Hello there, My name is Matt and this is my first post. I live in Ontario, so obviously I need to bring my citrus trees indoors for the winter, but this winter I have lost 2 of them and a handful of other plants, all seemingly from the same thing. The plants seem to die back from the tips of the outer most branches until it gets to the trunk and then the roots. I don't over water them, I just give them a drink when the top inch of soil is dry and I don't let them sit in any standing water. Typically when I bring them in my Meyer lemon, grapefruit and orange tree lose most of their leaves and then start growing them back a few months later. I have a 5 foot random lemon tree that's was passed down to me, but it never seems to lose it's leaves over the winter indoors. Well my grapefruit and orange tree both were lost this winter, I also bring in a Trinidad scorpion pepper I have had for 5 years and it's died the same way. I had an avacodo tree and it also died the same. I have really hard water where I live, could this be the culprit, or maybe I just don't have the know how to keep these guys going. My Meyer lemon is starting to show signs at the tops of the branches of the same thing, but down lower I'm getting new growth, I transplanted it a month ago thinking maybe new soil would help. If pictures would help I can take some. Thanks again
definitely take pictures. There are a few conditions that could be diagnosed and helped based on pictures. Also, I would recommend reading my tips on growing citrus here: Growing Citrus on Vancouver Island | Aprici ... while the conditions we have are not as difficult as yours, some of the tips may be helpful. My initial guess would be air is too dry and too little light based on your description. The hard water would make things even more difficult, so perhaps consider using reverse osmosis filtered (or distilled) water. Too much salt is definitely a problem with citrus. It usually leaves a pattern on the leaves that can be diagnosed, so take photos and post them.
The tree without leaves is my Meyer lemon. It has some small growth sprouting out of some of the branches but the branch on the far left is dead. I have been removing the dead limbs, is this a bad thing to do? I should mention when the leaves fell off all of my citrus they fell off green, and the grapefruit and orange died shortly after. The meyer just seemed to go dormant, but seems to have sections dying back now. The one with all of the leaves is the random unknown lemon tree, its had a really bad case of scale for the past few months that I have been treating with oil and trying to remove by hand. But it seems relatively unaffected by the scale, it's been left out in Sub-Zero temps by accident by my fiance and didn't even flinch. Then there is my jalapeno plant I have had for a few years that is just about dead in the picture, and I haven't been able to stop it from getting there. Not really to concerned with the peppers as they are easy to grow again, I just find it odd that all of the plants seem to die the same way. I'm really more concerned about my Meyer and why the other citrus died though. I'm assuming since it has new growth it should by fine, but I could be wrong
Removing the dead branches is the right thing to do, but be sure to remove to the point where there is healthy tissue. Sometimes a fungus can get into a branch and travel down, if you don't cut all the way to healthy tissue it will continue to traverse until it reaches the crown and kills the whole plant. While this is rare I have seen it happen. If you see signs of life I would recommend feeding the citrus to encourage growth. A liquid fertilizer high in nitrogen such as miracle grow would work.
Thank you for all of the information! I'm just worried about over watering, I notice my Meyer lemon that ha snow leaves still has some dampness around the roots but it's less then an inch down, would this be over watering to hit it again with liquid? The soil mix I use is about half perilite and half cactus/ palm soil ( don't have much here for citrus specifically) . Is there wanting else to get better drainage?
Half perlite and half cactus mix should have plenty of drainage. It is a judgement call, but I would give it the fertilizer if it was my citrus.
So I have inspected my Meyer and noticed that the part under what was cut off is now doing the same thing. It looks as if the bark is slightly wrinkly and is soft if you scrap it with your nail. If I scratch other parts of the tree its just nice and green and much tougher to scratch. I also have forgotten to mention I have had some really bad fungus Nat issues this winter, we thought they were fruit flys but noticed they were coming out of the soil. Are these harmful at all?
