too wet?

[strom]

Two small citrus in the only place I have a little sun in my yard planted last september.  They were green through December, but have yellowed in this odd manner.  No lost leaves.  Too much water from all the rain or a deficiency or disease?  I cannot tell after looking through a google search and pictures - I seem to have opposite of most issues, where veins are still green.

Soil appears to be mostly contractor sand, with a mix of some compost.  I scratched in about 1/4-1/2 cup Dr. Earth fruit tree fertilizer early February around perimeter, under mulch.  Thank you for your time.
Lemon


Same Lemon, different limb


Lime

[poncirsguy]

Needs more nitrogen.  I use Miracle Gro 24-8-16  with all the micros you need. 

[Millet]

Actually the deficiency symptom shown by the coloration of your tree's leaves is an iron deficiency.  It is rather easy to misinterpret between an iron deficiency and a nitrogen deficiency, both deficiencies are quite similar in appearance.  Both deficiencies produce a yellow leaf.  If it is a nitrogen deficiency the leaf veins are yellow/orange in color, in an iron deficiency the leaf veins are green in color.  You write that you have had an excess amount of rain, so I suspect the wet soil has something to do with the problem.   Have you fertilized this tree on the proper schedule, or lately?  A young 1 year old citrus tree needs to be fertilized 6 times per year equally spaced out between March through September.  A two year old tree 5 times per year, and so on.  Nutrient elements are of course water soluble and can leach down and out of the young tree's root zone.   To quickly take care of the deficiency a foliar spray of iron chelate (available at most garden centers) should work well.   Citrus are heavy feeders, requiring more nutrition than most plants.  I don't use organic fertilizers, so I can't tell you how much of Dr. Earth to use, however it must say on the bag.   The best to you and this tree.

[strom]

Thank you both for the help!

[strom]

I found several iron supplement products available locally.  Great!  Some chelated, some sulfated.  Doing research on that.

Meantime, one of the chelated products (Grow More) provided a warning not to apply on fruit trees when they are blooming.  Both the citrus are currently in bloom.  I tried reading up on this, and I think it simply causes a smaller fruit?  Or is it really a non-issue?

[Millet]

Strom, I would not spray anything while the tree is in open bloom.  As your tree is currently blooming, the flowers should be gone in a week or so, then you can spray.  In the mean time, if the iron supplements you purchased  shows a ground application you can also do that method.  Iron sulfate sometimes causes damage to citrus, that's why growers use the chelate.

[strom]

Thank you again for the response.  In reading this forum, you are a very patient person, responding to similar questions over and over. 

I think I found the problem.  I took a dozen soil samples from my yard, including bare areas and just adjacent to a few plants, mixed each with equal parts distilled water, let sit for 30 minutes.  Digital pH meter, calibrated with buffer solutions, showed pH range 7.7 to 8.9, with almost all samples over 8    Only two were below (one at a hydrangea and one at a camelia).

Well, it's probably official, my soil sucks.  That explains many things about this garden.  Back in February, I applied sulfur per package directions to most of the trees, including the citrus, but from what I'm reading, reducing pH for soil is only temporary.  Ugghhh.. I'm wondering if I should dig the two citrus out and put them into pots now, or just keep fortifying and watching the pH?

[Millet]

Strom, when a citrus tree is deficient in iron, the deficiency could be due to an actual lack of iron, and it can also be due to a high pH condition..   With high pH conditions, even if the soil contains plenty iron it is not available to the tree because of the high pH.   Its great you found out the cause.