The Tropical Fruit Forum

Follow up for anyone wondering. I forgot to mention I also added a few tablespoons of blood meal also mid Aug. Within two weeks of the fertilizers mid Aug, the old yellow leaves were olive-colored and within a month, the old leaves are fairly green, and it's putting out new leaves. So I think it was underfertilizing causing the problems. Its lemon crop looks fine. It's still not as healthy looking as the tangerine tree, but maybe because it's so late in the season. Hope this helps someone else.

I got the Meyer out of its pot today, but I don't think drainage is the issue. The roots are pale yellow and have spread to the sites and bottom of the larger pot in just 6 months, as though seeking water. The potting soil mix I originally used looks pretty good. I see perlite and wood fragments and probably peat, and the rootball seems pretty loose, not compacted. I repotted the tree but wasn't able to add back much of the new fast draining soil I bought since the rootball was so large (and the pot is 21" across). The rootball was dry (not bone dry, but needed water). So I don't think root rot and overwatering are the issue.





I now think the leaves are showing nitrogen deficiency and/or chlorosis. Leaves have yellow veins, so does this sound right? I read that citrus don't like alkaline water. The water here in S Texas is very hard and I wouldn't be surprised if it's alkaline since the soil here is alkaline. What do you think of watering with a little vinegar added to tap water, and maybe giving some iron in addition to another shot of liquid fertilizer heaviest in nitrogen? I have a little rain water in a barrel I can use just for the tree if that's better than tap. But it hasn't rained in a month so I might need to use tap soon.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Hi All, my Meyer lemon tree is 3 years old. It looked great this spring but is now not looking well. The fruit and trunk look fine, but the leaves don't. Symptoms:

* Chewed leaves: I removed some bird poop caterpillars and relocated them.
* Crispy areas, and some leaves are stunted/twisted. On the bottom of these leaves, I see some fine white shiny cobweb or silk? I wonder if this is where the bird poop caterpillars hatched out, or something else?
* Some leaves are turning over/rolling. Maybe because it's so dang hot?
* Overall the leaved are dull pale green (not the dark shiny green that my healthy tangerine has). Some leaves have yellow veins. Some older leaves are yellowing and falling off.
* Some leaves have a little fine white dust, but I think it's from a foliar treatment I did in the spring. It looks just like the white dust my car gets after I wash it with our extremely hard water and it evaporates.

The lemon is potted outdoors and has an eastern exposure. It it did wonderfully in this location last year. Since then I've repotted it because it got so big last year. This season, I've given it at various times organic (chicken poop) citrus fertilizer and more recently Fox Farm liquid 6-4-4 with a low dose of Osmocote Plus sprinkled on for micros.

My guess is the tree is getting root rot from when I repotted it this spring. It's now in very large plastic pot with several drainage holes, but I did not use citrus potting mix. I used regular potting mix (I don't remember which one) and wonder if it's too heavy a mix. I'm afraid to water the tree because I think it's making things worse, so I've dragged it into the shade until I get this figured out. My area just started with the 100 degree weather that will persist until Sept, so the tree will be dealing with that.

Any thoughts to help out my poor tree?