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Very bad potted citrus year

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Eric101:
I have really been struggling this year with my potted citrus.  Very nearly lost my kumquat but it struggled back (and is now in full bloom) after repotting.  Repotted one of my three meyer lemons about mid-July as it was going to die if I didn’t.  Last ditch effort but it does look like it has new growth now.  Lime was doing well but now seems to be dropping leaves.   Late bloom because I uppotted it in early spring and still has small fruit but worried.  The other lemons almost died but I adjusted pH and they bounced back.  Now stalled again.  Noticed new growth was sagging/wilting on one so that is also concerning.  All the rest (two oranges and a grapefruit) are doing… ok… not great but every single plant except lime has dropped all its fruit.  It does seem like this year has been either all out rain or blistering heat so maybe just a bad year.  But makes me want to throw in the towel.   Just complaining, mind you… sometimes I just gotta, you know.  Btw, my lemons and kumquat are around 10 years old or so and usually produce fairly well.  Virginia 7a.

dytandme:
My issues early this season were due to subpar overwinter care with pH, iron, and magnesium issues. It took a while to get things balanced enough that the trees bounced back. They have done well to recover despite the heat. But the rain here has consistently washed out almost everything I put into the pots as far as nutrients go. So I hear ya there!

Fruit drop could certainly be from stress but the leaf drop on the lime makes me wonder if it's a shared deficiency since many of your trees are showing similar symptoms? Do you have any pics of the trees to share? When it's so bad leaves and fruit are dropping, I will typically correct pH with iron sulfate (Hi-Yield) and magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) as both nutrients tend to be deficient when soil pH is off.

Alippincott:

--- Quote from: Eric101 on August 14, 2025, 04:53:07 PM ---I have really been struggling this year with my potted citrus.  Very nearly lost my kumquat but it struggled back (and is now in full bloom) after repotting.  Repotted one of my three meyer lemons about mid-July as it was going to die if I didn’t.  Last ditch effort but it does look like it has new growth now.  Lime was doing well but now seems to be dropping leaves.   Late bloom because I uppotted it in early spring and still has small fruit but worried.  The other lemons almost died but I adjusted pH and they bounced back.  Now stalled again.  Noticed new growth was sagging/wilting on one so that is also concerning.  All the rest (two oranges and a grapefruit) are doing… ok… not great but every single plant except lime has dropped all its fruit.  It does seem like this year has been either all out rain or blistering heat so maybe just a bad year.  But makes me want to throw in the towel.   Just complaining, mind you… sometimes I just gotta, you know.  Btw, my lemons and kumquat are around 10 years old or so and usually produce fairly well.  Virginia 7a.

--- End quote ---

I would guess the issue is the soil. I have made the change to avoid organic matter in my soils after learning from Gary Matsuoka and watching videos from the channel Grafting man and Grows Gone Wild ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM3LTmyv_yM&t=186s ).

My citrus are in basically rocky soil with decomposed granite, pummice and other stuffs like sand. I might have put some peat moss in.

BP:

--- Quote from: Alippincott on August 20, 2025, 10:37:15 AM ---
--- Quote from: Eric101 on August 14, 2025, 04:53:07 PM ---I have really been struggling this year with my potted citrus.  Very nearly lost my kumquat but it struggled back (and is now in full bloom) after repotting.  Repotted one of my three meyer lemons about mid-July as it was going to die if I didn’t.  Last ditch effort but it does look like it has new growth now.  Lime was doing well but now seems to be dropping leaves.   Late bloom because I uppotted it in early spring and still has small fruit but worried.  The other lemons almost died but I adjusted pH and they bounced back.  Now stalled again.  Noticed new growth was sagging/wilting on one so that is also concerning.  All the rest (two oranges and a grapefruit) are doing… ok… not great but every single plant except lime has dropped all its fruit.  It does seem like this year has been either all out rain or blistering heat so maybe just a bad year.  But makes me want to throw in the towel.   Just complaining, mind you… sometimes I just gotta, you know.  Btw, my lemons and kumquat are around 10 years old or so and usually produce fairly well.  Virginia 7a.

--- End quote ---

I would guess the issue is the soil. I have made the change to avoid organic matter in my soils after learning from Gary Matsuoka and watching videos from the channel Grafting man and Grows Gone Wild ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM3LTmyv_yM&t=186s ).

My citrus are in basically rocky soil with decomposed granite, pummice and other stuffs like sand. I might have put some peat moss in.

--- End quote ---

Chiming in to say although I am new to citrus, Gary's saturday lectures on soil and plants in general have been a HUGE level up for me. Changing my potting soil and mentality in containers from almost all organics to only surface organics has been incredible. They drain so well, they have so much more oxygen and thus so much happier. Im super excited to face our 40"+ yearly rain now. AJ  the graft man on youtube was my doorway into a lot of this stuff too, I love his content. Highly recommend AJ and Gary

fishie:
Yup, the potting soil from Gary was a game changer for me as well! Have hundreds of plants growing in it now. I am curious, though, how did they do well for 10 years and just start doing bad now? Have you root pruned and changed the soil out in the past?

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