I am new to growing citrus, and have just found out that I have probably been starving my Meyer Lemon, which I've had since April. The tree, which has been growing out on my deck in full sun all season, has set 11 lemons, each of which, though still green, are nearly the size of a supermarket-type lemon already. It was in a one-gallon pot when I bought it, and I potted it up at that time into a larger plastic container with Miracle-Gro Cactus/Citrus soil. Other than the fertilizer already in that soil, I have scarcely fertilized it at all this summer, though it does receive very occasional drenches with the leftover dilute orchid fertilizer (quarter strength 20-14-13, non-urea, with micronutrients) I use on my other plants.

Everything has seemed fine, up until a couple weeks ago when I started noticing a few yellowing leaves, which started appearing among the smaller, older leaves near the base of the plant. The leaves are yellowing at the veins first, before the entire leaf yellows and drops off. Newer leaves are beginning to have yellow veins now, too. Otherwise the plant seems healthy, and I doubt it is yellowing due to overwatering--I wait until the pot is very light in weight before I water, though I do try to keep it from staying bone-dry for long. So far the problem seems minor, but I am concerned to see it dropping leaves even before being brought indoors for the winter.

I would like to increase the fertilizer I am giving this plant, but am unsure how to do so. The main issue for me is that I will be bringing the plant indoors in a few weeks and I am afraid to "push" the fertilizer at a time when the plant will be receiving less light and therefore unable to use as much "food." Is that a concern for those of you who grow citrus indoors? Can you "shock" a citrus tree further by suddenly giving it plenty of nutrients after it's been making do on very little? I wonder if watering exclusively with the dilute orchid fertilizer solution this winter, and then switching to something like the Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro this spring would be a sound idea...thoughts?

Thanks for your help.
Claire

PS I would like to attach a pic, but I appear to have lost the do-hicky that lets me upload pics from my camera. I'll add the pics later if I can find it, but in the meantime I've described what is going on as well as I can.