Talk to gardeners, landscapers, nursery people, neighbors, etc. from your own area for advise on how they raise Citrus (amending the soil, raised beds, etc..). Your conditions in terms of soil condition, temperatures, humidity, etc. are completely different from conditions in the Southeast or East or any other areas where Citrus are grown (even if only containerized). But I would echo what other posters have said. Summer is not the time to transplant first mistake. You could next time hold off planting Summer purchased (often discounted plants) until the Fall or Winter months. (Citrus do quite well containerized or in raised beds due to improved drainage btw.) There is obviously some kind of drainage issue. Not matter how hot and dry your air temps are, Citrus are not going to tolerate muddy conditions. I would like to be optimistic, but prepare for the worst. Also, stop fertizing it! Will do nothing but aggravate the situation. On a positive note, I have had Citrus come back fully to flower and fruit from 100% defoliated trees. Good luck!

Cheryl, Superthrive is very helpful, but if a tree has been over and under-watered a number of time, NOTHING will bring a dead tree back. Since you've been feeding, I'd withhold food until spring. I think you're trying to force growth on a tree that is trying to rest. One thing is improve the environment. If the temp is 55 degrees or ever in this room, I'd remove the lights. I can see this done if a tree is outdoors or in a totally unheated room, but not in your heated house. Next I'd make sure the house has adequate humidity. 50% or higher. NOt only is humiditity good for plants but people, too. Thirds, air circulation is important. A ceiling fan, even in an adjactent room helps circulate heat and humidity. Checking for insects is important, especially this time of year. Your leaves are yellowing for a reason. It could be the reasons Suzanne mentioned, and/or it can be bugs or iron deficiency. I wonder about the definciency since you mention the veins protruding color, more pronounced. Shake the tree to remove yellowed leaves, and lift felled leaves from the soil..leaving them will only attract insects, including fungus gnats. It's important familiarizing yourself with proper waterings. water only when top 3" of soil is dry. You can either stick your finger in the soil..if it comes out moist wait a few more days and check..if dry, then water. Another way it to life pot..if it feels light then most likely it needs watering..If heavy do not water, and do the finger test.Good luck, Toni

I cannot get over how that second picture (the ooze) looks like a green DRAGON sitting on top of the fruit. The head's facial features are so well defined and it's big belly is funny. Does anyone else see this, or is it just me? But alas, it's really sad about that tree. That is most certainly what happens when a sucker shoot from below the graft line is allowed to takeover. It will drain (ie. divert) almost all the nutrients from the tree and take over very quickly. That is a FourWinds citrus and here are their pics about the topic (showing what your trunk/branch probably looked like way back when): http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/solver/suckering.html I have seen pictures of folks who remove a large primary trunk and leave a smaller one like yours there to be the new tree. However, this was on a standard citrus rootstock and not on Flying Dragon and you know the caveats: every situation is different... Since it's not a lot of effort (fore-go dealing with the aphids, ants, and scale) I would attempt to saw it off several inches above where it's joined trying not to injure your true lemon tree. And cut off that other smaller sucker from the base. I can only imagine the variety of issues you might encounter if it goes wrong. However these would be in the relative short term; if the tree survives it might grow back wonderfully. I suggest this because I assume it's has a great established root base and it could turn out to be an interesting experience. What did you decide to do?

I 100% know what you're dealing with. I also purchased a Ponderosa Lemon tree that had the www.mycitrustree.com tag on it, from I think Rona (from the garden centre of a big box building store), Ottawa Ontario... It was also my first citrus plant and I have done an abundance of research to find out what's wrong. I got the same moisture metre too, as one of the first things that could be wrong when leaves drop is over or under watering; don't always believe the metre, do the two knuckle test, put your finger into the soil and if it's dry that far down water it. Also, water metres shouldn't be left in the soil, be wiped off between uses and temperature has been effecting the readings on mine. Water should flow freely out of the bottom as citrus loves well draining soil, root rot is a problem if the bottom of the pot does not have enough drainage and things get soppy. Root rot will cause the leaf drop you're experiencing but is not the only reason leaves drop, you also seem to have the little breathing hole too so this might not be your issue. Overwatering can cause the soil to lose nutrients and that can cause deficiencies that will make leaves yellow along the vein and drop. Using a fertilizer, but not enough or of a type that will burn the slightly exposed root ball, would take care of deficiencies. (I don't see your root ball, lemon trees like to have a bit of root exposed just along the surface) Let's talk inside/outside plants and little bugs. Outdoors is a great place to grow; Every plant should have a summer timeshare pass. Outside is also where your plant gets bugs, that's usually okay because bigger bugs eat the little ones and your plant is in balance. When you bring the plant inside the little bugs, magnifying glass sized, don't have predators. Your 2 likely culprits, which I inherited when I bought the plant not knowing better, are scale and spider mites: Spider Mites Take your plant to the shower. Give the soil a plastic bag bib, put 1:3 (not stronger) dish soap to water in a spray bottle on an aggressive mist and make sure you get under the leaves and behind the ears. When your done, hopefully you have a removable shower head, turn the shower on and rinse him off. The mites might hide under the bags on top of the soil, I don't know how to kill them all yet but this controls the populous. I did this twice (once a week for 2 weeks) when my Christmas holidays return saw a couple dozen leaves on the floor. I've done it once since when a few leaves discoloured within 1 week. Scale Sooty mold or greasy mold... Let me ask a few more questions, that if you answer yes to you have scale: Have you seen some beautiful lil' dew drops on your flower buds? (Honey Dew mealy bug (adult scale) secretion ) Have you seen anything like the caramel coloured dots, on the thicker green stem, like in the following picture? (Scale) Do you have tiny black/brown dots, like pin prick bumps, on the underside of you leaves? Seen even more clearly when held up to the light. (Armoured scale) Sooty/greasy mold can look like dry hard water drops and is the excrement of scale, a symptom. I didn't know these existed, until I bought this plant and it came with these problems, but they are extremely common. There are products you can buy that should get rid of these but I haven't tried any yet. I'm thinking of using Neem Oil, I hear good things but the only place I can find it is online. The premise is that the plant becomes slick new bugs can't latch and old bugs get smothered. You can cook/smother your plant if you over use it though. Neem oil is all natural, safe in the soil, okay to spray on the fruit and eat, and should be able to rid you of both of these pests. You can use a little knife/tweezers/a soft toothbrush to 'manually extract' scale but it can be onerous if you have a lot of issues or a big plant. You can soak your tools in soap/rubbing alcohol for the added bonus of killing the scale/eggs where they latch even if you can't get them entirely off. Longest common ever but is full of months of research, good luck and all the best. ~Cheryl