Hi GWeb,

I'm new to the whole planting thing. I have 7 seeds from an amazing Siracusa/Femminello St. Teresa/Sorrento Lemon (whatever the real name may be). Basically, I brought back two lemons from Sorrento, Italy and have started to grow them in a large pot outside my apartment.

Everything has been wonderful with them the last two months. They've grown (between 1 1/2 inch to 2 1/2 inch in height with bloomed leaves) due to a lot of rainwe've had in Houston and they love the humidity here. The last few days I've been coming home to my largest (of my four growing) with a half eaten leaf. I didn't pay much attention... I just water these little ones. I haven't put any pesticide. Yesterday evening, we had a ridiculous storm. I leave this morning and all my little guys are missing leaves. Can lemon trees continue to grow without leaves?

While inspecting them tonight, I noticed that there was a caterpillar (of unknown species) roaming around my pot and I panicked. I pulled it out and ran to the computer to find some solutions. What I did do was:
1) Get warm water mixed with dish soap to cover my baby trees from being completely eaten to the roots.
2) I then busted out my citrus tree feed and spread it around the top of the soil and watered the area.
3) Sprayed the trees again with a bit of soapy water.

I really am out of my element here -- are these trees too far gone to rescue?