Citrus Growers Blend is a great product, and can be applied both to the roots or as a foliar spray. Spray in the evening. Patty S.

I look at it this way in simpler terms of course..... I am brain dead and bored, so here it goes..lol I if don't make sense, pardon me. If I can't or do not know how to grow anything in a pot with a Perched Water Table, which I mostly do not, then I won't use a soil that encourages it. Using bottom stones, or even water proof packing peanuts which don't weigh the pot down never helped me. By the way, if your determined to use bottom material, this is the way to go. No more heavy pots.:-) I have killed a many plants in the past this way. The bottom roots being wet ,stuck in that PWT above the stones, never drying out while the top half of the roots keep getting watered because I keep watering the top of soil that is bone dry. My roots can be thirsting for water even 4 inches down into my pots from the top, while the bottom half of the roots are in that PWT portion staying wet, never drying out. And rocks on the bottom of any pot does not get rid of that PWT. It just makes it higher. The Perched Water Table depending on the soil you use will be there, and maybe not if you use a wick or a fast draining soil. Of course this is not a concern to me in any pot smaller than 6 inches... They dry out fast, especially if they are in clay. I typically use something other than the gritty soil for these. But when I move up to a bigger pot, I am not willing to take the risk of root rot. Some people here can grown plants in any size pot with a PWT and have sucess. Some in 30 gallon barrels! I am not one of those..:-( This is why I use A'ls gritty mix minus the fines that could settle down at the bottom of pot and stay wet while the top of the soil gets dry. Bonsai have very shallow roots, therefore grown in shallow pots, and this is how a many of my friends including myself have killed our Bonsai. You can have a PWT in soil as deep as one inch. We can't afford to have a PWT at all in such shallow pots! On this we take NO chances. I can not afford to have a PWT also in big sized pots for regular plants. Since they and I changed to Al's gritty mix, we have been sucessful, with no Perched Water Table and bottom root rot, even in rainy everday weather if pots are left out all summer. We just have to water more often when because the soil dries out quicker. :-) Jean, I have done the same thing to most of my pots, especially the ones my Clivias are in. They are thriving!! I even drill bigger holes at the bottom of my plastic ones and hammer out a huge circle hole on the bottom of my clay ones, then use screen to stop the soil from falling through. I can only imagine the roots breathing all that air from the bottom!lol,and the water exchange because of this.:-) I love that Container Soils thread, at least what I can understand of it! One thing I did learn, I never knew what a PWT was until I read that thread. That was the culprit to the death of all my plants! Thanks for that thread Al! Thanks for all the great info everyone! Take care all! Mike

I have this exact problem now. The tree is in the chook yard. I moved in 18 years ago and there were two trees close together. After about ten years one died..didn't care had the other and the chooks like the shade in summer. I am in South Western Australia which has hot summers and mild winters. I have never watered the trees directly because we are only 8ft to water and expect the roots to be in very moist sand 6 ft down. Three weeks ago there were some serious storms come through and all my trees received a very good drink. 8 ft away is a massive orange tree that yields over 600 oranges a year and i'm a bit concerned it might end up the same way. My initial thought was that the buildup of nitrogen from the chook poop is doing it but cannot find out much about nitrogen overdose. It currently has about 100 plus lemons on the tree atm which are small and withered as are the leaves. The leaves are yellowing and curling like it's thirsty. I will remove all the fruit from the tree and find a citrus spray for disease's and spray it. I have never bothered to fertilize the lemon because of the fowl droppings..funny thing is that the ground is damp around the base, so watering seems like it is not required. Interestingly though, there is fruit that has fallen a week ago, that is ripe and plump with perfect skin under the tree.So this is just happening.......confused.

Could be salt buildup due to insufficient amount of water added at each watering. Make sure that some water comes out of the drain hole each time you water. To get rid of the salts, add water until water drains out. repeat twice more.