Hi, i have a 4 months lemon seedling and i am starting to notice that the leaves are starting to get dry and brown from the tips. What is happening? Too much water? Too little? I think over-watering is more likely, since i used to water it every other day, but recently i am starting to leave like 1 week between waterings and i saw leaves were getting even worse. What is happening? I dont know what should i do. Thank you for your help.
I keep my young citruses indoors in an empty aquarium, to keep air humitity around their leaves at optimal level and give some extra light. I water those plants ca once per month. I think that in the winter watering more than twice per month is definitely too much.
Well i usually move the plant to the sun when it is sunny. I usually check the top layer of the soil and when i feel it dry, i water it. Humidity is a problem since here is really dry and not that cold (i am from Spain). How can i know when should i water?
Overall your plant looks quite healthy. I think that this little browning of the leaf tips is caused by the physiological drought. If your plant is outside, then, I suppose, there might be situation, where the wind and the sun are drying lemon's leaves, and the soil is too cold for plant (your night time lows are probably around +5ºC or even lower, and lemon's roots are not very active at such low temperatures) to easily obtain water for compensation. You may try to add something to cast a light shadow on the lemon's crown in the sunny mornings, so that direct sun does not access leaves before the soil in the pot is somewhat warmed up from the night chill.
I decide about when to water by weighing the container by hand. Some more recommendations against physiological drought: 1. Place your plant so, that when it is a sunny morning, then the sun starts to shine directly on the container at least the same time, when it starts to shine on the crown. On the photos there is a barrier, that blocks the sun warming up the container. 2. Use a small blanket, old newspapers or some other insulation to cover the container (not the crown) in the evening, if there is a risk, that night time temperatures would drop near +5º or lower. So the soil temperatures would not drop so low.
I keeo it inside most of the time. I just bring it out so it can catch some sun in the evenings, so that's probably not it. Can it be overwatering?
I keep my citruses on the dry side. I have no experiences with over watering. But I suspect, that in case of overwatering these symptoms would be much more serious. If you keep your lemon inside, then low air humidity might be the reason. What is the relative humidity in the room, where you keep this plant? For humans it is the best, if the RH stays between 40 and 60%. For most of citruses, it should better to be above 50%.
I checked it today and the top leaves are also getting dry. Just the tips. I don't know what i am doing wrong. I let the soil surface dry before watering so that should be good. But they are still getting dry... i try to spray water on the from time to time but only getting worse...
I write here to update. I took your advise and started spraying some water from time to time but it doesn't work. Now it is even worse. All of the leaves are dry more or less until the half of it. I have to point the leaves are not getting brown. Just dry green. Why is this happening? It looks like i can't fix it.
I don't remember, that I have ever recommended you to spray water onto leaves. If it is a physiological drought, then you have to fight the causes. Main causes could be: 1. Soil too cold (+5C or less) for plant to get water from it. 2. Soil too salty (too much fertilizers used or air too dry causing too frequent need for watering, so most of the salts in the water accumulate in the soil).
Well you said it was an humidity issue so i tried that. It cant be the soil since it is indoors and no fertilizer used. I also water once a week or so, when the surface of the soil looks dry... as i said the leaves are not brown dry. They still look green but pale and obviously dead.
If you need to water every week in winter, then your air is obviously too dry. If the air is too dry, then evaporation is high and all the salts from the water accumulate in the soil. It becomes too salty, and roots can't obtain water from it. Put your container into the water instead of pouring water in it, when watering. This method will leach some of the salts out from the soil. Cover your plant with a glass jar of suitable size, if the air is too dry. I haven't watered my citruses (in the aquarium) since December. I just checked - they start growing new leaves. Soon I must start watering them more often.
Just like this is ok, if the jar is bottom up. There will be high humidity inside the jar soon and if your plant has not completely dried yet, then it should benefit from that. My citruses like the environment in the aquarium (tehe aquarium has cover with lights on top of it).
If you grow your plant under a jar for some time, then you should be especially cautious when you finally can move this plant outside, as it needs step by step training with dryer air then.
