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Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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Posted by number2 SF Bay Area (My Page) on Fri, Feb 5, 10 at 3:31
| We inherited a Meyer lemon tree and an Orange tree over a year ago. Before we took over, we knew they survived a summer without much water. Both trees seem to have lost half their leaves and the other half turned yellow. Since we took over, the situation had not improved or may be worsen. We asked the locally nursery and they said it might be caused by not deep watering them. So we followed the deep watering instruction for a year and it stayed the same. This year, the orange production reduced by 90% (3-4) oranges. Lemon is about the same as last year, probably ~10. However, they definitely seem struggling..please help!!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| Have you been fertilizing them? Citrus need regular fertilizer, about three times a year if in the ground and monthly if in a container. Citrus labeled fertilizer is available from garden centers where you live. Your trees should have dark green leaves if properly fed. Al |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| If your trees are loosing leaves now that it's been raining, then it's obviously not lack of water. You need to post a lot more details, such as your location, sunset zone, and type of soil. Citrus fertilizer is generally a poor choice, nowadays, the common wisdom is to fertilize citrus with rhododendron acid plant fertilizer. It works like a charm in revitalizing citrus. |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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Are yours in containers?
Same thing happened with my container lemon. I was watering too often and too less. I started to water it once a week very good until I see no more bubble coming out and I fertilized it about once a month with citrus fertilizer( I did not know about rhododendron fertilizer) and know I have green leaves and lemons like I never had before.
Good Luck |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| Except for one or two brands all citrus labeled fertilizer will have all the minors listed on the bag citrus requires for healthy growth. It is not practical to provide these from another source. Those brands not listing minors on the bag SAY they do contain them. I prefer to buy the brands with the complete list of contents on the bag. Al |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| Thank you everyone for the questions and advice!! Both trees are in my backyard, not in containers but in this I would call a raised bed?! The previous owner loves gardening so I think the orange tree probably got quite a few years in it while the lemon looks pretty young to me. Since I took over a year or two ago, I fertilized about twice a year with those MiracleGrow sticks for citrus. The trees receive a lot of pine needles from several huge pine trees on a slope behind the orange tree, however, I have not tested the soil PH. I'm in zone 10 and my yard unfortunately is facing northwest which I believe resulted in less sunlight and colder temperature in the winter. Below I've posted some pics of the trees: |
Here is a link that might be useful: Meyer and Lemon Trees
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| Oh I looked up more info about the zoning: I'm in USDA zone 9a-10a, Sunset zone 16, Climate Zone 3 (not sure what this is). |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| If you are putting your citrus on an automatic watering system (looks like it from your pictures), stop that and water deeply once a week. Citrus do not like wet feet and constant watering. And also, switch from using the fertilizer spikes and use either a good citrus fertilizer or azalea fertilizer. And application of iron and epsom salts once or twice a year is a good idea. |
RE: Please Rescue My Lemon & Orange Trees
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| Your pictures show trees starving to death. The leaves are not supposed to be yellow. They should be a dark green. Citrus fertilizer has at least 3 times the nitrogen as other ingredients. Your trees only have about half as many leaves as they should have. For the next three months I would fertilize both trees monthly with about a half cup of a good granular citrus fertilizer, watering it in. You should see a lot of new foliage growth as well as the leaves turning green by the end of the three months. From your pictures I can not tell if your trees are getting the full sun they prefer. Al |
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