New leaves, has small fruit, lots of flowers....
Delivered and packed well but did have some dusty residue on the leaves and some brittle cracked leaves. Also noticed many leaves had possibly been clipped before sending...

Close-up of some leaf residue...from the supplier that will not wipe off.

I don't understand. The tree is budded and growing. If it lost some old leaves, that is totally normal. The marks on the leaves look like normal 'battle scars.' It was probably growing outdoors and plants get beat-up outside.

I would pot it up, give it plenty of light and watch it grow. The spider-mites are from dry air and will go away when you put the tree outside.

Jane

Thanks jane. Just the yellowing, the 'battle scars'... cracks on many leaves. It has been out on the deck...shade and a bit of sun...
Just all my other plants and forest landscape and garden are just buzzing with life right now after a very cold and snow covered winter...patience i suppose.
If something was happening with the yellow molten leaves and i could correct before it went to the rest of the plant...would be nice to catch it?

Your baby looks healthy to me. If the few damaged leaves bother you just clip them off and toss. Don't be surprised when your lemon loses most of the baby fruit; they are quite adept a knowing how many fruits they are able to handle.

Don't you just LOVE the scent from the blossoms tho?

I'll sit back and enjoy...
Yes, the scent of bloom is unlike any other.
I've never been a 'hysterical' gardener. But i do pay attention.
The yellow molten leaf a few weeks into ownership gave me a bit of concern.
The osmocote type surface beads makes me think i should hold off on feed.
Just don't want to ignore a potential problem, if it is a problem.

So much conflicting advice i have run across since i hit that submit/order button...

I'm pretty sure you can fertilize with a liquid food, while there's still Osmocote in the soil.Osomcote will not burn, and releases food depending on the soil conditions.

If you feed with a mild liquid food the Osmocote prills will not release as much or at all. They're also temperature dependent to a degree, so outside in citrus areas in winter, it will not release food, and the tree can still get a little yellow because of that. So you can give it some regular (non-organic) liquid fertilizer for a boost. Works quite well.

To be safe what ever liquid fertilizer you use, use a half-dose.

Also, the prills (little balls) will persist even when empty for a while, so what you see in the soil from the grower may not have much or any food left. The get a bit transparent when done, and you can crush one to check. Full will have a paste type stuff inside, empty will just crush, not much will come out, if any. They do eventually dissolve away themselves but it can take a year or more, long after the food is gone.
Another reason why it's a good idea to mark the calender when you feed with any kind of slow-release fertilizer.

This post was edited by BarbJP on Fri, May 30, 14 at 16:33

IMO Meyers lemon trees can be troublesome trees. I am not sure why everyone on this forum seems to share this special love for Meyers. It is definitely not because they are easy to take care of. They can be nice trees but there are all kinds of beautiful citrus trees in the world which are not as temperamental as Meyers. Especially in containers. IMO.

Well maybe it is the challenge of keeping them healthy. LOL. jon

Thank you Barb. Info i did not know about Osmokote. I do not normally purchase on-line or nursery 1-2 gal plants. More likely to get saplings from my co-extension group spring sales.
Mostly natives that they recommend.

joncha, an expected comment i suppose. My climate is a bit different than yours. If i relied on my native easy care-free 'weeds' i'd have a boring diet of rhubarb, garlic, chives and thyme, berries and a few fruit trees that often suffer late frost and bear fruit 1 out of 5 yrs.
I don't have room or want to care for a gaggle of citrus indoors. Nor do i care much for house plants. When under 6 ft of snow next holiday, i hope to have a lovely tree to care for.
If you feel such a way, you could at least offer a list of all the better citrus available in the world that might be a bit easier for us uneducated northerners. (Cumquats?)

Ok fair enough. I wasn't aware that meyers are so adaptable to northern climates.

Growing Meyers is like riding a bike, learning to ski or some other hobby that interests others..

The challenge of learning can be quite taxing for some, and then others easy...But once you have it under your belt, it's most enjoyable...

Meyer Trees are just like that..Very rewarding once you get it..

MIke

My IML has been my most difficult citrus. I had it in the ground for over a year and it barely had any leaves. It flowered, but I didn't let the fruit set so it would focus on leaf growth. Its condition didn't change. Due to some landscaping changes we have made, I took this poor guy out of the ground and into a 1/2 barrel, like my other citrus. It is finally pushing new growth and looks way better.

I find that my IML and mandarins' leaves will go pale faster than my other citrus, so I give them more foliage pro than my others. But this is the first time in over a year that I feel I have a handle on my IML, so be patient. There were many times that I thought about giving up on it.

I also have two types of blood oranges (Moro and Sanguinelli), meiwa kumquat, honey mandarin, and Mexican lime.