My tree leaves are turning up and some are falling. I water as neded and took a few pics. Please help me with this one because I don't understand.
I really do not see anything all that wrong with your tree. New leaves turn or roll up on a more or less regular basis. This is because new leaves transpire moisture at a much higher rate than do the older mature leaves. Therefore, new leaves have a tendency to curl which helps in reducing the transpiration rate. Is your tree in an area where the tree receives a little air movement? I would not worry much about the yellow lower leaves, they look to be aged leaves that the tree is discarding. The life span of a citrus leaf is only 18-22 months. Other wise it looks like you have done a good job cultivating your tree. - Millet
Thanks for the help! A few more questions if you don't mind me asking. 1. Attached are the pics of a citrus I have that had a bad case of spider mites. The plant went an extended priod of time without treatment because of my lack of knowledge of spider mites. What do you reccommend the best way to get her back on track? 2. I recently bought a grow light (LED) with blue and red lights. Do you think these lights work well enough to use? 3. I'm in zone 6 (0F to -10F) of the hardiness map. Should I take the trees outside to promote bloomong which has never occured in either plant. 4. My tap water is purified similar to bottled water. I use potassium tablets in the water as well. Should I practice using a different method of watering? 5. Can you tell by the pictures which citrus trees I have? I had orang lemon and lime. One died and these are the othe two I have. 6. I am currently using miracle grow potting soil. Should I change the soil to a mixture instead? 7. I was thinking about purchasing one of those medly fruit trees from eBurgess. (Pick nectarines, peaches, plums, and apricots all from the same tree). What is your take on these trees? Thanks a million for you help! I love this site!
Thetree looks good, current pictures do not show much damage from spider mites on the new leaves--that's good. As for potting soil, I think it would be better to repot in a faster draining media, such as a mix of 4:1 pine bark chunks and peat moss (you can use the miracle grow soil as the peat moss) or you can try the CHC recipe that Millet has posted, but the miracle grow soil alone is likely to get you into trouble as it compacts over time and begins to exclude the air space--you will likely get root rot. The grow light should work fine--it needs to be pretty close for best results (6-10 inches) and you need to make sure the roots are warm (mid 60s or higher), otherwise you are wasting the light. Maintain light for 12-14 hrs a day. Are you fertilizing the tree with anything beside potassium tablets? The tree looks very green--is it getting that from the fertilizer in miracle grow potting soil? You must be watering correctly (when the top is dry 2-3 inches--with enough water so that at least 10% goes through the pot) and tap water should be fine if it is not high in salts. The medly tree is a good idea if you have limited space. You may have to learn to graft to keep the various varieties in balance over time or the tree may slowly loose some limbs.
Hello! New issue with my citrus tree: I took the tree outside during the day to shock it into flowering. The temperature was on the low side 40-50 degrees. I brought them inside at night. The leaves are starting to fall off and the branches are dying. What do you recommend I do? What did I do to cause this?
I don't think it was the direct effect of temperature, but possibly an indirect effect if it was also exposed to direct sun. When the roots are below 55 F, they are completely non-functional. If the tree is exposed to direct sun at the same time, the leaves will overheat and die. I leave my container seedlings outside for all winter except the nights when freezing is expected, but I have them under a shade cloth so that direct sun does not hit the leaves when the roots are cold. If that was not the case (not exposed to direct sun), your problem may be the soil. As peat moss based soil ages, it compacts and expells the air from the soil--citrus need lots of air in the soil. It would not hurt to repot in a faster draining media like 4 parts pine bark to 1 part potting soil or peat moss. Even this media will compact over time and needs to be replaced every year or so.
Putting your tree outside WILL NOT shock the tree into flowering. A citrus tree requires approximately 600-800 hours of cool temperatures to differentiate the vegetative buds into flower buds. For your tree to have flowers at this time of year, the bud differentiating would have had to be done over the last three months. If your tree's leaves are dropping and the branches are dieing back, the problem is in the root zone. - Millet
Millet, If our citrus trees need 600-800 hours of "cooler" temperatures before they will flower, when is the best time to start this treatment, and how cool should they be kept? Also, how much light should they receive during this time? My two lemon trees are 6.5 ft tall, around 6-7 yrs old, and have never flowered so far. I also wanted to let you know that my trees have made a full recovery from the greasy spot which afflicted them last year, and they are putting out about 25-30 new branches of leaves at a time, for the last 3 months. They're nice and bushy again! I wanted to ask about the leaf curling problem also- I know its not really a problem because my trees are perfectly healthy, and they have always done this, but the leaves tend to curl up when they are new, and most of them never uncurl. They get enough light i think, even though they're curled, it just bugs me from an aesthetic standpoint. Please see attached picture.
