My lemon tree is looking sicker and sicker. It is at least five years old and to begin with it was fine and produced 7 lemons. Since then it seems to have got sicker. As you can see by the photos most of the lemons are disfigured and or bronze coloured. More leaves are dropping than are growing. It seems to blossom all the time. We live in the SW of Turkey and last summer decided to water it more ie every week we really soaked it with about 30lts of water. I have fed it with well rotted chicken manure and diluted liquid from compost. In Turkey you take what manure you can get. Can you help me to save this tree. We have had a very mild dry winter this year and have had to water it.
Hello Jill Powell from Turkey! Hey, I'm no expert, but I'm curious. Does this make me dangerous or what. I know my lemons love a very acidic fertilizer (Hollytone). I'm not sure how acidic chicken manure is though. I apply it only once every month or so. Looks like your tree is in a planter? Does it have good drainage? I wait until they are almost completely dry before I water them. I've seen lemons that get too much water, and the leaves have that yellow appearance on the edges (A lot like your photos). Hope this helps!
Jill, your lemon tree looks to be suffering from high soluble salts, and probably also root damage. Is the tree growing in a container? If it is a containerized tree, manure is not very suitable for containers, as it is too easy to cause burning, and because of the manure's high salt content. Slow growth, leaf drop, yellow leaf margins, stunted fruit development are all symptoms of the tree growing in high levels of soluble salts. Millet Dr. Justina L. Ford MD 1871 - 1952
Thanks for your help, no the tree is not in a container it is planted in the ground and has concrete round the sides which by now is well cured, this gives it a facility to fill with water which drains nice and quickly the earth is below the graft. We have two orange trees planted like this and they are fine. What do I do about Soluble Salts? If possible if you have a solution can you remember that to buy anything in this country is very difficult, they do have stuff for this that and the other but it always seems to be very strong chemicals. I suppose the only way to check if it is root damage is to dig it up which I think will kill it anyway. It is growing one or two new leaves. I really do appreciate your help. Jill
Root rot is often caused by over watering and sometimes by the presence of mulch near the base of the tree. Reduce the watering and remove any organic matter within at least a foot of the tree trunk. If you have not been composting your chicken manure, it would be better if you did that before applying it to your tree. Skeet
Poorly sick lemon tree is now better. One day I was watering the tree and wandered off and forgot about it. One hour later I remembered but within a few days the tree was looking much better so since then I always water for half an hour which I also do for the two orange trees we have and all look better and are bearing fruit this year. Once a fortnight seems to be what is required during the very hot times. So thanks for all your suggestions but it seems that you have to really take into account the weather and soil factors to a far greater account than I had thought. I tell you here in Turkey we are used to very fresh fruit but straight from the tree is even better.
Once a quarter I completely flush my citrus, for about 30 minutes using a hose. My plants love it and look really healthy. Apparantly it gets rid of any salts that are unused!
