Lime Trees

[Davyburns]

About a month ago, I took delivery of an Orange tree and a Lemon tree, and they are doing fine, so I thought I would buy a Lime tree from the same place, and took delivery last week, and its not doing well at all, its losing all its leaves, and is looking very poorly. Are there any differences between looking after Oranges and lemons, and looking after lime trees? They were all transplanted into 16" pots on reciept

[starloc]

Limes are more sensitive to cold weather but not the sort of temperatures we have at the minute, they like to be above 10C where lemons can go colder thats the main difference with them, do you know what type of lime it is? and if its listed on the plant tag ( or blue label plant passport if it has one ) what type of rootstock?

A photo would be the best way to see whats wrong, but at a guess its probably too wet and unless they get used to it they wont take direct sun , overwatering its the normal problem at this time of year

How large are they?, 16 inch sounds a very large pot , how large was the pot they were in before you repotted? , what type of compost did you use? , and how are you watering and feeding them?

[Zenithtb]

From my experience, when citrus trees drop their leaves it's about root problems or lack of water. Pests in the roots - or something. Feed loads of water (not tap if poss) and if it still looks unhappy try a root insecticide (not sure of you have it in the UK, but here I use a product called Chas) which kills soil-bound nasties...

[ddiogyn]

I also acquired several small citrus trees earlier this summer - Persian and key limes, and Meyer and Eureka lemons. After repotting several times in different growing media, they're now thriving - the younger ones are putting on lush new growth, and the more mature ones are covered in blossom.

I first potted them using ericaceous compost (because i live in a hard water area, and this was suggested by the RHS website) with 1/3 perlite for drainage. The plants didn't seem to like this, as the leaves became gradually pale and contorted.

I then switched to John Innes 3 with 1/3 perlite, but the plants didn't improve.

Then i tried a specialist citrus compost, again, no improvement.

Finally i planted in smaller containers (2 inches larger than the pots they were supplied in) in a mixture of 1/2 John Innes and 1/2 coconut husk chips (available from reptile/pet shops) with added osmocote controlled release food pellets. After a week their colour had restored to a dark green and the leaves straightened out. Now a month later they're really thriving. The good thing about using a high proportion of coconut husk chips is that they improve drainage immensely, so you can water quite liberally without fear of drowning the plants. They also retain moisture and nutrients, which are made slowly available to the plant. The downside is that your trees are liable to topple over, so you have to plant them in a heavy container, eg terracotta pots.

I'm feeding them every week with Miracle Grow (all purpose, 24-8-16) and water freely with tap water 'softened' with citric acid (2g per 10L).

[Davyburns]

Its a Bears Lime Rootstock macrophylla, I Transplanted it into a 16" pot cos the photocopied many times instructions said to. I used 2 parts ericaceous compost, Two parts soil, 1 part sharp sand and 1 part well rotted horse manure. I watered it well in, but have been giving it small amounts of water every day, so that might be my problem. I brought it indoors 2 days ago, and I have just noticed this morning there is new growth at 4 different parts on the stem, so maybe if I stop watering for a while, it will improve

[starloc]

Never water every day , watering too much is the main killer to citrus trees

The killer is not too much water its not enough air, you need to let it dry out to dust dry about 2 inch deep before watering, water by soaking the pot completely, never give a bit of water here and there it will cause root rot they are very sensitive to this

It doesnt look that unhappy but with so few leaves and a large pot you need to let it dry out as it wont use the water in the compost before the water rots the roots,

Square pots dont seem to work well as the corners dont drain well ,

i think the pots too big, when the roots are not as large as the pot the plant cant suck water out and the roots will rot

The best thing you could so is use a potting mix of something like 1/3 erricacious compost ( or citrus compost ) , 1/3 wood chips ( sold for orchids ) and 1/3 sphgnum moss ( not moss peat, the stringy hanging basket type )
Or 50/50 perlite and erricacious (or citrus ) compost
another good one is CHC coconut husk , but its a bit fiddly to use as you need to treat it first, you get the chc ( sold for orchids or reptiles ) and soak it in water a few days, then change the water and soak it again but this time add a spoon of calcium nitrate and a spoon of epsom salts , then stir and leave a week ( the 2 fertilisers work as cation exchange salts to remove natural salts in the CHC , no matter how washed the CHC says it is ,its still necessary to wash it

Check the drainage holes in the pot are large enough and never ever add anything in the bottom of the pot to help it drain as it causes a perched water table that will kill the plant eventualy broken bits of stone / pottery stop the pot draining as well...., citrus like holes up the sides from the bottom type drainage holes, and preferably lift the pot a bit off the surface its on to get better airflow under/around the pot,

put holes in the pot like this




keep it in a fairly bright but shady place outdoors where no rain can get on it ( preferably put a bag over the top of the pot if it rains until it gets growing well and drys out ) kept in the house the leaves will probably drop for 2 reasons, theres not enough light for the temperature and the humiditys too low

Being in a small pot will not hurt citrus but a large pot will , you can go to a large pot but you need to be very very carefull and adding things like a heater mat to keep conditions of the roots perfect so they grow rapidly , the other thing is in a large pot the plant will grow to fill the pot and then grow branches and then the next year grow some more and then flower a bit , kept in a smaller pot it will; flower and fruit better

[Davyburns]

From my experience, when citrus trees drop their leaves it's about root problems or lack of water. Feed loads of water (not tap if poss) and if it still looks unhappy try a root insecticide (not sure of you have it in the UK, but here I use a product called Chas) which kills soil-bound nasties...

Never water every day , watering too much is the main killer to citrus trees

As there was conflicting advice on this, I decided to do nothing, and over the last few days, quite a number of new shoots seem to be flourishing, however, I am still losing leaves at the rate of 1 a day. That gives me 2 weeks before I am left with a twig.

Will the new shoots have formed into leaves by then?

[hardley12]

This has prompted many gardeners to plant a linden tree in their own backyard. Whether you live in an area where the lime trees can grow outside all year or if you develop your lime tree in a container, more lime may be rewarding and fun.during growth of the limes, make sure that when your planted linden will receive plenty of sun. If possible, choose a location that receives the southern sun.Make sure the drainage is excellent. If you are careful not to lime tips, you must pay attention to it. Growing lime in the soil that has excellent drainage will not kill your linden

[Davyburns]

Just an update, the Lime tree is doing fine, there are 15 new shoots coming from the stem with several leaves forming on each one, and i still have 9 of the original leaves left on