Meyer Lemon - Leaf Drop

21 years ago

I moved my citrus into my unheated sunroom in late September. Everything seemed to be going well until this week, when my meyer lemon started dropping otherwise healthy looking leaves like crazy. The lime and the tangelo are not doing this. They've had well over a month to adjust to less light, but the sun is lower in the sky now, so not much direct sun reaches the south-facing windows of the sunroom. It is also colder outside this week, temperatures in the sunroom hover around 50 degrees.

My gut tells me that my tree is just going dormant and will produce a new flush of leaves and buds in the spring. I am ok with that, if that's nature's way. I guess I am just looking for some reassurance.

(Last year all of my citrus managed just fine in this same sunroom, but, since they were purchased in December and January, may already have made the adjustment to low-lite, cooler temps and dormancy before I purchased them.)

My plan is to pick up the fallen leaves, water only as needed (which won't be often), mist daily and otherwise do nothing until spring....unless you think I should do something else?

Annie

Life is good on an island

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Comments (5)

garnetmoth
21 years ago
Humidity catching up with them was my first thought. If youre misting, probably not

How many leaves? Pictures? if theyre not yellowing or curling, or youve looked close or used a hand lens and cant see bugs, its probably not a big deal.

Good Luck!
hairmetal4ever
21 years ago
Cold roots could be the culprit. Soil temp ideally should be 65 or greater.
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birdsnblooms
21 years ago
Annie, I think the Meyer's just has to acclimate. Some ppl have problems with Meyer's to begin with.
My citrus live in cool rooms, too w/o leaf drop.

Other factors are humidity, (misting is great, but a humidifer works day and night) and to be on the safe side, check for insects.. Mites/mealy/scale
Are the leaves changing colors before dropping? Do they feel sticky? Any webbing? White cottony patches..

I'd give it time...and inspect foliage, over and under leaves, stems..You mention infrequent watering. You want to give the soil a good watering, then let dry out before watering again..Not little sips here and there. Good luck, Toni
gman68558
21 years ago
Here's mine:

{{gwi:639515}}

Went through a horrible healthy leaf drop period about three months ago. Finally stabilized a week after repotting into the CHC/peat mixture.

I have to say though, even without very many leaves I still have about a dozen pretty healthy looking fruits that seem to be progressing along (albeit slowly):

{{gwi:639516}}
newgeneral
Original Author
21 years ago
No sign of insects. No stickiness. And the leaves do not discolor before they drop. I did stop misting for a week or two -- that corresponds to the start of the leaf drop. Anyway, I've started that up again.

I know for a fact that the soil is cold. The room temp is only 50 +/- But I've got other citrus in the same place and no leaf drop from them. I suppose Meyers are more temperamental.

The soil is very well-draining. It is moist at the root zone now, but not terribly so. If the plant were doing fine I'd not water at this point -- especially in the winter I tend to be pretty conservative about when I water for fear of overdoing it. Do you think I should give it a good soaking? Or just leave it alone?

Assuming it is just making an adjustment to the cooler conditions and less light -- how long should it take before I see a new flush of leaves?

Annie