How can I stop my lemon tree dying?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I moved into a new house last year and it came with a Lemon tree which I didn’t really think about much until someone pointed out that it was showing signs of nutrient deficiencies in the run up to Christmas.

The tree:

  • Has pale leaves that look much like these, sometimes with green veins. They are still moist.
  • It seems to be losing about 10-20 leaves per day.
  • At this point it has maybe 1/3rd of it’s leaves left
  • is about 2.5m high and is planted in the ground.

For treatment:

  • The person who first noticed suggested dumping lawn clippings on it, so I did that.
  • I’ve started watering it a couple of litres a day.
    *My dad bought some tablets that unfortunately turned out to be slow release, so I crushed and dissolved some and have applied the water a few times.
  • I lightly applied some citrus food that I have applied about at new years, but it also warns against application in high heat, which unfortunately is a problem right now as we can expect to have 30°C days until the end of February.
  • All the fruit was removed post-Christmas.

Thoughts? There’s a lot of information about diagnosing nutrient deficiencies, but can I bring back a tree that is simultaneously heat-stressed and under nourished?

2

Feed it citrus fertilizer according to the package, keep it watered, and apply well-rotted manure or compost mulch to a depth of three inches. Don’t use wood chips or bark as they suck nitrogen from the soil. Then wait and hope.

3

  1. Insufficient water is best diagnosed by knowing soil moisture levels. What are they at root level? Sampling soil at least a few inches down will provide an answer and a guide to watering needs.

  2. It sounds like you could have an iron/trace element deficiency. More here:

Iron and zinc deficiencies in citrus.

4

Oh, yes, this. My lemon in California had to be specifically supplemented with iron. Common issue I forgot about.

5

Citrus is kind of bitchy about nutrients relative to other plants, and they’re heavy feeders, so they need a lot of nutrients.

I had really good luck with these folks’ fertilizer tablets (looks like they don’t make them anymore, but they make similar spikes):

Fruit Tree Fertilizer, Citrus Tree Fertilizer, Fertilizer for Citrus Trees | Lutz Corporation

I wouldn’t sweat the slow release stuff; sometimes you just have to wait out stuff like nutrient deficiencies. They’ll release enough for you to notice positive changes, I’ll bet.

6

Thanks for the advice. I’ve upped the watering and applied some more fertilizer and will continue to do so. And wait and hope.

7

You could try peeing on your lemon tree. :smiley: