Why is my Kumquat dropping it’s new growth?
Hi everyone. This is my first post on here. I purchased a Kumquat tree last summer and have had a lot of growth. At one point I had some yellowing leaves but got that taken care of with some fertilize.
My problem now is, it has never held fruit (its blossomed countless times) and the free will start to grow a ton of new growth all over the plant. it will blossom start growing all over and then the blossoms stay but the new twigs and leaves fall off. I can just poke them and they pop off. After, the blossoms fall off as well.
I have a supplemented light that is on a timer for 12 hours a day, I use a moisture meter and deeply water only when the level is between a 2-3. I have a humidifier that keeps the humidity at 50%.
I feel like I have tried everything. The pot is probably slightly too big. And I think I may have to change the soil. I started in a very small pot with standard garden soil. Since then I’ve replanted with citrus soil but did not remove the original solid from the roots. I did treat the plant for spider mites also. You can see the marks on the leaves from them.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!
Comments (9)
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
3 years agoJarod Reatherford thanked bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardeningRelated Discussions
Why does the tips of new growth dry up???
Comments (3)Before I potted some of my plants up to six inch pots they would often dry out and the new growth would sometimes die back. Hoyas come from varied habitats and some species can dry out where others wish to be constantly moist and will show that they are unhappy by dropping developing leaves,peduncles or the new vine growth will die back. I admit that many of my Hoyas have this problem but most just pick back up where they left off. I have a few touchy species that have not shown new growth after their vines died back more than six months ago. I fertilize my Hoyas like I do my orchids at 1/2 to 1/4 strength, some Hoyas develop larger softer leaves if given too much fertilizer and that kinda growth is very attractive to insects, not sure how sensitive Hoyas are to fertilizers though. Mike...See MoreDwarf Citrus dropped new growth and flowers
Comments (7)Leafnose, is that a cement wall that your trees are planted close to?? Here's why............. Take a good read and tell me if you think this is affecting your trees? I landscaped for years and one thing we would never do is plant anything that required a lower pH soil near concrete. It can inhibit nutrient up take and cause many issues..Gardenia for one should never be planted along concrete and neither azalea or any other acid loving plant. and citrus is no exception unless you consistently add an acifier of some sort Concrete is alkaline in nature, meaning it has a pH of 7.0 or above. It gets its high pH from several ingredients containing calcium. One ingredient is limestone, which is made up of calcium carbonate and is commonly used by home gardeners in a finely ground powder form, called lime, to raise the pH of overly acidic soils. Concrete, or cement, can affect soil pH when acidic rain or irrigation water falls on a concrete sidewalk, driveway, or building foundation and sheds onto adjacent soil. Over time, the water leaches calcium carbonate out of the concrete and into the soil, resulting in soil near the concrete structure having a higher pH. The pH of soil determines a nutrient’s ability to travel through the soil and be taken up by a plant. Plants have specific soil pH ranges they prefer. If the soil pH is outside the plant’s preferred range, it can’t take up the nutrient, even if it is available in the soil, and the plant becomes deficient in that particular nutrient. Depending on the lacking nutrient the plant can suffer stunted growth, foliage discoloration, or in very extreme cases, death. To know if the soil near your concrete is affecting planting soil, perform a soil sample that checks for pH. Acid loving plants prefer a pH of 5.0 to 5.5, ornamental plants and lawn grasses like a pH of between 5.8 to 6.5, as do vegetable plants. Also, water garden plants like a pH between 6.2 to 7.4. Over time, calcium carbonate leaching from a concrete water garden pond can raise water pH to above 7.5. Plant Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), which grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 to 11, near a concrete walkway or concrete foundation and you could see this acid-loving plant’s foliage turn yellow. This shrub likes soil with a pH between 5.0 to 6.0. When soil pH rises, gardenia suffers iron chlorosi: an iron deficiency that causes yellowing of leaves. Correct this problem by adding sulfur to the soil to lower the pH to the target range. Add the amount recommended on the label. This fix is only temporary. As long as calcium carbonate continues to leach from concrete into the soil, pH will rise when the sulfur effects wear off. For a permanent solution, either relocate the shrub to an acidic soil away from the concrete, or remove the concrete structure....See MoreWhy are my graft leaves yellow? It’s a clemenule graft to trifoliate
Comments (3)Add 2 Tablespoons of vinegar to a gallon of water. This will help the PT roots uptake nutrients. You will also have to graft the other parts of the pt or remove it or you graft will die later....See MoreLarge leaves on Kumquat from mishap-forced winter growth, remove?
Comments (4)Thanks for the input. My assumption up to this point is that pruning the damaged growth induced growing during a time when it wasn't actively growing due to the low light levels, hence the gigantic leaves. I've been back and forth on removing them now because the tree is covered in new growth and I wasn't sure if removing the large leaves closer to the top of the tree would encourage growth lower down. At the nursery someone pruned it back pretty severely, causing a rather large hole in the canopy on one side. I've been doing what I can to try to encourage growth in this area in the hopes that it will fill back out. (From the right angle it looks like something took a bite out of the tree). At the end of the day though I'm looking for health over appearance....See MoreJarod Reatherford
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoSilica
3 years agoJarod Reatherford
3 years ago@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 Haha maybe not poking it will fix all of my problems!
I has spider mites on the plant. They came from my Banana trees but got them taken care of quickly.
I did think that maybe it was underwatered so the next time I watered it I didn't let it get as dry. it had started some new growth and lost it again when I watered sooner than normal. I am really afraid of root rot. it takes a long time to dry out inside.
that window does get pretty cold in the coldest parts of the winter but the room stays in the low 70s. maybe that is part of it. Recently though it hasn't gotten very cold and its still dropping the leaves.
I attached a photo of the roots. I know the rocks are bad for drainage so I removed them and replaced them with citrus soil
just now.
Lemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agosocalnolympia
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agobonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
3 years ago
Silica