What did I do wrong?

[Ger-annie-um]

My lovely best half gifted me a lemon tree in 2020. It was a little poorly looking when it arrived but had 2 lemons which ripened and were lovely. I repotted it last year, it was fed and watered and it rewarded us with 8 lemons. I brought it into the house over the winter, positioned it behind patio doors so it got lots of light, watered sparingly and misted occasionally. The tree put on flower and some fruit started to form but then.......... it started to lose leaves, then flowers and finally fruitlets. Dr Google told me a centrally heated room was a bad idea so I moved it to the unheated greenhouse and, after a short while it stopped dropping leaves BUT, and this is my problem, it's stopped doing anything else too. No growth at all, looks completely dormant. I've tried feeding it, I've even taken it out of the pot and checked for vine weevil etc but found nothing. Repotted in fresh citric recommended compost mix 2 weeks ago and still nothing doing.

Anyone on the vine have any idea where I went wrong?

[mothhawk]

If the leaves it has are healthy, it's probably simply adjusting to the cool of the greenhouse after the heat of the house. It probably thinks winter has just begun and so gone dormant. Give it another couple of weeks and as the greenhouse starts to be warmer overnight it should think spring has come again and start to grow.

[Ger-annie-um]

Thanks mothhawk. I do hope you're right. The leaves look healthy enough although they're not a dark glossy green, rather a more mottled colour. I've been taking it out of the greenhouse by day if it's a calm sunny one. Should I be doing that?

[ameno]

Depending where you are in the country, you could probably just leave it outside now, to be honest. As long as night temps are above 5c it will be fine.

The "mottled" leaves have me concerned, though. What does the mottling look like, exactly? Is it a series to tiny pale dots? Can you take a picture of one of the affected leaves?
Some of my citrus had mottled leaves a couple years back, and it turned out to be red spider mite. Caused complete defoliation of one of them, although it grew back.

[Ger-annie-um]

Depending where you are in the country, you could probably just leave it outside now, to be honest. As long as night temps are above 5c it will be fine.

The "mottled" leaves have me concerned, though. What does the mottling look like, exactly? Is it a series to tiny pale dots? Can you take a picture of one of the affected leaves?
Some of my citrus had mottled leaves a couple years back, and it turned out to be red spider mite. Caused complete defoliation of one of them, although it grew back.

I'll try and take pics although I'm going to need to find out how 🤔. I'll be very grateful for any advice at all, I really don't want to lose the tree. I'm in the Forest of Dean, nr the border with Wales.

[Ger-annie-um]

Pics of poor lemon tree...........I hope!

[Jungle Jane]

The greenhouse could have been a bit cold causing the leaf problems you described (I can’t see the photos?) -
Loss of leaves: This can be caused by draughts, too low or high temperatures in winter, often coupled with too much water in winter. Citrus prefer a cool winter rest. Provide lemons with a minimum winter night temperature of not less than 10°C (50°F) and calamondin oranges with 13°C (55°F).
Yellowing of leaves: There are several possibilities. The roots could be too wet or too dry. Draughts, low temperatures, or lack of feeding will also result in yellowing leaves.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/problems/citrus

[Ger-annie-um]

The greenhouse could have been a bit cold causing the leaf problems you described (I can’t see the photos?) -

https://www.rhs.org.uk/problems/citrus

Oh dear, any idea why the photos can't be seen..........................I'm hopeless with technology

[Jungle Jane]

Oh dear, any idea why the photos can't be seen..........................I'm hopeless with technology

I’m not sure,are you uploading from pc,ipad or phone? I use an ipad it’s different to the pc way. Can you see the photos on here or can mods see them?

[Ger-annie-um]

I’m not sure,are you uploading from pc,ipad or phone? I use an ipad it’s different to the pc way. Can you see the photos on here or can mods see them?

Uploading from a tablet and yes I can see them......

[Bren In Pots]

Unfortunately I can't see the photos either.

[ameno]

Uploading from a tablet and yes I can see them......

Try uploading to an external image hosting site, like Imgur, then post the link there.

The greenhouse could have been a bit cold causing the leaf problems you described (I can’t see the photos?) -
Loss of leaves: This can be caused by draughts, too low or high temperatures in winter, often coupled with too much water in winter. Citrus prefer a cool winter rest. Provide lemons with a minimum winter night temperature of not less than 10°C (50°F) and calamondin oranges with 13°C (55°F).
Yellowing of leaves: There are several possibilities. The roots could be too wet or too dry. Draughts, low temperatures, or lack of feeding will also result in yellowing leaves.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/problems/citrus

Apparently the tree was kept indoors, and has only recently been moved to the greenhouse after it started losing leaves, so it can't be that the greenhouse was too cold.

I've always felt like those quoted minimum temperatures that some authorities stand on are nonsense, too. Citrus are grown around the Mediterranean, and it often gets colder than that during the winter. I overwinter mine in my unheated conservatory, and although it is always frost-free, it often goes as low as 5c or even a degree or two lower on cold nights during the winter, and the trees never lose any leaves.

[Ger-annie-um]

[QUOTE=ameno;n2544501]

Try uploading to an external image hosting site, like Imgur, then post the link there.



Sorry Ameno, it took me all day to figure out how to put the pics on here ( and we can see/not see how that turned out!). I'll see if a friend can help but we're both pretty useless with computer tech. Thanks for trying to help me though

[Ger-annie-um]

https://gerannieum.tumblr.com/post/6...32/poorlylemon

This link should work! And only because my daughter did it for me 😁

[ameno]

Yeah, that's definitely spider mite damage. Mine was exactly like that.
You'll want to check if the mites are still there (they may already be gone). Check the undersides of the affected leaves. If you see very fine webbing then there are still mites there. If you don't see any webbing, look for tiny brown specks on the undersides of the leaves, and if you rub the leaves they should leave small brown smears on your fingers. Those brown specks are the spider mites.

Assuming your plant is still still infested, ideally you should spray them with a pesticide that will kill spider mites (most do, but not all; check the bottle before buying it).
If you don't want to use chemicals, move it outside now and leave them there unless any nights under 4c are forecast, as the mites don't like outdoor conditions as much. Also try spraying the leaves a couple times a day with water, as the mites don't like high humidity.

And whether you still have the mites or not, and however you choose to tackle them, give the plant a good feed with a general purpose feed (like growmore, poultry manure, or blood, fish & bone), and also give it a liquid feed with a high nitrogen feed every couple weeks. This will encourage the plant to grow plenty of new leaves.
The mottling on the old leaves is permanent and will never recover, but they still function mostly as they should, so don't remove them. The new leaves should not be mottled as long as you get rid of the spider mites (if the new leaves turn mottled as well that means you still have the mites).