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Tango Mandarin all of a sudden losing most of it's leaves!!

8 years ago

Hello, I have a tango mandarin dwarf tree in a pot. It's been growing pretty well and new growth and all. The past few weeks, it's literally hand hundreds of blossoms, probably at least 200-300, and there's about 3 or 4 fruit developing, but all of a sudden, within a week, probably 70% of the leaves have fallen off. I don't know why and I haven't done anything differently. I don't see any insects/scales (I read on a forum to look for that), Some of the leaves look rotten now too, I've never seen that before. One of the fruit (see picture) is turning beige too, like it's dying or something. I've attached some pics, anyone able to assist in knowing what the issue is? Thanks.

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Comments (5)

tom1328732
8 years ago
It looks like it's dropping a lot of old leaves in preparation for a massive flush of growth. How long have you had the tree?

-Tom
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scuzzynutty
Original Author
8 years ago
Had the tree for about 3 or 4 years. I had it in the ground for 2 years, and it wasn't growing or doing anything. Repotted it into this pot and it started growing nice. Only one fruit last year though. It's a dwarf tree, and doesn't seem to grow much taller.

Not sure about your comment about massive flush of growth, I don't see any new growth and I see some dying growth rather. I feel like it's all of a sudden gotten unhealthy. Not sure if it has anything to do with all the blossoms, there's so many of them....
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tom1328732
8 years ago
I've noticed from my trees that they often drop some leaves (perhaps not to the same degree you're describing) before they flush out. But since your tree has been potted in the same soil for that many years, I suspect you're having root issues. As time goes on, typical peat-based soils compact and suffocate roots. Look into the "5-1-1" mix on this forum (especially since you're in a warm climate). It'll involve bare-rooting the tree, but the benefit you reap from it outweighs the hassle.

-Tom
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User
8 years ago
Did you move it outside/inside recently? It seems that it experienced a shock of some sort. I would carefully uncover a root or two and see if they look healthy (firm and white) if they are soft/mushy or dark brown then the roots are rotting. If the soil smells bad like its rotting you should consider watering less or repotting to a better draining soil. I would remove most of the fruits/fruitlets until it recovers.
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scuzzynutty
Original Author
8 years ago
It's always been outside. I dug the soil down a little and tried to expose some roots and let it dry out some, it was damp. Not sure if that's what the issue was, i didn't want to pull the whole tree up to expose the rootball as it felt like I was going to damage it or something. There's no bad smells from the soil. One of the 4 fruit dropped off and more leaves fell off this week. Sad thing because the tree was growing quite well and all of a sudden this...not sure what to do at this point...
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