I recently repotted my sad little calamondin into a half miracle gro tropical soil and half coconut husk mix. It seemes to love the mix at first, it bloomed right out.This was back in april. It didn't sprout many new leaves and the ones it did were curled. Now the leaves are ALL(even the old ones) turning yellow, then quickly brown.What might be happenning? Can I save my tree? I don't over or really under-water, but it did spend one night on the window ledge when it was cold out. The window was shut of course. The miracle gro had fertilizer in it so I haven't been using plant food for fear I'd hurt the tree.I'm afraid it'll die and I love this tree,they are so hard to find in Nova Scotia. I don't trust seeds bought online to give trees that'll fruit,and having even cuttings shipped is really expensive :(
The fact that the tree flowered after repotting is not necessarily a good sign as the bloom could have been a response to stress. This ties in with your observation of the quantity and quality of the new leaves. If the tree was indoors during that cold night I can't imagine the temperature would have been low enough to cause harm to the tree. I'm not entirely familiar with the use of CHC but am aware of some processing that needs to take place prior to use. Was this done with the chips you used? I don't know what the problem is but it may be worthwhile to pop the tree out of its container to check the status of the root system. A few pictures of the tree may be of help in diagnosing the problem.
Sorry about the quality. You can't quite see it but many of the leaves are yellowing and quickly getting those brown spots on the edges.
I don't know what the problem is. The leaves are quite pale and the brown margins on some of them suggest injury of some sort. Perhaps you could discount certain possibilities. Some questions come to mind: A cursory search of old posts revealed a need to soak and treat the CHC before use to remove salts. Was that done? Not sure if it's just the quality of the pictures but the leaves appear to have a speckled look. Was there at one time a spider mite infestation, along with the telltale sign of webbing? Could there be a problem with the quality of water being used? Is it treated? Is the tree receiving enough exposure to light? Do the roots look healthy?
No I did not soak it, and when I bought it,it came with the spider mites. I got rid of them about a year and a half ago and haven't seen any sign of them since.I've used town tap water. Should I filter it? I can't get much sun anymore in my good window now that someone put up a giant building next to us, they blocked our sun in the morning and noon. I can only give it afternoon and evening sun. I bought a light for it but I'm not sure it's doing any good.However it's been surviving like that for a few years. I don't know how to tell if the roots look healthy. Can I cut them without hurting the tree? I have a feeling the roots are knotted because when I potted it last much of the soil fell from the middle of the root system. I did my best to gently replace it but I'm not sure I did ok. I was so afraid of damaging them.
Fwiw, I've never had a problem using any of the commercially available coconut husk potting products. Early on when the product was first being used, I think salt was a problem but I don't think it is any longer. I get it now in compacted bales that expand quickly when wetted. I have lost several calamondins along the way, and I am fairly sure the primary reason in my case was insect damage. They seem highly prone to attracting spider mites, white fly and mealy bugs too. So now I treat nearly all my plants with the newer type of horticultural oil, such as the Green Earth brand, several times a year now, and have found it very worthwhile. I rarely find pests on anything. I always treat anything new I bring in. Calamondins aren't really fragile, I would not worry overmuch about damaging a few roots during repotting, unless it's a very small specimen. I would make sure the roots are healthy.. firm, not black or mushy, no musty smell, no visible signs of rotting. If the soil smells like mushrooms, I'd replace it all with fresh, after rinsing as much off the roots as I could first. If your local water has a lot of chlorine in it, filtering it might help, but I suspect your biggest problem is the lack of light since they cut off your window access with the new building. Citrus trees need full sun, and from what you've said, I don't think you have enough sun now to keep the tree healthy. So you need more light. Many people use flourescent lights to supplement daylight, and there are some good articles on how to build one, or what bulbs are best. I use both cool and warm white 40 watts in my little light garden and they work fine, mostly for succulents and seedlings. For a tree, I think you'd need some sort of reflecting surface to bounce the light to the lower parts of the plant, with the tubes as close as possible to the tree top. Maybe build it a little enclosure lined with mylar or foil. If that's not doable, you could also try using compact flourescent bulbs instead. You will need the highest wattage bulbs you can find, and you'll need enough fixtures for them so you could pretty much surround the tree with them, set as close to the plant as possible without actually burning it. Whatever light setup you try, leave them on at least fourteen hours a day. A timer is handy, combined with a power bar, saves having to remember to turn them on and off. I've had fair success at growing them from seed I collected from fallen fruits, but never had one bloom. However, since I wanted to make bonsai of mine and kept pruning them back, that may have delayed or prevented flowering. Use a magnifying glass to make sure you don't have a pest problem hiding, get as much supplemental light as possible, and I wish you the best of luck.
I was wondering if the water had been treated by a water softener (not recommended). Try to find out more about the quality of the tap water. Let the water sit for about 24 hours before use if it contains a lot of chlorine or fluorine. Fluorine damage shows up as leaf scorching on some plants. Also the pH may need to be adjusted if it's too basic or too acidic. A window with a southern or southwestern exposure is recommended for indoor citrus. It doesn't sound like your tree is getting enough light, as Furballs suggested. Might there then be a large air pocket with no soil to support the roots?
I had a thought after I wrote my earlier post... you might, possibly, try using flourescent tubes, but instead of overhead, have them oriented vertically beside your tree. I have seen a few fixtures at Canadian Tire or Home Depot, complete with a cord and plug, and if you could support the fixture safely next to the tree, it would solve the problem of having all the light at the top only. You could turn the tree daily to make sure it grows more or less balanced. You can get plug in fixtures in smaller sizes than the four foot ones I use. But I am not sure what sort of bulb wattage is available for some of the shorter fixtures. Most of the ones I've seen are intended for mounting under a kitchen cabinet. They may be much less than the 40 watts used in most light gardens. If that's the case, maybe two fixtures would help to provide enough light. I'd been thinking it would be difficult and perhaps not very attractive, trying to place reflective material around your tree to bounce light down from above. Having the tubes vertical would at least bathe the entire length of the tree with stronger light, which is what I think it needs most. Perhaps you could build a plywood box to mount a pair of fixtures, and paint it, to make it look nicer in your room.
