Indoor lemon tree unhappy with dropping yellow leaves
jack_caplin
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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Comments (10)
Laura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agojack_caplin
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoRelated Discussions
Suddenly sad Meyer lemon -yellowing/dropping leaves
Comments (18)I very strongly doubt that your tree has a phosphorous deficiency. I have NEVER heard of a phosphorous deficiency in container citrus, when it is regularly fertilized with a NPK fertilizer. Phosphorous does not leach from a container, as does nitrogen and potassium. Nitrogen and potassium are both VERY water soluble and readily leach with every watering, but not phosphorus. All of the leaves that are turning yellow, and dropping are the older leaves on the tree. Your tree is withdrawing the nitrogen from the leaves (thus they are yellowing) to reuse in other part of the tree before discarding them. When a leaf no longer is capable of supplying its expected quota of energy to the tree, it is quickly discarded. There is no welfare program for citrus leaves. However, your tree is also under fed. If the tree's problem was other than aged leaves, you would be seeing yellow dropped leaves from the new leaves also. Also it is not wise to add this and that chemical in hopes of coming across a cure. First ascertain what the problem actually is then correct it. I'm sure it was also not helpful to the tree to let it remain in the same container and "soil" for 5 years. Fertilize the tree using a high nitrogen fertilizer. You can add vinegar if you wish, but there are much better ways to acidify. Organic acids such as vinegar, have an extremely short life....See Moremeyer lemon tree dropping leaves
Comments (51)nina 313 and bdeller1, you each should start a new thread to get good answers to your questions. Tagging onto an old post will get you a lot less replies. People look at the start date and figure the subject of the post is no longer relevant. nina, we could use some better pics of the whole tree, and bdeller, we need pics from you too. Each person's own thread should include info about your watering habits, how much and how often. Any fertilizer or anything else you've added, how much, when and why. How long you've owned it. Also give info about the soil your tree is in; original from nursery, or re-potted, brand and/or ingredients of the soil. Is it kept indoors or outdoors, indoors only in winter, outdoors in summer, and if indoors, what kind of light, ie in front of window(window direction), or grow lights or combination. Help us help you. : ) Also, if you start your own thread, you can track answers to it in your "your houzz" area....See MoreMeyer Lemon tree in trouble - dropping leaves
Comments (7)Well, you have probably made some of the classic Meyer lemon errors. First, when you dramatically change the light conditions a Meyer will drop most, if not all its leaves, to replace them later with leaves better suited to the new light conditions. To move a Meyer from outside to inside without the leaf loss, you need to move it from full sun to partial sun for 2 weeks; then to full shade for 2 weeks; then indoors; reverse the process when putting it out in the Spring... and please DO put it out, if you can; you will be rewarded with a happy, healthy plant. Second, when you bring it indoors to a sunny window, the plant gets warm; but the roots generally stay cool; and citrus roots don't like to grow into cool soil... the solution is to put some sort of heater to warm the soil, or to put the plant a little further from the window. The thing to remember is first the roots grow; and then the leaves and branches....See MoreAdvice please. My indoor Meyer lemon tree is dropping leaves.
Comments (11)Here's a good link on soils for citrus trees. There's also a decent discussion by Al on here of soils, but I don't have that link. https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/blogs/four-winds-growing/soil-mix. Four winds also has some other good information for growing citrus indoors. I prefer mixes that have pumice in place of pearlite and recycled forest products in place of the peat as they seem to do better for trees and other plants, but it's really personal preference. If you can, I would allow for a temperature drop at night for the trees, citrus tend to like a temperature drop of about 10 degrees at night. Indoors I would also get an oversized drip tray, fill it with lava rock or other large rock (this is decorative, so it really depends on your style, what you want is rocks large enough to allow all the water from watering to drain into the bottom tray without touching the bottom of your pot, so that the water doesn't reabsorb into the soil. You could also use pot feet inside the tray and it would do the same thing). What this does is it allows for an increase in humidity around the tree as the water evaporates without needing to use a humidifier. It can really help to have. And when I say oversize, I mean for a 14 inch pot you want at least a 20 inch tray. For my big citrus I use steel trays on rubber castors, for my smaller ones I just use the standard vinyl drip trays. A bigger tray also works well, if your tree does well, catching the occasional leaf and spent flowers so they don't wind up on your floor....See Morejohnmerr
7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agojohnmerr
7 years agoLaura LaRosa (7b)
7 years agoChris0333 WI zone 5a
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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