Author Topic: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons  (Read 770 times)

Desertcitrus

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Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« on: May 25, 2023, 08:09:44 PM »
Help! I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons. How do I make it stop? They are almost grape size and I’m afraid the golf ball sized are next. I bought it at star nursery in Las Vegas for my mother in law a couple of weeks ago. And bought one with lemons on it so she would like it better. I moved it to a semi shady spot then it started loosing the really small lemons so I moved it to a sunny spot. I also sprayed it with the correct amount of neem oil because aphids were attacking 2 near by trees. I also pulled back a few 1-2 inches of soil and added compost. At that time I noticed the feeder roots were at least 3-4 inches down and that compared to my other citrus the soil drained a lot slower. I have been fertilizing it and it has a new flush of leaves. It was just loosing the tiny lemons but now it’s gradually loosing larger and larger lemons. It’s possible I over watered it in the beginning but I haven’t watered it in a week and it’s still dropping lemons.




Nick C

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2023, 09:26:45 PM »
Fruit trees will naturally thin the fruit they're holding. I have a lemon tree that had hundreds of  little fruits and its also dropped hundreds. How big is the tree?

brian

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2023, 11:12:19 PM »
I wouldn't worry so much about the current crop, there is not much you can do to "force" them to hold on.  You are likely stressing the tree with change.  I would focus on letting it stabilize with healthy foliage and then it will be in a great position to hold a quality crop.  Meyer lemons flower often so you shouldn't have to wait long.

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2023, 02:48:35 AM »
Unfortunately I think it’s more than natural thinning. I think if it’s to late to save any of the fruit than we will repot it into better soil and then put it at my mother in laws and give it the summer to do better. 😕

1rainman

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2023, 06:14:55 AM »
First of all it's a small tree in the photos which is too small to produce much fruit. But that's how all citrus is especially meyer. Meyer loses a lot of fruit but it blooms year round. Plus you put it into a new environment which causes stress so it needs time to settle in. My meyer would be covered in flowers and small fruit but very few of them make it to maturity but it's still the best container citrus. Once it gets good size you get more fruit

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2023, 05:22:53 PM »
It’s not super big but my frustration comes in that ever since I lost my last meyer lemon I can’t get any tree I buy to produce fruit. And I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. My naval orange is more than 5 yrs old. I have it in perlite, baseball field sand and i think peat. I thought for sure this is the year I will get oranges but nope. And I feel like this is it’s just one more failure that I can’t figure out. My first meyer was so enjoyable but it was in straight CHC. Maybe I need to go back to that.  Our water here is very alkaline.

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2023, 05:33:46 PM »


My orange tree is in the middle and looks healthy. The Meyer is on the right.

brian

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2023, 09:20:59 PM »
I have had meyer lemon trees in containers for nearly a decade now and they have NEVER been healthy and happy.  They are always dropping leaves, fruit, looking haggard.  It seems they are always grown from cuttings, I am going to try grafting one and see if it does better on a trifoliate rootstock instead of its own roots

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2023, 09:51:36 PM »
Brian, what has done well in pot for you?

brian

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2023, 10:54:20 PM »
Brian, what has done well in pot for you?

All of my grafted citrus have been great in containers.  I think the issue with Meyer lemon is that it is commonly sold as a rooted cutting and maybe they do not do well on their own roots.  Most non-lemon citrus are grafted, lemons are one of the few that readily root and Meyer lemons are very popular

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2023, 11:36:40 PM »
I should have bought the Meyer lemon I saw 2 weeks ago at Walmart. It was grafted onto c-35. I can get a tiny meyer right now that is grafted into FD but it’s really small. Once upon a time. I owned an amazing Meyer. It was so resilient, it endured snow, lack of watering and it grew so well and gave lemons. I miss those days. I wonder what it was grafted into. Now all I get is lime trees dying out of nowhere and an orange tree that gives me nothing. I did just buy a frost owari and c-35 and I’m going to plant it in my yard with some protection in the winter.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2023, 11:39:22 PM by Desertcitrus »

1rainman

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2023, 08:22:08 AM »
Meyer does great on its own roots and is a good size for containers. Limes are one of the most difficult citrus to get fruit and most are very cold sensitive. There's two different meyer lemons. All of them are improved Meyers but the regular meyer is basically dwarf or semi dwarf. It gets 10 or 12 feet max. There's a smaller dwarf meyer that on its own roots maxes out around six feet. It's the smallest citrus and best container citrus. Though it does grow as a bush and will get very wide and has some thorns not a lot but some. So it's better on its own roots due to small size.

Desertcitrus

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Re: Help, I’m loosing all my Meyer lemons
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2023, 11:18:18 PM »
Thank you for everyone’s responses.