Meyer Mayday!!!!

10 years ago

I’m lost with this one and looking for advise from the experts.

Tree was inside over the winter under a 400W MH grow light and grew very well putting on new growth and began to flower in late February / early March. It flowered like crazy. Once the temps were consistantly in the 50’s I moved it outside into my high tunnel where it continued to flower, and then began to make one heck of a mess dropping a few leaves and flower petals all over the place. It set a bunch of fruit, more than I thought the tree could actually handle. It seemed to be stuck at this point slowly dropping more and more leaves and flower pedals. I figured it was stressed from setting fruit so I bumped up the foliage pro to twice the normal dose and moved it to the porch for more sunlight as the sun really doesn’t get to full strength in the high tunnel until around 10am. I moved it to my deck where I can check it every time I walk by. It has dropped more leaves and now, even with a decent amount of fruit that has set, I’m noticing some die back on the smaller branches.

My potting mix is a modified 5-1-1 ( no turface, but speedy dry) mix with some Osmocote plus mixed in the top layer. We have had almost a week of on and off rain here in RI so I’m concerned about possible root rot happening. I’ve made sure to check for dryness before watering and fertilizing.

I’m not sure what to do at this point. Repot and look for mushy roots and cut them off, or just sit back and see if this thing rebounds on it’s own? UGH! In a few years with global warming I can just plant these in the ground!

The black twisty ties on the base are because it seemed loose in the mix and I was afraid it was going to get blow to one side or the other and cause damage. They really just kind of stabilize the tree from swaying one way or another. {{gwi:605290}}From April 1, 2013

{{gwi:605291}}From April 1, 2013

{{gwi:605292}}From April 1, 2013

{{gwi:605293}}From April 1, 2013

{{gwi:605294}}From April 1, 2013

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Comments (5)

johnmerr
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Likely a cascade of problems. First, it is adjusting to the light change. Second it probably was underfed; compounded by lots of rain which tends to leach out the fertilizer in fast draining medium. Your yellowing leaves look like older leaves from which the plant is sucking the nutrients to use for flowers/fruit/new growth.
Meyers are very heavy feeders, especially when they are producing fruit. Leave it where it is and keep feeding it; and it should recover nicely.
RI-Mike
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
John,

Thanks for the input. You are certainly on top of the meyer game and I appreciate you taking the time to advise. I'm going to bump up the feeding schedule and hopefully the tree will rebound.

Mike
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Andrew Scott
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Mike,
OK, soil mix looks good, light requirements being met. Everything looks good. John is right on with his advise. I also noticed the same when I first started growing Meyer lemons. They seem to be more finnicky but once you get the lighting and fertilizing down, you will notice a big difference in your trees health and vigor. I have 2 Meyer lemon trees. The largest I bought as a grafted tree in a 1 gal pot. It came loaded with buds and blooms, and even new growth. The second Meyer I got as a rooted cutting. That was an experiment for me. I wanted to see if I could keep it alive and growing and I did lose some of it, but once I moved it where it was getting more of the HPS light it did great. In fact, it is bushing out and has put out a ton of growth now.

Good luck with your tree and keep us posted!

Andrew
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great advice, John and Andrew. Good to see you both :-)
My Meyer was struggling, as well, until I increased the Foliage Pro (1.5 teaspoons per gallon now). I've also started supplementing with Epsom Salts (1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of water) watered in every other week.

Josh
poncirusguy6b452xx
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can't plant the tree in the ground for about 30 more years. That is the pace of cimate change in the north east. I am assuming that the RI stands for Rhode island.

PS I am growing plants that I could not 10 years ago knowingly because of global warming. Look into it your self. There is a lot of plants more productive and interesting than citrus will ever be and with out the problems.

good luck with your meyer lemon