I have just joined the UBC Botanical Garden Forum. I live in Ontario in zone 4B. I have a meyer lemon, a blood orange and a calamondin orange. I presently have them outdoors for at least another month. The meyer lemon has begun to lose its leaves. I checked the soil and it is moist to the touch. It has about 13 small lemons and quite a few new flowers(counted close to 30). The leaves are a bright green and some smaller leaves(new growth). There does not seem to be an insect problem. I brought the lemon indoors and placed it in my grow tent with a light and a humidifier. The leaves have continued to fall. I estimate that about 2/3 of the leaves have fallen. I am wondering if removing the fruit and blossoms would help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Incidentally both oranges plants are doing well outside. Any suggestions would greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Removing the fruit will help as it will stop the fruit taking away nutrients from the rest of the plant. There are quite a few reasons for leaf drop in citrus and it is a common question, so I put some info on this in my "Problems and Treatments" page for citrus: Problems and Treatments | Aprici ... I would recommend: Inspect the plant very closely. Some problems are very hard to spot. Make sure the plant has adequate drainage. If the soil is constantly wet and cannot drain well you might get root rot. Provide nutrients to the plant to help with recovery. Citrus are heavy feeders and like fertilizer. Something like Miracle Grow is easy to obtain and works reasonably well.
Thanks for the link, Will. I have checked the roots and they seem to be firm and whitish in color. I have also checked for insects but have not found any. I will try again with a magnifying glass. I have uploaded photos of the root ball. Thanks again for the info.
