Problems with my son's lemon tree

[kty]

Hi I'm having a bit of trouble with my son's lemon tree! He planted it about 4 years ago from a seed streight from a lemon! It has grown to be about 3.5 - 4 foot. About 6 months ago I was told it had scale bug so I got some spray and followed the instructions. The scale bug is still their and the tree is not happy, it has lost a lot of leaves and lots of the remaining leaves are holey. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this and will it ever come back to looking full and healthy. Oh and when do I get these lovely flowers I keep reading about!!!!

[coomber]

had the same problem with mine
I think lemons are deciduous, I re-potted it with citrus compost, removed as many of the scale insects as i could by hand, I also put it outside and feed every week. I check a couple of times a week for any more scale insects and remove them.
My lemon tree now has 7 baby lemons, loads of flowers and loads of new leaves growing
Hope this helps

[kty]

Thankyou I'll tyr it. I was worried it was going to die as its my sons pride and joy, he is only 7!

[redadmiral]

i also have a lemon tree that is grown from seed! it is now probably about 10 years old, and is doing great! (pretty big though, heh)
i agree with the above advice, just make sure you keep on top of the scale insects. i usually do it by hand with a bit of cotton wool and warm water. the tree seems to like getting its leaves wet anyway (mine is under a veranda, so i often also give it a spray down with a mister).
a lemon tree also needs to be well fed, especially nitrogen, so i'd recommend getting some feed. it'll help the tree put on new growth so it can replenish it's lost or damaged leaves.
as for flowers, you may be in for a bit of a wait i'm afraid! lemons grown from seed can take a long time to flower (mine is ten years old and hasn't flowered yet). the ones you buy from garden centres have been grafted. ones grown from seed should get to it eventually though!
good luck! i understand your son's enthusiasm, i'm three times his age but my lemon tree is still my pride and joy

[trebellangeminired]

See thread lemon tree miracle. Think it might cheer you up!

[Furkin]

There is a treatment for Scale Insect (can't just recall what it's called). Trouble is that the insect is a bit like a limpet, & is difficult to get the insecticide under/into the scale.
When I had it (my tree - not me !) I used the killer stuff, then after a couple of days, took the bugs off by hand. Can be a bit daunting for a big tree.

----:----

As to Feed - I suppose nitrogen rich feed would be o.k in this case (as NO fruit) but usually when fruiting - the plant needs 'summer' feed (less nitrogen) to help the fruit (instead of the foliage).

----:----

Am a bit miffed to learn that seed grown plants take all that time to flower/fruit (if they ever do) as I've just grown about 10 Clementine’s & a couple of Cumquats ! I was hoping that they'd fruit in a couple of years.

----:----

I have also grown 2 Mangoes from stone. Does anyone know if these also take that long to fruit ?
If so, i'll stop planting seeds & nuts ! boo hoo

[Mooresey]

Hi I am new here and only found it with a search for growing lemon trees from seed.

I planted two about the middle of Feb and one has just last week sprouted, the other is a no show.

Its about 2 inches tall now and I am really happy with it. I really hope that it grows to be as big and strong as all of yours described in the posts above.

[bluemoon]

Hi I am new here and only found it with a search for growing lemon trees from seed.

I planted two about the middle of Feb and one has just last week sprouted, the other is a no show.

Its about 2 inches tall now and I am really happy with it. I really hope that it grows to be as big and strong as all of yours described in the posts above.

My last year's seedling is now a foot tall and bushy and about to be repotted for the second time. They can come on really fast so you may soon have a nice specimen with glossy leaves, even if you have to wait a year or two for the flowers.

[starloc]

Normaly you wouldnt want to use a strong pesticide on a fruit tree as they take some time to leave the plant, but since ts not likely to have fruit this year ( more likely in 10+ or so years ) , its safe to use a systemic pesticide, they work best on things like scale as the scale is poisoned by eating from the plant juice containing the poison, the shell of the scale protects it from the contact type sprays

I use both provado , and one called malathion , both work well

A safer way , using no pesticide, is to use a horticultural oil , its used mixed with water to dilute it, its a high grade parafin oil, cooking oil works a bit as well, in the oils for scale i use neem oil 1 teaspoon to a litre of water, with a very tiny drop of dishwash liquid to make it mix with the water

The neem oil is safe if the plant is likely to have fruit this year , but with the age of your plant you can use either systemic pesticide or oil, the pesticide works quicker!

Are you sure its just scale that is the problem though, scale does not normaly eat the leaves so much as make them curl and go sticky , holes in the leaves are at this time of year often moth caterpillers, slugs,snails or vine weavles

[Mooresey]

My last year's seedling is now a foot tall and bushy and about to be repotted for the second time. They can come on really fast so you may soon have a nice specimen with glossy leaves, even if you have to wait a year or two for the flowers.

Cool cant wait for it to grow enough to re-pot it I have a blog I started about growing it if anyone is interested here The life and times of a lemon seed

[newbieveggie]

Are all of your lemon trees outside ? Does that mean I can plant mine outside? It has been in my conservatory all winter but if they are ok outside then thats more space for my seed trays.

[starloc]

Its not safe to put them outside at night untill the last chance of a frost, may...ish, they are best inside till then, unless you have a greenhouse and the plant is used to it,

You can put them outside if you have an established one and want to have a lot of work, i have left a large one outside all winter, it is fine, but it was wrapped in a few sets of christmass lights and frost cloth all over it, the covers have been off now for about a month and it now has a couple of foot of new growth so far this year, but the other night as there was a frost, it was wrap the tree up with the frost cloth time, i am still running the lights all night with or without cloth, wether theres a frost or not, untill its warm, just incase particularly on the new growth, small trees are mainlt new growth so if damaged by frost they loose more percent of the tree and that can kill the tree

Its safe to put them outside for the day now though, as long as you do it a bit at a time as the light is a lot stronger outside, it needs to get used to it, and watch out for rain, the rain will overwater them so covering the pot at least to stop water getting in is best.

[Mooresey]

My last year's seedling is now a foot tall and bushy and about to be repotted for the second time. They can come on really fast so you may soon have a nice specimen with glossy leaves, even if you have to wait a year or two for the flowers.

How big do they have to get before you re-pot them?

[starloc]

My foot high ones grown from seed are in 3 inch pots, you dont need any bigger they dont like big pots, a large pot will make it harder to water, i have seed grown 4 year old ones in 3 litre pots,
it depends how big the roots are, dont let them circle the pot but you want the pot almost full of non circling roots, when you repot you only want to go up a bit at a time, on a seedling, maybe an inch wider pot at a time,
With larger plants you can go 2 or 3 inch wider at a go, but going more will make it more likely to get root rot

[Mooresey]

Thats great that's for the info