Hi all, My meyer lemon tree had recently had lots of new leaves; but I am now finding some of the older leaves yellowing and falling. Is this normal after new growths? or do I have to worry about it? Thanks a bunch! Nidal
Broadleaved evergreens shed a number of old leaves after a new flush, hense the name, evergreen. Any fruit yet? Cheers, LPN.
Hi, yes, my lemon tree is holding 7 lemons that are quite big now but still green. so no need to worry about the yellowing leaves then?
Hello again, I am still a bit concerned about my yellowing and falling leaves. I am now noticing a pattern of yellowing (not sure if it is an indication of something). the veins seem to yellow first and spread out! Any more thoughts on what might be happening? Many thanks Nidal
As LPN said, it is normal for older leaves to yellow and fall off. Leaves on citrus only last about a yr and a half, the yellowing is due to the tree pulling back some of the nutrients before it drops the leaf. When a citrus drops leaves due to stress, the petiole usually stays on the tree, if it is normal shedding the petiole usually drops with the leaf.
Hello again, thanks for the replies. To answer drichard12: my tree is in a container, around 18 inch in diameter. To answer skeeterburg: I had another look at some of the leaves and they seem to fall without the petiole. So does this mean stress? I fed the tree some osmocote a few weeks back, so I am hoping that it is ok on nutrients, especially nitroge. Thanks again for all your thoughts!
Leaves dropping without the petiole can be a sign of stress. What is your watering schedule? When was the last time you repotted?
Hello again, I usually water it a few times a week, at most 3x. but I only started doing this around a month ago since the weather in memphis started to be really hot and humid. I usually check the first 2 inches for moisture (just using finger). I repotted it last November into the container it is in now. Thanks !
That seems a bit often, but containers do dry a little faster than soil. Most of my containers only get watered once a week if it does not rain (unless I see wilting), but I have mine in plastic pots under a shade cloth. What kind of container is your tree in--clay pots dry quicker than plastic? On the other hand, if the container gets really hot like black plastic, it can reduce root activity or even kill roots. The finger method usually works well, but another way too tell is the weight of the container. You can use actual scales, but you can also just feel the weight. If you have a similar container and some of the same media, you can compare the weight--it should get pretty close to the weight of the pot with dry media before watering.
the tree is in a light-brown plastic container. It is on my covered patio, so it only gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day- from morning until around 11am. it is then in the shade for the rest of the day. I will keep an eye on it and allow the soil to dry before the next watering. Do i have to worry at this stage about rotten roots? or is this still reversible? should I use some root stimulator?
I have never used a root stimulator, so I can't say anything about that, but I do think you have been overwatering. I would just back off on the watering, don't water until the soil is dry at least a couple inches deep. Unless it starts getting worse, I would not worry about trimming roots now.
Hi skeeterbug, I was trying to be very cautious with watering (or thought that I was!). I did try superficially dig in with my fingers in the soil yesterday and see if I can notice anything- and I think I might have found something- looked like some white fluffy stuff within the soil :( - is this mold? fungus?. So I hope that's not too much damage to the roots. I will hold back off on watering and keep observing. Thanks for all the help - fingers crossed that i won't loose my tree. It just annoys me that i still managed to stress my tree despite all the care I have been putting :( Nidal
I am sure there may be some container citrus trees that need water more than a couple times a week, but that has got to be pretty rare. The white fluffy stuff is probably soil fungus --not necessarialy harmful, but it probably is an indication of too much water.
I guess the problem has been diagnosed! I will hold off on the watering. Lesson learned :) Many thanks for your help. Nidal
