need some pix .... but i have to say.. a lot of us gave up on this problem plant a long time ago ... you ought to consider such ... if they keep dying.. why do you keep replanting the same thing??? this might be indicative of what happens.. when you plant too many of the same thing.. some little problem multiplies itself in to a nightmare ... i doubt the ants are the primary cause ... unless they are not ants ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: how to post pix

Since I'm never sure quite which holes the voles may currently be active in, I buy about a dozen snap traps, baited with a tiny piece of pita bread and peanut butter and put them all around the holes I can find. We hadn't had any issues with other creatures being caught, but our snowshoe hare has gotten her big feet close to them. Nhbabs might have been the one who suggested a box on top, so I've been taking peat trays (the ones that usually hold six annuals) and putting those over the traps. I haven't been weighing them down. The snap traps seem to work pretty well. I've also found that surprisingly, if I only catch a couple voles there is soooooo much less damage in the garden. My voles are weird though as they don't seem to devour my roots. I have tunnels everywhere and when I catch a few, the tunnels go away. But I have not had the devastating plant loss as others here.

Sorry for the delay getting back. I have a vacation condo in Rockport so we have been dealing with hurricane debris and salvage. The initial problem was improper watering. When roots get a fungus and rot away, the plant above dries out making it look like it is not getting enough water. Truth is the plant is not getting enough water, but the cause was too much water. Watering dead roots doesn't fix it. At this point you have to hope some of the roots were not completely dead and will return once things dry out. Adding fertilizer stressed the situation rather than fixing the situation. Of course watering after the fertilizer was necessary to dilute the fertilizer, but the yard already had too much water. What I would do is to buy a bag of ordinary corn meal at your local feed store (call around for availability). Scatter that at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. And don't water it in. If the soil has already dried out and the corn meal does not start to look gray in a couple of days (a good sigh of decomposition), then lightly spray over it with a hand held spray nozzle. All you need to do is moisten the corn meal. Corn meal will help feed the soil microbes and, hopefully, kill the disease microbes causing the roots to rot. If you don't see any green up after 3 weeks, then the lawn is likely dead. I would not water it again for at least a month to be sure the soil is drying out. Here is some information about deep and infrequent watering. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. That is what you should have been doing instead of watering every other day. In Houston while the climate is unbearable in the summer, the problem is humidity and not the actual heat. Humidity keeps the water from evaporating, so rather than watering once a week, you might be able to water deeply once every 10-14 days in the summer.

Those are definitely new branches, I might pick off the small lemons to let it direct the energy to recovery, especially with the mites. Be careful with the dawn dish soap as it can damage the leaves. If they're that bad, I would probably be inclined to do a full plant soak if the tree is small enough the next time it needs to be watered. Just enclose the pot in a mesh to keep in the soil and submerge the whole thing, pot, leaves, and all for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Then pull it up and let it drain. I don't do that often, or recommend it as a first pass, but as a last resort it does work well. I had a brush cherry that got infested with the red spidermite that lives outside in my area and it was the only thing that killed them all. I have not had any come back since doing so. Adding a single drop of dawn to a bathtub full of water can help kill any that might make it to the edge of the tub, but I wouldn't recommend more than that.