Where do you live? What is the fertilizer you are applying? Where did you buy the trees? Do you know what rootstock you have? What is the pH of your soil and your water?

So MUCH information we need to give you any kind of an educated guess.

Sorry about that. I live in the Temecula area of California. I first applied a worm casting and then applied Scotts Citrus fertilizer very, very conservatively. I purchased the trees from a local nursery and all of their trees seem to be growing great (but not mine). I'm not sure about the pH of the soil or water, but I can check.

Temecula soils tend to be lacking in nutrients and of relatively high pH. If your soil pH is over 7.5 your citrus will not absorb some minerals, especially iron; so you will have to give them chelated iron; the pH of the soil can also be lowered by adding soil sulfur. If your water pH is too high you can add a little vinegar or phosphoric acid. Scotts is a pretty good fertilizer; so it could be that you are simply not putting enough, especially for your Meyer which is a heavy feeder. Combine that with inadequate watering in your climate and soil; and you will get what you have. More food and water, and some time should greatly improve your success rate.

More fertilizer, don't worry about chelated micros, your pH is probably not high enough to make a difference, unless, after appropriate fertilizing, your citrus do not green up. Otherwise, commercial citrus growers would never have managed in your area and Riverside, which is the original California "citrus belt". I am not sure why you are applying fertilizer "very, very conservatively". I would apply per recommendations, and about 50% more than the recommended application amount for the Meyer lemon. I would check your soil moisture and see if your watering down 18" to 24". Depending on how hot it has been getting for you (pretty hot this last week), you may need to water more than once a week. You want to water long enough so that your water is getting down 18 to 24". I can't tell you how long that might be, since I don't know what kind of soil you're on (DG or clay), and what the GPH rate on your drip system is, but you need to check to see how deeply your watering is going, and adjust your timing to make sure the soil stays moist (not wet) down to at least 18". Too much water can be as much an issue as too little. I would also consider applying phosphorus acid as well, since we have such a time with phytophthora in our soils out here, which can cause symptoms exactly as your photo is demonstrating. It happens if you over water, especially during later winter/early spring.

Patty S.

Running drip irrigation for 10 minutes provides teaspoon or so of water. Try to survive on that!

(10 minutes not near enough even if via sprinkler.)

More like several hours is needed once a week. Maybe more

Also you didn't mention how many drippers per tree, nor the output of each. Minimum 3 per root ball early on and expand the system with each year.

Patty,

FYI the citrus growers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas have soils near 8 pH and water sometimes higher; they survive, but at a higher cost and every one of them has to apply chelated iron.