Saving a sick Meyer Lemon Tree

I just LOVE the smell of lemon tree flowers.

So, I purchased one (the only one in town), after quite a bit of searching!  I brought it back home on a plane (within Canada) and it did quite well the first winter in my south facing apartment kitchen window.

I figured I’d give it a treat in the summer, so put it outside.  Most plants seem to like the outside fresh air, natural rain etc.  But, then when I went to re-pot it after the summer (to give it new soil), I noticed that the tree had hardly any roots.  It should have had SO many roots trying to get out of the pot. I’d also noticed that the leaves were falling off, but I had never had a lemon tree, and thought it might have been seasonal.  I figured the re-potting would help.

It did not.

The leaves just kept falling off.  But… the branches were still green.  Plus, every so often it would flower (just to tell me it was alive).  🙂

I looked up what was wrong, and the conclusions I got were either: root rot from over watering, or some sort of fungus.

I decided that to try and eliminate any fungus, I would replace all of the soil.  I purchased brand new potting soil, and carefully dumped the pot and plant.  I removed the tree, and soil.  I threw out the soil (so not to contaminate my garden/compost), and then carefully washed the very small root structure that existed in the sink and cleaned out the pot.  Then I carefully re-potted it in the soil.

I also read that Meyer lemon trees don’t like a lot of wetness, so I made sure to let the soil dry completely between waterings.

To give it a chance at growing roots, whenever I watered it, I tried to remember to add fertilizer that I purchased.  I started with regular fertilizer (I don’t remember the numbers), and then when I went to another garden centre, they recommended Transplant Fertilizer (plus Iron and Micro Nutrients)- 10-50-10.  This is supposed to give the root structure more nutrients to grow.

• Note:  Fertilizer – N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium).
  Nitrogen is used by the plant for foliage.  If plants get a lot of this, they will produce a lot of leaves, but maybe not grow fruit or flower too much. Too much may stunt growth as other nutrients aren’t being absorbed enough.
  Phosphorus stimulates root growth.  Also helps the plant with buds and flowers.  It also helps increase seed size.  Soil pH needs to be between 6.5-6.8 for best absorption. Organic matter and soil organisms also help with phosphorus uptake by plant (thus why I used a fertilizer with HIGH P amount for the roots).
  Potassium helps overall health of plant.  It helps plant make carbohydrates and help with disease resistance.

This still didn’t make the plant grow new leaves.  Once in a while there were new flowers, but NO leaves.  In fact, it was dropping leaves like crazy!

This is my poor stick of a plant.

It had been nearly a year, and this is what my poor lemon tree looked like (see above).

 

So, I went to another nursery for more advice.

The lady there had said that I’d been doing everything right, but she gave some more ideas:

• If there was fungus or mould on the soil, to sprinkle cinnamon on top to kill the fungus.
• DO NOT OVERWATER (I had been very careful about this).
• Add more nitrogen to the fertilizer to get leaf growth.
• To buy rooting hormone and cut a few snippings to make new trees in case the original tree died.

So, I took a few cuttings and dipped in the rooting hormone.  After a few weeks, they died.  🙁

But about a month later, the tree started to grow leaves!!!

 

 

 

So, there you have it.  Save your Meyer lemon tree that has lost all of it leaves.

 

Best recommendation (what I think worked/quick conclusion):

• Soil change (EVERYTHING)
• Don’t over water (let it dry between waterings)
• Use high phosphorus fertilizer when watering
• Be patient.  If the branches are green your Meyer lemon tree is still alive.

 

Good luck!

 

My mom had a lime tree, and it had the same thing happen.  She tried to fix hers but doing different things.  She tried by giving it less light, and cut back on the branches so there were fewer branches (to let it focus on the roots).  Hers died.  Don’t try this technique.