Lemon Tree Sick - Any solutions?

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by ILYAS YILDIRIM, Apr 11, 2022.

  1. ILYAS YILDIRIM

    ILYAS YILDIRIM New Member

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    Dear forum members,

    I have asked this question in another forum, but submitting to this forum, too, to get any suggestions to save a lemon tree. I have a lemon tree outside my house, which seems to be sick. I need your help to save this tree if possible.

    Here is a back-story regarding the tree: We live in Jupiter, FL, and bought a house 3-4 years ago. The lemon tree was there when we bought it, but I really did not have time to take care of anything regarding the gardening stuff as the HOA was doing all the trimming, etc. Last year or so, one of the neighbor said that the tree was giving lemons in the past, but not anymore. The tree looked sick at that time, too, but again I did not have time. 3 years ago, the palm tree 5-6 meters away from the lemon tree was struck by a lightening and I thought that might have been the reason. For the last one month, however, I am trying to understand what is going on with the tree, and if possible save it (not for the fruits but it seems that it tries to stay alive). I took several photos and uploaded them here so that anyone having some suggestions/ideas can help me save this poor tree.

    Now regarding the tree and what I have done so far: I bought Citrus and Avocado Plant Food from Home Depot and applied it to the tree twice within the last month. Also, I bought Neem oil and applied it once last week. Finally, this weekend, I pressure washed all the stem and tree branches of the lemon tree, which you can see in the pictures. The fungus and any moss I could see got removed, thought there are still some deep spots resembling fungus on some of the branches (see pictures). Before pressure washing the tree, I pruned the tree, and removed all the dry branches. Then, I applied Citrus Plant Nutritional Spray I bought from Home Depot.

    Initial observation: There are 3 lemons on the tree, as well as 4-5 small ones, which I think will fully grow if I can handle the tree properly. Also, there are probably 5-10 sprouts I could see on some of the branches. Furthermore, even though most of the leaves seem to be sick, the new ones are coming out normal. Finally, some of the branches seems to be damages badly (see Image # 1, 2, 7, 8, 17), which I thought is due to the lightning striking the palm tree 5-6 meters away from this lemon tree (I might be highly wrong!).

    Any ideas and/or suggestions? I am planning on applying copper sulfate fungicide, but learned that I have to apply it in October.

    Thanks in advance for your time and help.

    Best regards,

    Ilyas
     

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  2. Erocks

    Erocks New Member

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    ...Just viewing the lemon tree pics I can see its an older tree with some unessessary growth on it and what looks like probly little mites are up on it...Possibly apply a container of ladybugs up onto the tree and eventually the nests will be found, and more blooms next year .....and straight tap water isnt taken well, and rain is always higher than 7PH..it should be 6 to under-7PH...nitrogen loving mostly .
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  3. ILYAS YILDIRIM

    ILYAS YILDIRIM New Member

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    Thanks for the feedback. I have applied a lot of things on the tree since my last message. First, I applied Captain Jack's Neem Max, which was suggested by some other reviews in another forum. Then, I applied Southern Ag Chelated Citrus Nutritional Spray on the tree, which seems to have bloomed the tree. Today I applied Sevin Insect Killer Concentrate. I saw a lot of caterpillar on the tree, as well as very small bugs flying around the new sprout, which was the reason for the Insect Killer. I am attaching 5 pictures I took today. And yes, the tree is probably over 10 years old. Finally, I have been Vigoro Citrus and Avocado Fertilizer once a month to make it have enough nutrition. Any suggestions and/or ideas? Thanks a lot.

    Best regards,

    I
     

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  4. Erocks

    Erocks New Member

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    Fruit tree Caterpillers...seen them and the damage they do to fruit trees ,plum ,peaches, apricots. pears ,apple trees and more....they will kill it eventually because there wasnt enough birds tree hunting for snacks landing on it . And also garter snakes that live around the roots of fruit trees go up the trees and eat any living bugs up without disturbing new growth...but not everywhere are helpful garter snakes.
     
  5. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    I have a suggestion of slowing down with the chemical treatments... it took many years to get to this stage, so attempting a series of "quick" fixes isn't going to make it better overnight. Restorative pruning to increase airflow is good, that'll likely reduce severity of fungal infections and provide more spaces for birds or insect predators to spot insects. Pressure washing moss and lichen wasn't necessary -- those don't do any harm to the tree and they are instead symptoms of low growth rates (essentially, the tree isn't renewing its bark fast enough, so the growth rates of the mosses and lichens are exceeding it and sticking around instead of being sloughed off).

    At this stage, not sure what else to suggest. So many things were tried that it'd be hard to separate out what else was worthwhile and what wasn't.
     

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