Help/advice needed: Sick lemon tree

Discussion in 'Pests, Diseases and Cures' started by apasagic, May 19, 2021.

  1. pete

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

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    The plant in your picture @noisette47 has an awful lot of lemons hanging on it, its almost unreal.
    Do you get a crop like that every year and do you cut them off at the start of the new growing season, only I find leaving any amount of ripe fruit on seems to drain the plants energy.
     
  2. noisette47

    noisette47 Total Gardener

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    I wouldn't know how to Photoshop it if I wanted to :biggrin: 50+ last winter..best crop ever. There are still a few but new fruit coming along too. I feed it, I water it (sparingly), I prune it.....nature does the rest. Still toying with the idea of planting it in the ground. My mate in the next village has a beauty 3m x 3m that he covers with plastic sheet in hard winters. The fruit are disgustingly enormous....:biggrin:
     
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    • apasagic

      apasagic Apprentice Gardener

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      Hi again. Wanted to ask you for few more information on the topic.

      Since I re potted the plant into an adequate sized pot, applied the systemic pesticide to get rid of the pest (I reckon successfully) and changed watering habits, a small side stem/branch (not sure what is an adequate term) started to grow from the very basin of the plant with few young leaves meaning plant is still alive.

      However leaves have these brownish spots and dry out on the edges (while new leaves still grow):
      245422340_233698895314871_6376740405524944758_n.jpg 245041205_244105964359069_1078519056099491601_n.jpg 245318649_1081768335693236_10630184366137903_n.jpg


      Any idea what could this be about.

      PS I applied pesticide only once and see no traces of the bugs anymore, but considered. applying third time just to be sure. Also, I remarked yesterday a small amounts of cob-web like thing on the plant. Not sure if its also some indication of some sort of infestation?
       
    • pete

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

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      It could be red spider mites but difficult to say with out a close look.

      If you have sprayed those young leaves it could be where the insecticide has burnt the edges of the leaves
       
    • noisette47

      noisette47 Total Gardener

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      Hi apasagic, good news that it's still alive! As pete says, webbing is usually a sign of red spider mite. Have a close look....are there particles of reddish, orange or yellow what looks like dust? If so, you need to very, very gently wipe the leaves and stem with a damp cloth. You'll need to be careful not to detach the shoot from the main stem! Chemicals won't help...RSM is mostly resistant now. Just keep wiping them away. Once the lemon tree has put on a bit of growth and is out of danger, it might be worth investing in a natural predator....Which predators to use for the control of Spider Mite and how to use them
      But until the plant's bigger, it would be a waste of money!
      Don't get carried away with the watering ;) Citrus don't need much in autumn/winter. Cool, bright and dry are the golden rules :)
       
    • pete

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

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      Its a small plant and I agree it would be very easy to overwater it.

      But @noisette47 , something I have noticed with my citrus is I was keeping them too dry in winter, and as soon as early spring came along the plants tended to shed most of their leaves.
      I now keep them a bit moister in the winter and they seem better for it.

      Got a few good lemons coming, but they will never match your plant.

      How is that plant now, is it cropping like that again, or having a bit of a rest.
       
    • noisette47

      noisette47 Total Gardener

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      I killed off so many citrus by overwatering that I err on the side of caution now. No leaf loss :scratch: but they're kept barely frost free in winter.
      Are we going to see a piccie of yours? :)
      Lemmy has some flowers and new fruits developing, as well as a few ripe stragglers :biggrin: Doing battle with the leaf-miners at the mo. Blasted things attack all the new, young leaves.
      My pride and joy, though, is the lime tree. Kilos and kilos of fruit every year. Indian lime pickle, key lime pie, mojitos, lime marmalade and loads frozen for use in the winter :) No chance of getting scurvy here :biggrin:
      It's the first year I've had more than 3 'pink' caviar limes. Tiny little fruit but bursting with genuine caviar lookalike bubbles of juice. Very cheffy :roflol:
       
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      • pete

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

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        Mine are no where near the size of yours, or fruit as yours do.
        My Morrisons lemon which I bought spring 2020 has come on and has some useful fruit , I've got the other plant (lemon), but it produces very odd shaped fruit with very thick skin.

        Best plant is the clementine that fruit very well but lives in the greenhouse all year round, the greenhouse is too small for it.

        Got a few others that dont really fruit well.
         
      • noisette47

        noisette47 Total Gardener

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        After fiddling about with various citrus feeds, expensive and not very consistent, mine just get a dose of Miracle-Gro about once a month. Everything gets Miracle-Gro :biggrin: Never found a better fertiliser....One of these winters, I'll have to hire a big van and come over to stock up :)
        ETA: Other fertilisers are available!
         
      • pete

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

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        I'm always amazed at all the so called specialised feeds that you can buy.

        I only buy balanced feed and high potash for midsummer onwards, and everything gets the same stuff, either Miracle grow or Chempack.
        I sometimes buy tomato feed if its on offer.
         
      • noisette47

        noisette47 Total Gardener

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        The trees should fruit well then! :biggrin: They need a good talking-to! (In French ;))
         
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        • pete

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

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          I've got some good lemons coming but the bush is a really bad shape, its got fruit growing around the bottom but there is some really heavy vegetative growth coming out the top which I'm trying to slow down by pinching out the shoots.
           
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          • noisette47

            noisette47 Total Gardener

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            Ah...don't be shy about pruning. I had to do a really drastic reduction to get rid of scale and it did the tree the world of good! Now I nip out the leaf-miner infested shoots, so it keeps it's shape quite well. Doesn't seem to affect fruiting. As for the pink caviar lime, it went barmy with all the food and water, so thinned out a third of the branches (not a job for the faint-hearted without good gloves) and it gets a damn' good sorting out of non-flowering shoots each year. Seems to have done the trick!
             
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            • john558

              john558 Total Gardener

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              Sorry folks, not about a Lemon Tree.
              My problem is a Hibiscus.
              I pruned it hard in spring 2020, fed it with Seaweed & Tomorite and have been giving it water when needed, it's now grow to 6ft tall.
              What have I done wrong please. P1010157.JPG P1010157.JPG P1000994.JPG
               
            • pete

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

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              Hi John, as for doing something wrong I'm guessing you mean no flowers?
              Is it in a pot ?
               
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