A little backstory, I have a Meyer Lemon tree that has very wilted and curled leaves. It only seems to be getting worse. I've tried adding lights but it only seems to dry out the leaves more. I received this tree about 2 weeks ago. The temperature outside was around 10F and it took 8 days to travel from California to Massachusetts. The tree looked a little wilted when I opened the box, but the next day the leaves started curling. Now nearly all leaves are curled like cigars. I am currently using a heating pad to heat the soil and have turned off the grow lights to try to prevent the leaves from drying more. Now, the question, Providing this works, how long will it take for the leaves to return to normal? If the leaves are a lost cause, how long before I notice any sort of growth? Here is what the plant looks like right now.
The damage may be caused by exposure to cold during shipment. Have a look at the thread Meyer Lemon tree losing green leaves | UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Millet suggested new leaves will appear in two to six weeks for that tree.
That thread was great. Thanks for helping me find it. The guys pictures looked almost exactly like mine. I guess I just have to basically wait it out. I'll keep my eye out for new leaves. I guess I should start seeing them soon.
Okay, a follow up question. Now that I know it will take 2 to 6 weeks for new growth, where can I expect to see it? Will new shoots come out at places where other leaves were? Will it come from the tips of the branches? Most of the tips of the branches ended in flowers that are now dead. Is there any thing I can do to help promote new growth? Pruning?
Growth will come where it comes. The oddest location on the plant sometimes lol. The last thing you should ever do is prune a citrus tree. Do not prune it. Clip off any dead bits (never clip on a live bit though). My meyer lemon lost a heap of leaves last summer. Is bald everywhere except at the very top. Now it has started growing again...at the top lol. I was hoping for growth lower down, but will just have to wait until spring. I could have cut the new growth off to encourage growth lower down, but this thing needs more leaves so I'm leaving it be :)
When, or if, your tree flushes new growth, the leaves will emerge at each node on the branch. Now that the days are becoming longer, and warmer weather is just a couple months away, your tree should soon begin to respond. At present, keep the root zone at least 70F (21C). This temperature will promote root growth. The absolute optimum temperature for citrus root growth is 86F (30C). Keep the soil moist, but NOT WET. If your tree does not have any foliage at this time, the tree will not require much nutrition. - Millet
It has been almost a year now and I thought I would update. In March the tree started showing signs of growth. The growth turned in to a branch. There are now about a dozen leaves and the beginnings of 4 more leaf clusters. I am using a support to try to make the branch grow vertically as it decided to only grow horizontally and I have nothing trying to grow vertically. right now the plant is wilting badly. I'm suspecting the change of season and the humidity now being at 30 percent. I'm going to try to keep the grow light off for a while to see if that helps. It could be the plant can't get enough water to the leaves to support the light. I think it happens to most citrus trees that are indoors in winter when the humidity and temps drop.
I had a similiar problem with my lemon. It's a two year old lemon that I bought last spring and it was beautiful in the summer, but in the autumn and winter it was not doing well, actually it was horrible. Here, the winters are very cold, so I let it stay in the staircase near the north window. But it took me a month and almost all leaves dropped to realize that the problem is colder water. Then I started to water it with warm water, and it got better. Now I have a problem with branches. Some of them are half dry, and leaves are starting to grow on lower branches. Should I cut those half of branches or not? If I do, my lemon would be a tiny short plant.
There's no harm in removing the dead portion, if by 'half dry' you mean there are live and dead portions to a stem. There's no much else you can do anyway. Make sure any new growth is from the scion and not from the rootstock; remove all that originate from the latter.