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NEED HELP FROM THE PROS identifying puckered leaves on meyer lemon!

8 years ago

Hi there, I am new to this forum and this is my first post! but have been learning and reading along for a long time and have learned lots from meyermike, al, and all of you wonderful helpful ppl here!! Ive grown so much since then and have successfully overwintered a couple meyer lemons here in cold wet british columbia when i have not been able to in the past =) thanks to all of you of course! I have a question on one of my meyers, I bought it last summer and found it completely full of scales and rotten roots. So i quickly put it in an unscreened 511 unfortunately since it was already on the decline, and i basically had to cut off some compacted roots, it completely defoliated and did nothing for a couple months until october when i noticed little tiny shoots appearing everywhere and I was just over the moon! however a month into it and the shoots have turned black almost like its completely dried out and fallen off even before turning into leaves and the ones that have opened up are very small and they are all puckered and wrinkled but are still hanging on. I have looked with a magnifying glass for leaf miner trails and i couldnt find any, ive also looked for scales, and aphids but have not found any. I use the wooden dowel method to check for when to water and my other meyer is doing well with the same treatment and also use foliage pro for both. I feel like im doing everything right but cant figure out what bug this is! somebody help!!

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Comments (7)

Liam Coldwell (Zone 9a)
8 years ago
I think it might be to late, but maybe trim off dead roots? Are you over watering? I can't help you with Scale though...
citrange2
8 years ago
A close-up photo of leaves and plant would help a lot.
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jean001a
8 years ago
An overall of the plant,too.
Jan
Original Author
8 years ago
liam:the scales and rotten roots are actually gone. i am actually starting to see some growthbut they are turning black

so the black shoots actually dried up and have fallen off but i do have some pictures of the puckered undersized leaves that did open up.

sorry for the blurry pics my camera isnt very good :\
myermike_1micha
8 years ago
Hello and welcome)

How about the mix? Is it holding water toward the bottom for too long? have you been spraying for pests even if you can't see them? What about light? How much is your trees getting? Temps? Did you fertilize and when do you fertilize?

Mike
pip313
8 years ago
If you water when you water the Meyer your watering too much. The Meyer is healthy and will drink more.

its possible it flushed out some growth but quickly passed the point of what it can support so it killed off the extra.

Keep monitoring the soil, only water when needed, and give it more time.
Jan
Original Author
8 years ago
Mike,

Thanks! So glad to join this community :) it is inside my house right now so the temps are about 23-25? They are getting 10hrs of grow lights a day. They're in a well draining 5-1-1 and I water when the top 2/3 of the soil is dry using a dowel to check. I don't let it get dry all the way to the bottom because it was just repotted this past summer so I don't think the roots have reached all th way to the bottom yet and I don't want it to wilt plus I find it hard to re wet the 5-1-1 soil if it goes completely dry. So I guess I water about once evey ten days or so using foliage pro and vinegar so I feel like I'm doing everything right? I sprayed neem oil before bringin them in for the winter back in October.

pip:

no I don't water on a schedule I use the dowel method but maybe you're right! I just want it to get bushier faster I've nevr been one for patience :). I mean after all it has been April since it's completely defoliated so it's taken so long to even get this far.

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