Sickly lemon advice please .....

[ourarka]

I have several different citrus (Tahiti lime, various lemons etc) but I have one Meyer lemon (pictured) that just isn't thriving. They are all outside over summer months, in good bright sunshine etc and all doing well except this one. They all have a similar feeding and watering regime but this Meyer, flowered well, but has recently become quite 'skeletal' through lead drop, with quite a bit of yellowing in the older leaves (blotchy rather than following the veins).

I can't see a pest problem (used to suffer with scale but seem to have got on top of that). I am wondering if it is a nutrient thing, or if it needs repotting .... what are your thoughts?

[nickdub]

I'd knock it out of the pot and have a look at the roots next - best move it away from the area where the others are first, just in case there are some nasties in there like vine weevils.

If everything looks OK pop it back in, and give it a water to refresh the compost.

[Snoop Puss]

Have a look here for symptoms of nutrient deficiencies:

Listen to Your Lemons – what are your citrus trees trying to tell you? | GlobalNet Academy

[ourarka]

Had it out the pot - definitely no nasties lurking. Roots seemed decent, on the damp side but not waterlogged and no sign of totting. Not potboubd either.

Picture loos most like nitrogen deficiency but would seem very weird seeing as it's on the same feeding regime as the others and they're all thriving. More leaf drop since I posted ..... looking very skeletal now!!

[nickdub]

I'm no extra on citrus in containers, but aren't you supposed to let them more or less dry out between waterings ? What with the cool weather we've been having, maybe its just been kept too wet at the roots.

[ourarka]

I do agree but, again, no different watering to my other citrus. In fact, this is one of the smaller pots so you'd think would dry out quicker?

[nickdub]

Certainly a puzzle - perhaps pot it on in to a slightly bigger pot next year ? I reckon as long as it has some healthy leaves on it it will probably pull through.

Some times these things remain a mystery - I've had a couple of large, previously healthy plum trees die on me for no obvious reason - while other trees near by have been fine.

[starloc]

Nutrient deficiency will not cause rapid leaf loss usually but can make tree more likely to have insect attack problems, it does look like spider mites or scale

The leaf looks like magnesium deficiency , but also could be build up of salts in compost, or incorrect pH

But both can also look like this with over watering , it is important to treat each tree individually never to just water them all because one needs it , test each tree and only water when dry

All deficiencies can also be cased by incorrect pH of the water or overwatering

Do you water with tap water, if so try adding a cap of vinegar to every few litres of water or better still a half teaspoon to 5 litres of water of iron sulfate to all water added not so much to add iron ( although it does ) add it to acidify the waater

If you have been using tap/well water then once it has dried out again add a teaspoon er litre of pot to the top of the compost and flood the pot with water , as it drains down refill again this will remove salts build up in the pot

every now and then add a teaspoon per 5 litres of epsom salts to the water as well