Author Topic: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves  (Read 741 times)

20legend

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Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« on: March 24, 2023, 11:02:25 AM »
Hi. I recently joined this forum due to my interest in growing cold hardy citrus in zone 7a.

I have a key lime plant that has been indoors since since November. It was doing fine and a month back even started putting on flower buds. I used to water the plant every 3 days.
Reading about citrus online, I found out that the plants do not like frequent watering so I decided to water just once weekly since mid March.
Yesterday, I noticed the plant leaves had turned light green and a little dry. So I gave it a good watering. This morning I woke up and saw half of its leaves had fallen. I gave it a shake and almost every leave on the plant fell off. The flower buds are still on the tree though.
Any ideas what could be the issue to cause such a drastic change overnight?

Thanks.

« Last Edit: March 24, 2023, 02:31:10 PM by 20legend »

vnomonee

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2023, 12:20:53 PM »
This is probably root issues, since you were watering too frequently it might have developed root rot.

If you take the plant out of the pot and the soil falls away easily you will notice root rot right away mushy roots or a bad smell.
Clean the roots up and repot it in a new fast draining mix, in a smaller container preferably (not necessary if you watch the watering, just remember that a bigger pot will take longer to dry out) until it recovers. While indoors I don't water
for atleast a week or longer, if the bottom of the pot still has water in it (I gauge this by the weight of the pot, not just how the soil looks at the surface).
« Last Edit: March 24, 2023, 12:22:32 PM by vnomonee »

brian

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2023, 12:37:27 PM »
Yes, check the soil and see if it is too dry or too wet. 

Note that when citrus is too dry, the leaves curl to show this.  Then, when you water it, all the curled leaves fall off (unless the whole plant is dead, then they stay on)

From the picture, your tree looks healthy otherwise.  It should sprout new leaves soon if the roots are happy

Millet

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2023, 12:56:36 PM »
As Vnomonee wrote.  You can determine when to water just by lifting the container.  After you next water lift up the pot to feel its weight.  Then every 3 days lift again.  You will learn very quickly when it is time to water.

20legend

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2023, 02:30:23 PM »
Thanks guys for all the advise. I plan to remove the plant from the current pot, use 1/2 cactus potting mix and 1/2 regular potting mix with some compost and re-pot the plant. I have read that cactus potting mix is pretty fast draining. I hope it recovers and get some new leaves this spring. Might also use this opportunity to prune the plant a bit.

Do you think the fruit buds will continue to develop into limes or will they fall out eventually ?

vnomonee

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2023, 05:08:59 PM »
If you can avoid regular potting mix that would be best. And I would add perlite to the cactus mix if you have it. There are some popular mix recipes for citrus that you can make yourself such as 5-1-1.

Potting mix on its own stays wet for too long, I learned this the hard way. I haven't tried making my own mixes yet so I can't add my two cents, but I do add a lot of perlite to bagged potting soil and am careful with the watering. I use fabric pots as well which dry out quicker. I still have some issues in the winter but once my citrus get outside they tend to recover

Sylvain

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2023, 08:31:48 AM »

20legend

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2023, 10:52:23 AM »
So I decided to take the plant out of the pot over the weekend to check for root rot (image below). It doesn't look like the roots or in a bad condition. I did however take vnomonee's advice and re-potted it with cactus mix and perlite into a 3 gallon container. I also pruned the circling roots a bit and added some drainage rocks are the bottom on the container for even better drainage.
The flower buds are still holding up and haven't fallen yet.



Millet

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2023, 11:15:56 AM »
Long ago it was found that adding drainage rocks to the bottom of the container is not a good idea.  Doing so hinders drainage.  Adding rocks only raises the perched water table HIGHER into the container.  If your not familiar with the term perched  water table you can look it up on the internet.

I looked up "adding rocks"  for you::

This is a popular step, but Willis says it’s best to skip it. Adding a layer of gravel or rocks to the bottom of a pot actually reduce drainage rather than promote it.

As Willis explains, water doesn’t move easily from one media layer to another, even from a fine-textured material like potting mix to a denser material like gravel or rocks. So instead of the extra water draining into the gravel, the water will gather or “perch” in the bottom part of the soil until it becomes saturated, leaving no space for air to circulate.

Without good drainage and aeration, the plant roots can become severely stressed and more susceptible to plant diseases, and potentially drown and die.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2023, 11:24:08 AM by Millet »

20legend

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2023, 11:24:31 AM »
Ah, crap. I would hate to uproot the plant again to get rid of the rocks. I think I will just be more careful with the watering schedule.
another reason why I add rocks to the bottom of my containers if to prevent them from being knocked over with the winds.
Last season, I added rocks to the bottom of my containers and not a single one of them fell over.

20legend

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2023, 11:27:30 AM »
Thanks Millet. Really great info.
Maybe once this plant will get root bound, I will get rid of the rocks when I need to re-pot it again.

Do you think the buds will go on to form fruit this season with no leaves on the plant?

brian

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Re: Help - Key Lime Spontaneously Dropped All Leaves
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2023, 12:00:20 PM »
Do you think the buds will go on to form fruit this season with no leaves on the plant?

I would remove all but one or two fruitlets, if you just want to try the fruit.  Without leaves to support them, most will drop off anyway and/or be severely undersized