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rblythe_gw

Bay Area - Potted Meyer Lemon Yellow for a Month or so

rblythe
10 years ago

Hello,

I have a potted 2 year-old Meyer Lemon tree in the San Mateo (south of San Francisco) and it has been yellowing for about 2 months. It has not gotten worse, but it has been consistently yellow.

Here is a link to some pictures I just took of the leaves, fruit, profile, etc:

http://www.druble.com/wall?d=1hR

Some background info: I repotted the plant in a larger 16" pot, but it didn't help. The tree gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight a day. It was planted in Miracle Grow Citrus soil up until I repotted it a month ago with Moisture Control soil. I haven't been regularly fertilizing it monthly like I just read about on the forums, but I wouldn't think that would cause yellowing. My moisture meter shows that the top 6 inches of soil tend to dry out in a day, whereas the lower part of the soil remains moist for a week. I don't know about pH.

As you can see from the pictures, the leaves are quite yellowed out compared to my healthy Kaffir Lime tree. The tree currently has 4 fruit that are about 1.5" and are a little squishy to the touch (which I think is odd). It is flowering and dropping most of its pea sized fruit, possibly because 4 fruit is all the 2.5 foot tree can handle?

Any guesses as to what would cause this? Also, does anyone know if my Moisture Control soil is bad considering I live in the South Bay Area? And what kind of watering schedule you tend to have in this location?

Sorry about the big post, I just wanted to make sure to detail all of the current conditions and variables.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of the Tree

Comments (7)

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    10 years ago

    I would say poor draining soil & too wet roots, not enough fertilizer, and little tree struggling to try to develop fruit and canopy at the same time. I would re-pot with better draining soil. You can try to make up your own potting mix by using either the "511" potting mix or "gritty" potting mix on this forum, or, find a very high quality cactus soil mix, add some small bark chips to it (I buy reptile bark at PetsMart), and some perlite. Make sure your pot has a good sized drainage hole. Then, fertilize with every watering, and I would suggest, since you're in California, and this container citrus will be outside all year, add a time release fertilizer, such as Dynamite Citrus Food. To me, it looks like your little tree is struggling with wet roots. Pluck off your fruit for now, to give your tree a chance to recover. Once recovered, and you've got a nice new flush going, you can then let the tree develop some fruit. Water when the tree feels dry - just stick your finger into the pot. If it feels dry, water well.

    Patty S.

  • johnmerr
    10 years ago

    And don't try to compare the green with the Kaffir lime, which is traditionally very dark green..

  • rblythe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    @hoosierquilt - thank you for your advice, being a newbie I never thought to sacrifice the fruit for the tree, but I could see how that would let the tree focus on more important things. I have never crafted my own soil, that sounds like an interesting DIY project, thanks for the soil ingredient ideas. I will try out your suggestions and see if I can nurse it back to health.

    @Johnmerr - good point, I was mostly just trying to give a color comparison since cameras can distort the "real color" based on lighting and such.

  • jean001a
    10 years ago

    Must log in to see the rest of your images

  • Andrew Scott
    10 years ago

    Hello. Okay I hate to tell you this but with me living in zone 6, I consider myself to be pretty darn experienced with growing citrus in containers. The biggest problem most people have is soil. I also hate to tell you this but Miracle Grow soil is GARBAGE for ANY CITRUS tree. It ticks me off that they market a "Citrus" mix when clearly, it is not good for citrus at all! It is still WAY TO HEAVY on it's own, and it must be mixed with perlite. If your going to spend your money on the MG citrus mix, your going to want to mix it with perlite. I would recommend a 50/50 mix of both. I also tell people to fill there container that they are going to plant in. Put the filled pot in the location your going to grow your tree in, and water the soil. Go ahead and drench it. Then see just how long the soil stays wet. If it dries out in a day or two, go ahead and plant it.

    I have been growing citrus for quite a long time now but only in the past 3-4 years have I been able to buy a tree report it, and keep it happy! I had to experiment with many different mixes until I found what worked for me and my trees. I have used a variation of the gritty mix. I just had a heck of a time
    trying to find all the components to make it.

    Lastly, I have to tell you, you are in great hands here. Patty, John, Mike, Josh, and many other great people here broke my pattern of buying trees and then losing them over the winter of the same year. Just keep us posted as to how your tree is coming along. I am sure once you get your soil situation resolved you will have a happy tree.

    Right now I have a meyer lemon tree that I have now had for 2 years. It has 8 fruits on it. 3 of which are really big and then 5 that are about average. Right now it has flower clusters on every branch tip, and I even have small baby fruits developing. This is typical and one of the reasons I love this tree!

    Andrew

  • rblythe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    @andrew78 - Thanks for your advice, I am going to run out today and try to put together an awesome soil mix. That is good to know about the perlite, I definitely wouldn't have thought of that on my own. As far as Miracle Grow is concerned, I can see now that MG soil is not what you use if you really care about your plant...I will stick to using it for flowers and such...lol. And, yes, I totally agree, this tree flowers at an unnatural interval, it is awesome.

  • sffog
    10 years ago

    Miracle Grow soil is too wet for my potted plants. I use Kelloggs Organic for outdoor plants. the big box stores carry them. ALSO I bought some potting soil from Costco this spring and all the plants(annuals) I potted with that soil are stunted,I should have just stayed with the Kelloggs Organic , I also loosen the mix with some small bark pieces (orchid bark) when I use it in large pots (3-15 gallon pots). I haven't ventured into making my own gritty mix (Tapla formula) too lazy.

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