My lemon tree turned yellow and slowly died I tried fertiliser and compost but with out results. Can any one tell me where i went wrong as I would like to plant a new one and would like it to live
Hi, it could be a few things. Can you give us a little more info: what type of lemon tree, what sort of soil (clay, sand etc),was it thriving and then died, does the soil have good drainage, did you put fertiliser in the hole when you planted it? Anything you can tell us about the plant will help to sort out what went wrong. Are you in Tasmania, Australia? ciao bertoli
Bertoli is right--we need more info to diagnose the problem. The picture shows a tree that is deficient in N. Citrus need a good deal of fertilizer--especially N and it is difficult to get enough by organic methods. One common problem for beginners is to add organic material to the hole when planting in clay soils--that just creates a large pot without drainage---the tree dies from overwatering. It is best not to put any amendments in the soil when planting citrus.
Looking at the picture, it looks like there is a second ring (circle) about 6-7 inches into the grass. If this is actually a ring caused by digging the original hole then the hole is much to large for the tree. As Skeet posted, planting a citrus tree into a large hole, and especially if you tried to "help" the tree by adding amendments to the soil, this can easily cause enough problems to kill the tree. By digging a hole that is much larger then the root ball, you have created a "lake", and the root system can easily die from drowning. The proper method of planting a citrus tree is to dig a hole about the same size as the root ball, and back fill ONLY with the dirt that was removed when you dug the hole. Also do not let grass, or anything, grow under a citrus tree. - Millet
Hi . thanks for your reply . The lemon was a Meyer I planted about five years ago it thrived and kept us in lemons for about four years. It was planted with a good bit of Dynamic Lifter. [pelletised chicken manure]. We live in Penguin North west coast tasmania . It was grown in red volcanic soil.The soil draines very well. We do get quite a bit of cold southerly wind. but I try to keep it sheltered from the wind
You seem to be growing the right type of lemon for your area-it is supposed to be the most cold tolerant of varieties available in Australia. I grow both Eureka and meyer -the Eureka thrives on neglect but the Meyer is more demanding. Sometimes lemons can have yellow foliage because they are nitrogen deficient but if the plant is struggling it is better to give it something like weak Seasol every few weeks rather than a heavy duty fertilizer which can put the tree under further stress. It sounds as though you were doing all of the right things. Do many other people in your area grow lemons? It may be worth checking out the varieties, growing conditions etc so that you get what grows best in Penguin. Maybe you just had a rough winter and the lemon didn't cope. I nearly killed my Eureka when I first started gardening- too much fertiliser, too much mulch, water etc. The best`advice that I was given was to leave it alone and only fertilise it with citrus fertilizer if necessary. The tree is 30 years old now and huge and keeps us and the neighbours in lemons.
Hi bertoli55 Thanks for the information, we did have a cold dry winter down here ,so I will plant another tree in a more sheltered position and will check which tree people are growing here ,there are some nice trees growing closer to the beach. We live on top of the hill and get cold wind blowing down of the snow which does not help our trees ,but I have a more sheltered position so I will give another tree a try there
