My wife and I purchased our home a year ago, and we love our mature citrus trees. However, I am quite concerned because our lemon tree appears to be having some problems. Although the tree bears significant fruit, parts of the tree appear to be dying. In the attached photos, you can see that sections of the tree have brown, dry leaves. An entire branch of the tree appeared dead, so my gardener (to my horror) cut off the entire branch after I asked him about what may be happening. Now, an adjacent section has turned the same way. I love this tree, and I want to see what I can do to help it out. Can somebody please help me? The tree is planted in the ground, and it is watered a few times a week via downward-facing sprinklers in the ground near the trunk. I hammered two fertilizer sticks into the ground (away from the trunk) in order to help the tree, but it does not appear to have done anything... it may actually be hurting the tree; I am not sure. Thanks!
Hello! After lots of research, I think that I am merely over-watering my poor lemon tree; sprinklers have given it water twice a week for seven minutes (each watering), and that appears to be waterlogging the soil. The adjacent orange tree is doing very well, but the lemon tree's soil is wet, and there are even two parts where mold appears to be growing on the soil's surface (see attached photos). Do any of you know how to set-up proper drainage in an in-ground planter box such as this? More wood chips? Thanks!
Wood chips on the surface will hold moisture in and you want it to drain well. Maybe don't water it so much? Check for the soil around it to be dried out before watering. (Anyone know the depth to check for one planted in the ground? I know lots have posted on these trees...mostly potted ones though.) The only other option I know of (there are more options out there I just don't know them personally - and I have only tried this on very small potted eureka lemons as a last measure, so I don't know how well or if it will work for you) would be digging it up and putting new soil into the place you have planted it - which is probably a bad idea since it would require digging up your tree to implement. If you do this, take some clippings of healthy branches before you do and root them in some pots so that if it does not recover you can still have one to plant when it is established enough for that. Should you still choose to do this, you will want to dig out as much of its root system as you can, bundle it up in a tarp while you are working on its area, fill in with some good soil mix that has lots of little rocks, CHC/Peat moss (i there are actually a few places selling peat that hasn't been mined now I believe), some nice compost if you have a composting heap, and possibly perlite in it (don't use sand if you can help it...citrus likes nutrient rich soil and sand really is not great unless you don't have another option) and replant in the new soil which should hopefully be much better for it. If you go this route, do not mulch it at all, give it a good watering, and don't water it again until it is dried out. Also go visit a spot in your yard that supports a large number of worms, a bait shop or a walmart with a bait fridge if you do this and get some budget night crawlers or worms to help aerate the soil. I know Gurneys sells worms online through their website and so does Michigan Bulb Co...it stands to reason that if you prefer not to get the ones bred to be fish bait - and you have nowhere to dig them up - you can probably get some at a fairly good price which may be in better health and includes eggs and immature worms as well as the adults. At that point, if your tree survives adjusting to this, your can give it some used coffee grounds and eggshells (which if you have at the time you are doing the dirt change you can mix in with it for more nutrients...eggshells are a great calcium source for your plants). If you have acquired some worms, they will help you break down the nutrients for your tree.
Thanks so much for your detailed response; I really appreciate it. The tree is over 15 feet tall, so digging it up is not an option. I changed the watering routine, dug up the small fertilizer stick that I buried in the periphery and I will wait to see what happens. Fingers crossed!
If your other stuff looks bad when you change the watering on it, you could set up a waterproof screen between it and the sprinklers far enough from the tree's base to keep its area dry. As for feeding, you might want to stick to feed in its water (liquid miracle grow or similar...see if you can find a stem, leaf and root promoting solution) or a granular feed for tomatoes (I hear it works well) spread on top of the soil which will dissolve over time. Fertilizer sticks did not work well with the pots I had going that got too damp for too long because the sticks will mold if they do not dry out enough between watering (at least that is what mine did...mine were the cheaper sticks though, I don't know which kind you used!). Pounded stakes are a great way to go for younger, smaller plants when they don't mold though. You may still want to do some cuttings. If nothing else, you can then have beautiful gifts for family members around Christmas! And if the worst happens, you would have a little clone of your tree to replace it.
