Hello everybody, I really hope someone here can help me. I'm pretty new to gardening and purchased a small kumquat tree last December that I keep in a pot on my balcony. So far it's been doing really well, and even grew quite a lot over the past month, as you will be able to see in the pictures. Because of this growth, I decided to move it to a bigger pot about two weeks ago, and ever since then it's been shedding leaves like crazy. It's also been dropping fruit. The leaves are completely brown and folded in the middle. I did not see any insects in the pot. The weather where I live is good year round, so it also has not been subjected to any harsh changes in temperature. It's getting plenty of sun. I check the soil every day with my finger and water moderately if needed. I have been doing this since I bought it, and the plant has been doing well so far. I only fertilized it twice so far (please don't crucify me), the first time being two weeks ago, and the second time a month ago. I checked the roots when I repotted it, and everything looked healthy. I'm really at a loss here and would appreciate some advice. I really really want to save this plant! Thank you so much
Some things to check: Make sure the new pot has good drainage. Citrus need good drainage or they can get root rot. Look really closely at the leaves and see if there are spider mites. I can't quite tell from the photo, but it looks like there might be heavy stippling, a sign of spider mite infestation. Spider mites are extremely small and hard to see, but they can do a lot of damage to citrus if allowed to get out of control. What kind of soil was used when transplanted? It seems to be manure or some kind of compost. If it was not fully rotted then you should expect some problems. Some suggestions: If the pot does not have really good drainage then repot into something that does. Citrus need good drainage. Remove the fruit. It is ripe already and is draining nutrients from the plant that it could use to start new growth. If spider mites are seen or suspected then treat for them. One mild way to do this is to give your plant a shower using cool water. It will wash many of the spider mites away and help reduce the pest load. Read my notes on growing citrus... my climate is harsher than yours so the tips on climate will not apply, but many of the other tips will be the same: Growing Citrus on Vancouver Island | Aprici
Citruses like loamy or even sandy potting mix. It seems, that your potting mix is mostly mix of peat and compost.
Thank you so much to everybody for your advice. I bought a special soil mix for citrus plants and repotted my kumquat. The roots still looked okay to me, and the plant has not lost any more leaves, although the remaining ones are still rather pale. I'm hoping it will pull through somehow. Looks like I really did overfertilize it.
