meyer lemon tree leaves are turning yellow what is the problem? Not all of the leaves are doing this just about 5 are and I have massive amounts of new growth, even some of the new smaller leaves are yellow. the fertilizer I use is Dynamite #9. can the fertilizer be old and not work very well, because I added some miracle gro and it had massive amounts of grout about 4 days later,
It is not uncommon for citrus trees to shed older leaves and they often remove nutrients before dropping the leaves causing them to turn yellow. As long as you are getting good healthy growth, you are probably doing fine. New leaves are lighter colored, but if you are seeing dark green veins with yellow around them or yellow areas, you may have mineral deficiencies. I am not familiar with all the formulations of Dynamite, but does the one you use have trace minerals or minors including Mg? If not you need to add them separately.
It seems you applied just the Magnesium sulfate form of Dynamite (blue canister). I would use the Dynamite Palm & Citrus food (yellow can) instead or use both of them mixed together with a P&C at a rate of 2 pounds mixed in with 1 pound of their Magnesium sulfate for outdoor plants (I would go four to one for an indoor grown, in the home plant). There is a fine line in Citrus in what is a nutrient deficiency and what is a nutrient toxicity and Calcium, Copper, Boron and even Magnesium can be both a deficiency seen on some plants and can be a toxicity on other trees. Your leaf is a closer to being a Calcium deficiency for an outdoor container grown tree of which an application of Magnesium sulfate can help for this symptom. All yellow colored new growth is generally a symptom of not enough Nitrogen - I cannot see a series of leaves to confirm but most of the time it is due to a lack of available Nitrogen that causes the new growth to be a pale yellow in color for outdoor container grown trees (in the home trees can do this from lack of ambient or direct light). The allover yellowing of the new growth leaves with some green webbing seen near the petiole can also happen with a severe Calcium deficiency in an in ground tree but the edges and sometimes the tips of the new growth leaves usually turn brown and can become crispy fast when exposed to any kind of direct warm to hot sun. The noticeably smaller sized leaves with an allover yellowing both for indoor and outdoor grown container plants is an indication of a Zinc deficiency. We will see the webbing more easily on the older growth but if we see it on the new growth then a lack of Zinc in the plants system is your main culprit, more so than Calcium. The size of the leaf in the photo is not indicative of a Zinc problem yet, however. Depending on whose clone of Improved Meyer Lemon you have as there are two of them in the nursery trade out here, one of them is susceptible to more yellowing than the other form is. As a potted tree, tree grown in a container, one clone does seem to yield a high percentage of yellow and green leaves (a natural condition and is not necessarily a Calcium deficiency) until the trees better adapt to their new growing environment and the new potting soil. We had an abundance of yellow and green leaves such as yours shown in the photo for two years on our Improved Meyer Lemon seen mostly on the older growth. The younger growth never did color up well but were not yellow either until the tree finally developed a root system on it. I made sure not to give this tree any additional Nitrogen until its third year in the fifteen gallon can. I am pleased to say that this year there is not a single yellow or yellowing leaf on the plant after two Spring applications of a hand mixed Vigoro Citrus food (20 pounds) - MiracleGro Citrus Shake and Feed (4 pounds) - Dynamite Palm & Citrus (2 pounds). - the trees first taste of applied Nitrogen since we've had it. Jim
Skeet, here is a link to Dynamite Plant Food : Products. I am familiar with the green canister Dynamite Plant Food : Products : All Purpose as well as the former darker green colored can that I have purchased in the past from a Home Depot. I believe the Leo Klotz handbook on Citrus diseases would consider the appearance of the leaf to be due to an overall lack of nutrition. The high gloss on the leaf tells or would indicate to me a more specific nutrient imbalance for an outdoor grown tree. There has been no mention of the age of the tree, whether this tree is being grown indoors and what kind of light arrangement, what potting soil is being used, how often this tree has been fertilized and what concentrations of fertilizer has been used. Answers to the above questions may come in handy for Skeet, Millet, Laaz, Junglekeeper and Dale to know so they can chime in and be of more help. Jim
supermanbaja: I feel mr.shep and skeeterbug are both offering some very sound advice to what you may feel to be a problem. I also feel that it's important to know if your Lemon is in a container or inground. I'm thinking that living in Spokane WA. It's container grown. Please reply. Dale
How about a photo of the entire tree. Very hard to tell you anything from a photo of a single leaf. As has been stated Meyer lemons will shed older leaves & some Meyers will have quite a few yellow leaves. I have noticed that when my Meyer have a heavy new flush, it will drop quite a few old (yellow) leaves.