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Tue, May 24, 11 at 14:34
| Hello, I purchased a young dwarf lemon in January. I live on Oahu. I potted it in a 7 gallon plastic pot with 2" of red cinder at the base and a mixture of my yard soil which I believe may be on the alkaline side and "Big R" red cinder soil conditioner and a cup of tropical fruit fertilizer. When I first got the tree, I would water it every other day, but I noticed some general yellowing of the leaves about a month later so I cut back on the water. The leaves were just turning yellow, including the veins, just an overall yellowing. When I stick my finger in the soil it is usually somewhat moist so now I water about once a week, when the lemon feels nearly completely dry. I gave it a mixture of coffee grinds and blood meal about a month ago. Over the past three days, the yellowing has greatly exacerbated and many leaves have turned yellow and dropped off, some are even brown which I have never noticed before. There are quite a few leaves in the yard. I am worried the tree may not make it! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| First never use regular soil (dirt) in a container. With each watering the fines in the soil compact, drining out the the oxygen. Without proper root zone oxygen the tree will begin to have too many problems to mention all of them here. Container citrus require a fast draining, high aeration, lose texture mixture for the roots to grow in. I read above you used coffee grounds and bloom mean as your fertilizer. It is also very important to include all of the trace minerals as part of an ongoing nutrition regiment. Do what you wish, but I would recommend the use of a regular commercial fertilizer high in nitrogen, low in phosphorous and high in potassium. One that contains all the trace minerals. A good growing mixture contains course ingredients such as bark or coconut chips, plus peat moss and perhaps perlite. Just make sure what ever you use, it is capable to holding enough water, while yet supplying good aeration to the root system. |
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| Thank you for the reply. I posted some photos as well if that is at all helpful. Here is the link below. |
Here is a link that might be useful: sad lemon
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