Better pic of. Yellow veined leaf.

Another pic

This post was edited by Tcamp30144 on Thu, Oct 10, 13 at 2:01

perfectly normal. although citrus are evergreen they will shed older leaves. I assume you will be bringing it inside somewhere. If so slowly start moving it into a more shaded areas to acclimate it to lower light levels. That will help avoid more leaf loss.

Mike

I'm protecting it with heating pad and mini green
house when it gets colder.

Planted a Lisbon lemon last fall (2012) and it did not make it through the winter. Low temp about 27. Replanted another this past spring. Hoping it has had a chance to establish well this time and survive Tucson winter temps. I thought the lemons were fairly cold tolerant. Anyone care to comment on the cold tolerance of Lisbon? This picture was taken last month (September). It has done very well since planting. Fed every couple of months with Arizona's Best Citrus Food, and have applied Foilage Pro a couple of times.

I'm still slowly losing leaves have not changed anything in careing only the weather has changed. Are lemon trees really just sensitive to cold changes it hasn't dropped below 50 degrees yet I have a heat mat under it set to 75. So what gives..the guild to libson lemons says they can take down to 32 degrees before they get sick. it's only the really old lower leaves its losing. Top leaves are very healthy and dark green .

I'm still slowly losing leaves have not changed anything in careing only the weather has changed. Are lemon trees really just sensitive to cold changes it hasn't dropped below 50 degrees yet I have a heat mat under it set to 75. So what gives..the guild to libson lemons says they can take down to 32 degrees before they get sick. it's only the really old lower leaves its losing. Top leaves are very healthy and dark green .

DocHollywood: Bummer about your lost Lisbon! Maybe the growth was too fresh or it was too young?

I have several Lisbons. And, as yours, they are planted in the ground rather close to the house or a solid fence. The planting location does offer some thermal protection. They made it through multiple nights of 22F and two at 19F this last winter. [40-50F was the typical daytime temperature range]. All new fall growth was destroyed and any fruit more than 18" above the ground as well. They are indeed rather tough.
[edit]: Having said that, I emphasize that the low temps i state were not for long periods of time.
- George K.

This post was edited by Becauseican on Thu, Oct 17, 13 at 23:39

No, lemons are towards the bottom of cold tolerance as far as various citrus cultivars go. And remember, that 32 degree mark is for in-ground citrus, not citrus in containers, whose roots are not protected by the insulating factors of soil. Basically, this is the rundown of cold tolerance of some of the main citrus cultivars, from most cold tolerant to least (not including citrus crossed with trifoliates which for the most part, are inedible):

kumquat
Gold Nugget mandarin (has withstood severe cold temps at UCR Citrus Variety Collection better than any of their satsuma mandarins)
satsumas
calamondin
sour orange
other mandarins in general
sweet orange
grapefruits/pommelos (Bloomsweet grapefruit is particularly cold tolerant)
lemons (with the Meyer lemon being the most cold tolerant and probably up there with sweet orange)
lime (Mexican/Key limes being particularly intolerant)
citron

Having trees on trifoliate rootstocks will also help to provide added cold tolerance.

Patty S.

Thanks Patty. Good and concise information. Attaching a picture of the previous Lisbon after it's first winter and is now of course replaced with the new Lisbon. Keeping my fingers crossed. Micro climate in effect to a point.

Oh boy. Hopefully you'll cover this lemon if you end up with temps below 33 for any sustained period. Yikes.

Patty S.

Hi Patty! Always nice to see you, and I myself really appreciate all your input. This time of year especially for me. I just dragged in myTango mandarin, and what was my small rooted Meyer lemon cutting that I have now had for 2 years, and BTW, it has now quadrupled in size and is loaded with flowers and small lemons!

Anyhow, I.M.O. or from my observations, it seems as that my lemons, and grapefruits are the most cold hardy, but when I still had my keylime, it also with stood temps below 40 degrees. I got that tree from Roberta's and I thought it was a pretty darn good tree except it never held fruit, and then it stopped blooming all together on me, so I ditched it.

Last night temps were in the high 50's,, but it rained again. Just when I had hope that all my rootballs were pretty dried out from the last heavy rain spell we got hit AGAIN! I usually welcome these rain showers but heavy rains and cool nights are my worst nightmare this time of year. I just dragged in my newly aquired Tango mandarin. These cool nights have my poor trees all confused. For example, my Ruby Red grapefruit is in full bloom, and now it appears that Tango is also trying to bloom for me. Can you tell me when is the usual time it would bloom?

Next week we are supposed to get hit with a cold snap, and temps could hover around 35 at night. That is a little to close to freezing for me to be comfortable with leaving ANY of my trees outdoors, though all of them handled 37 degrees just fine a few weeks ago. I suspect though that having them right up almost against the house has kept them a little warmer.

Thanks for your input again Patty. Hoping everything is good on your side of the country :)

Andrew

Lemon tree quit. Dropping leafs the fruit has took off growing now.

Lemon tree quit. Dropping leafs the fruit has took off growing now.

My lisbonhas survived -3 Celsius that is freezing it is in a pot when I took it outside a week later we got this cold snap