Hello, I recently purchased a lemon tree at christmas time, so I have only had it for 2 months. Unfortunately I am noticing it is not looking so good. *lemons have brown discolorations *leaves are falling off and twisting and contorting *Moss at bottom of plant is turning brown *leaves are getting holes in them. Can anyone recommend what the problem is and a solution? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. I attached a few photos to hopefully help solve the issue.
The damage appears to be physical. The leaf in the first picture was torn. The one in the third was creased on the left side and torn by a thorn on the right. The fruit may also have been scarred and punctured by a thorn or branch. Is it possible the damage occurred before purchase? The tree looks healthy enough. I would remove the decorative moss as it makes it difficult to check soil moisture. Are the leaf petioles still attached to the fallen leaves or do they remain on the stem?
After removing the decorative moss I discovered centipede-like bugs underneath! Could they be killing the tree?
The creatures in the first photo are centipedes. They're not a problem if there are only a few of them. The photos do not reveal any obvious problem. There are a few strands of webbing in the fifth photo which may indicate the presence of a few spider mites but the foliage do not have any sign of damage from feeding at this point. The specks underneath the leaf appear to be soil particles and not mites. Have a closer look nevertheless. There is a white/grey spot under the light near the top of the lemon may be a scale insect but again it's not obvious. You did not mention the presence of any sticky substance (which scale excrete) around the plant. By the way, I would remove the stake and the material wrapped around the lower trunk; they do not appear to serve any useful function.
Thank you for your help! So the spots on the lemons and the sticky brown stuff on one lemon is normal?
It's not normal but is consistent with scarring due to injury to the fruit. I've seen this in some of the ones on my trees. It's usually slight scarring like that seen in the photos of the yellow and green fruits. I've only ever had one in which sap oozed from the rind and it was not as extensive as yours. I wouldn't worry unless new fruits also develop this way. But do watch out for webbing and speckles of sticky substance on the foliage as they're symptoms of pest infestation.
