poorly lemon bush

[honeybun]

I have a small lemon bush which lives in my house, it has this year produced three wonderful fruits which i am very proud of, however now so some reason it seems to be losing all it's leaves,

I've never really done much with it before so i'm not sure what it wrong any one got any ideas of what might be wrong?

[crichmond]

Has anything changed like where the bush is kept, have you moved it near to the central heating? has it been over or under watered, have you fed it with winter food.

On another note if you hand pollinate the flowers using a cotten bud you will get a larger crop of lemons.

[honeybun]

hi , thanks for replying, the pot has been moved in the last few weeks so maybe it's that,

can't put it back where it was, so any ideas on how i can help it?

[Two_Sheds]

I googled this:
Lemons are fussy when it comes to watering. They like to be flooded at watering times and left until their soil becomes arid before another good watering.
Lemons thrive in temps of 15–30°C (60–85°F) and hate frosts, which often lead to their death.
With every third watering they should also be fed phosphorus and nitrogen-rich food such as phostrogen, and foliar feed should be used up to 3 times during the growing season.
Lemons like a tonic containing salts and minerals. To help them combat a deficiency in magnesium, Epsom Salt can be used.

Make sure the lemon receives plenty of sunlight.

[crichmond]

hi , thanks for replying, the pot has been moved in the last few weeks so maybe it's that,

can't put it back where it was, so any ideas on how i can help it?

If you can put it somewhere bright and of a similar temperature to where it was originally then it should recover, just keep it away from the central heating as they hate it with a passion. Also you could prune the branches back by about a third and also spray a mist of water each day over the leaves to increase the humidity.

I have four lemon trees and once did the same to one of mine by moving it into the heated greenhouse, I followed the advice I have given which I got from the RHS and it recovered after a couple of months

[sarraceniac]

I keep all my citrus in an unheated greenhouse in winter. As long as the frost doesn't get to them then there is never a problem. Two Sheds magnesium (Epsom salts) advice is spot on but it should be used in early spring then about every month for the summer. In winter let them sleep but as crichmond says they are not fond of central heating. Better too cool (without frost) than too warm.

[bobleponge]

I am having the same problem with one of my lemon trees Honeybun. I grew it from seed and was very proud but I gave it to my friend to look after while I was away and he brought it inside and its just starting to lose its leaves now.
I brought it back to my house today and its now back in the unheaded greenhouse where I'm hoping it will be fine.
As has been said, dont get them too warm, they just dont like it.

[janeyo]

I am sure I read somewhere that if they get a bit stressed they drop all their leaves - sounds like this is what yours have done.

I hav recently moved mine into the coldest room in the house as it looked like it was quite unhappy in the greenhouse - was getting colder in there. Am now watching it like a hwak to see what happens, and first sign of any leaves going I will have to think of a new place.

Didn't know about the drown / drought watering thing so have made a note of that.

janeyo

[BarleySugar]

My lemon is Meyers, which is one of the most hardy, but last year I left it outside the whole winter in its pot. It lost all its leaves, and I thought I'd killed it, but eventually it shot out again, around May.

This year I made sure I moved it into the unheated greenhouse at the beginning of Nov, and covered it with fleece. When I checked on the plants on New Years Day I was amazed to find tiny flower buds were beginning to form.

The hardiness does depend on variety, but I would agree to keeping it in a cool frost free place to be on the safe side.

[starloc]

Winter leaf drop (WLD) in citrus is caused by the leaves not being able to cool themselves by transpiration when over heated by light contact with the leaves. The roots are generaly inactive so the leaves overheat and fall off with light contact, the worst thing people do is put them in bright sunlight on a window ledge, if the roots are cold (not air temperature) keep the plant dark

You need to make sure the roots are at a minimum of 65F to prevent WLD , preferably 70F, if there is any light contact, Some citrus are worse than others, Meyers lemon likes it a bit warmer, more like 75 to 80F , all citrus are happy going up to 95F ( this is root temperature, not air temperature)

The air/room temperature can be cold, as long as the roots stay warm, preferably the air temperature is below 15C for about 600 hours per year, to get winter chill hours to get it to flower next year (this can be just at night)

If you cant warm the roots, put it somewere with no direct light, cold , just avoid frost , a shed, garage , basement are all fine as long as roots are about 55F-65F , cold greenhouse is ok, but shade them a bit from any direct sunlight

Its quite normal for meyer lemeons to drop there leaves in the winter ,they are a pain to look after as they are more sensitive to light with cold roots than other citrus, most are rooted cuttings that make them worse again to look after.

When they loose the leaves, make sure you let it dry out, the pot should always dry for a couple of inches down before soaking the compost, this will be far less often if the plant is dormant or has no leaves so to prevent root rot, make sure it drys out between waterings.

Other citrus such as eureka or lisbon lemons, most oranges, calamondins are not as picky as to temperature, but still like the warm root temperatures if possible, limes are another bad one though , they like it warm as well.

The number 1 accessory for any citrus plant grower, a heat mat