I need help! My lemon tree is dropping leaves and some of them are curling. I think it might be getting to cold for it out side. 80 to 90 in the day and 50 to 70 at night.
The temperatures are fine, however, you have root stock growing from the bottom half of the tree (the trifoliate leaves). You need to pinch them off, or they will take over your tree. - Millet
That's not too cold-- Meyer should tolerate temps in the low 30's if properly cold hardened. The leaf damage looks like a salt or chemical burn or possibly contact with something hot. Your tree looks like it could use some fertilizer and possibly some trace elements based on the yellow veins. A slow release fertilizer with trace elements would be best. Be careful not to overwater-- it takes much less water to keep citrus happy when it is cooler. Skeet
Ok you think salt build up might be the problem. this weekend I will run water through it to wash them out. I brought it inside just to be safe. I am using CHC, sand and peat for the soil and Osmocote 19-6-12 for fertilizer. I water it when it gets dry three inches down into the soil.
If your using only a slow release fertilizer, than I doubt that your tree has a salt build up. Especially with the fast draining medium. However, Osmocote 19-6-12 is a formulation that does not contain trace minerals. Like Skeet mentioned above, your tree certainly requires trace minerals. Therefore, if you are not adding them separately, you need to add them. Also, have you ever added dolomite, or another form of magnesium?- Millet
Just to be clear, I was not suggesting salt build-up as the cause of the leaf damage (which typically causes brown leaf tips), but direct contact of that spot on the leaf with a salt or chemical--perhaps something spilled or dropped. As Millet said the Osmocote you are using does not contain trace elements, There is another Osmocote that does, but I have a hard time finding it down here. There is another slow release fertilizer that I found recently that also contains trace elements-- Dynamite is the trade name, and it is a six month slow release, but they also have some with and some without TE, so you have to look carefully at the lable. Skeet
I know it is often cloudy in WA, but is it possible that your tree was exposed to some direct sunlight while the soil temp was in the 50s? That could cause the leaf drop (winter leaf drop-WLD). Skeet
New question? My lemon tree's poor bare branches are starting to turn black and its working its way down the branches. Any thoughts?
Without pictures it is hard to say, but I suspect it is from root damage, but if you have good drainage and water only when it is dry, I do not know why. It is possible that you have a disease such as sooty canker, but there was no sign of that in your earlier pictures. The symptoms do not sound good--- Good luck!
I do not see any black areas that you described. Your tree seems to be recovering. I still think it is possible that it was exposed to sun while the roots were cold.
