I live in baltimore and the city rats ate the meyer flowers and baby fruit off the poor little tree in early july. Tree is bouncing back. Seems they don't like the lime, though.

My name is Wanda................... Hi all

Hi Wanda! Are you the original poster? The name was different.

Just thought I'd say Hi since I have a similar growing environment situation. Cement back yard and growing stuff in containers. We make do with what we have :).

Good luck with your tree!!!

Jude

John, thanks for confirming my suspicion about the fallen fruit. I guess I'll have to guard the tree more closely! Thanks also for the tip about feeding the tree.

I'm also having the problem of the fruit turning light green, softening and falling off. I got my tree last summer and it bloomed during early winter. I moved it into the house when the weather here (TX) got colder. It's in a container and I fed it in Feb this year with Vigoro citrus and avocado food. I have removed the scale that I found and mist it lightly each morning. I have no pets so that isn't my problem. I also use a grow light. Can anyone help?

If you have only fed the tree once back in feb. then it is hungry. Feed it more.

thanks citrusfrak, I'll do it this weekend.

Hi, my lemon tree is planted in my garden in California. It got many new leaves and branches this spring, it blossomed a lot, bees flying on it...The problem is, once the flowers fall off, green tiny little lemons appear, but then they turn yellow within few days and dry and fall off.

Does it need more water? Or food? Or should I trim those new branches?

Thanks,

Maya

Maya, please post photos so we can better advise you.

Patty S.

Maya,

Most likely your tree is too small or doesn't get enough sun/water/nutrients. Or you might be watering too much. I bought a Washington Navel orange last year which did very well. Except, the fruitlets just dropped en masse. It was planted from a 3.4 gallon pot after all. The tree grew great all year long though. I think citrus are very good at self-thinning.

Hi ,

The tree is not small, I am posting the picture, it is about 10 yrs old...it is watered once a day for 1-2 minutes by sprinklers. Also, please find attached the pictures of a green little fruits which quickly become yellow and fall off.

Forgot to say, I have the same problem with my orange tree and tangerine tree...I do not understand why since before they were all having fruit, now they blossom, start fruits and then soon fall off.

Thanks

Hello, this is my first post and I am relatively new to the forum. Please go easy on me but feel free to correct me.

Based on everything that I've read, Lemon trees require more water but less often. So it's possible that your tree is not getting enough water. They prefer a good deep watering roughly once a week (more often or less often depending on weather conditions)

good luck, and please post results.

The yellowish leaves doesn't look like magnesium (or zinc) deficiency?

I do not put any food to it...should I? And what is the good organic option?

I try to do everything organic, say when it had some leaf disease, I patiently (lasted around 6 hours) scrubbed or cut every single affected leaf...and the tree got healthy again! ;)

I saw the watering comment, I believe you are right...just thinking how to do that with sprinklers...they are watering other plants and trees there, cannot just shut them off.

Maya

I would try Espoma Citrus Tone and maybe a fish emulsion type foliar fertilizer. Best of luck

For magnesium I heard about using epsom salt. I don't know for the rest, sorry.

Thanks everybody! ;)

Maya, you may have Citrus greening but hard to tell from the photos but this eventually kills the tree. Here's a link with symptoms to help diagnose your tree if thats the case. http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/symptoms.shtml

Other deficiencies shown here

http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/ndccg.shtml

I got a meyer lemon tree at the beginning of this summer. It just started blooming for the first time, and in the first cluster of blooms they all turned to little green lemons, and promptly fell off. I am not super worried about this, since there are a bunch more blooms, but I do wonder whether this will continue. Also, my leaves are looking a bit yellow (not that yellow) and there's some weird sticky white stuff on the stems. My tree is very young, probably only a few years. I put organic citrus fertilizer on it when I first got it in May and right when it started blooming a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures:

This is the tree when I first got it. As you might noticed, on some of the leaves it looks like some insect has eaten them.

This is the tree how it is now. It has grown a bit, but some of the leaves also look a little yellowish.

The baby lemons after they fell offThis is the sticky white stuff that was on the stems. It was only on a few of them, and thicker than is in this picture. Any idea of what that is? Is it harmful?

Thanks! Sorry if I'm overstressing about little things. :)

Dear Sara,

Though I have only had my fruit tree for a few months, I have experienced the joy and disappointment on care for .......a PLANT! Don't know why, but want this one to do well.

I too had this sticky white stuff. Here in Seattle, I keep my plant 50% of the time indoors, and 50% out on my southern exposed deck. After reading and inspection, I have discovered that my plant has scale, a type of bug infestation that can present. These insects are very small (my the size of a small bead) and they feed off the plant. They look like small pill (potato) bugs and move very slowly. Subsequently, their poo is the white, sticky substance that is deposited on the stems and undersides of leaves. I read this material can attract other insects (ants) but is not toxic for pets. I was able to catch it early, and washed the plant well. Then, I sprayed it with a combination of Neem oil and diswashing liquid solution (you can buy various preparations) and after a couple of days, washed again. Upon further inspection, I only saw 1 bug that I happily squished!! Must periodically inspect and occasionally wash.

I don't know if that is what you're experiencing, but if so, it is much easier to treat when infestation is new (vs established). Good Luck!!

Thanks Rodney! I'll be sure to go to my local plant place and ask them about the treatment you recommended. Good to know it can be controlled. :)

Hi Sara, in answer to your other question yes its normal for a citrus tree to drop 85-90% of the fruitlets. Citrus are self-thinning, they flower copiously then only hold a few. Especially Meyer lemon. Its okay. This summer my lime flowered five times, and only held two fruits in total. As the plant gets older/more mature it can hold more fruit. Something to look forward to. :)

That white stuff looks like it may be spider mite rather than scale, but not to worry, determining which is not hugely important as the treatment is identical for them both. :)

There is a slight yellowing, have you fertilized it at all?

Thanks llmelnqueens! It's done blooming now and there are a few lemons left, just like you said. I have fertilized it twice since I got it in May; once when I first got it and once in late July when it started first blooming. Is that sufficient? Too much? Thanks!

From Canada. I have similar problem, fruit keeps falling off. Plant blooms well but wont hold fruit. Soil is maintained just moist, never wet. I fertilize every 3-4 weeks

Why my 3 yr old Meyer potted in coir manure & pearlite blooms & they fall off or fruit falls off?

My 3 yr potted Meyer started to flower after 7 mo. Good sun food & water. 4 was. After bringing in & it lost 1/3 leaves it's flowering every where. How to keep fruit on?

Hi, I know most of these posts are older but if you still have your lemon trees, thought you might want to know this. When you bring your plants in for the winter months, you don't have to fertilize it while it's inside. Just water and sunlight. However, when it blooms inside, you don't have bees in your house so you have to pollinate it yourself by moving the pollen around on each bloom. You can use a little paint brush, a feather or a pencil eraser. Just brush each bloom and that should do the trick. No pollination, no lemons.

Citrus do not require pollination to produce fruit.