Sad lemon

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by 2nd_bassoon, Jul 13, 2019.

  1. 2nd_bassoon

    2nd_bassoon Super Gardener

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    We've come back from a fortnight's holiday to a very sorry-looking lemon tree. It was green and bushy when we left with small buds just starting, but on return it looks like this:

    2019-07-13 14.37.17.jpg

    2019-07-13 14.37.24.jpg

    The leaves are faded brown/yellow and very crispy, but still lots of new flower buds coming through.

    What can I do to salvage things? It's currently in pretty much full sun, I re-potted it with citrus soil about a month ago, and it usually gets a weekly citrus feed, though I've paused that since repotting with fresh soil as per the bag instructions. We've had a friend coming in to look after things while we've been away so it will have had a little water over the last fortnight. Should I pinch off the flowerbuds to try and preserve energy?
     
  2. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    Wish I knew the answer, to me Lemons in particular are a bit dodgy in pots.
    Cant say I've personally had great success with any citrus in a pot, and I'll be interested what answers you get.
    To my mind its about getting the roots happy, but doing that is not always easy, too much water, too little is probably better.
    Like many plants they get going in the spring before the roots actually take off, so its very easy to overwater at that stage.
    I'd give it a slight prune back and put it outside in a warm spot and resist overwatering bearing in mind it has hardly any leaves.
     
  3. 2nd_bassoon

    2nd_bassoon Super Gardener

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    Thanks @pete , from what I've read it looks like either over- or under-watering is likely at fault - not exactly helpful :rolleyespink: The roots looked ok when I repotted it last month and I'm loathe to disturb it too much by checking again. It's already outside in the sun so I'll try a gentle prune (and maybe an umberella for the inevitable South West showers?!) and see how we go.
     
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