I planted a 5 gallon lemon tree in our backyard on a sloped area about 3 years ago. It has been growing very very slowly and all the leaves are yellow and I never saw any one lemon on this tree. My gardener has been giving it fertilizer but we don't know what to do. Please recommend how I can save this tree!
If your lemon tree has yellow leaves, it would be one of 4 things. Not enough nitrogen, deficient in iron, high pH soil, watering to much - especially with a sprinkler system. IF the tree generally has yellow leaves AND not growing, AND has not produced fruit, I'm guessing that the tree is not gettting enough nourishment, even though it has been fertilized. A lemon tree growing in southern California should be fertilized with a fertilizer having the following formulas: 6-6-6 or 8-8-8. For a three year old lemon tree apply 7.5 to 15.0 lbs. of 6-6-6 fertilizer per year TOTAL, divided into 4 separate applications . If you fertilize with a 8-8-8 formula apply 5.6 to 11.3 pounds TOTAL per year divided into 4 separate applications. (Example for the 6-6-6 formulation you would apply 1.9 to 3.75 pounds of fertilizer per application, four times a year.) Start in March and do not apply any fertilizer after September 15th. DO NOT use a fertilizer with a formula stronger than 8-8-8 on a tree that is three year old. For young trees, apply fertilizer uniformly in a 3 ft. diameter circle arond the tree. As the tree becomes older, the area fertilized should be enlarged as the root system expands. The symptoms for an under nourshied tree deficient in Nitrogen are: LESS SEVERE NITROGEN DEFICIENCY - Shows up on the OLDER leaves w/ newer leaves still having some green. GREATER NITROGEN DEFICIENCY - Totally yellow leaves with no variation of color, or yellow/orange veins with some green out on the far sides. IRON DIFICENCY - the NEW leaves have green veins and otherwise yellow leaf. lastly, I hope your tree is not growing in the grass. If so put a 3-5 foot vegetation clearing around the base of the tree. Good LucK - Millet
Mr. / Mrs. Millet, Thank you for much for your input. I will go to the store to get all those you suggested!
kahalahi: Since reading your post several weeks ago, I have had the nagging desire to ask if that 'sloped' ground in which the tree is planted is bermed at all, or is the surface of the planting flat to match the slope of the ground around it? In reality, the down hill side of the planting should be bermed as high as the uphill side, with a trench between the trunk and the outside edge of the planting hole to enable irrigation water to be captured and not just run off (down the hill). If the slope of your planting matches the slope of the hill, then more of the irrigation water is running down the hill than is actually soaking in. Just a thought to get the nagging out of my head.
