You will need to dig it out and rake up all the leaves. I would be inclined to do a preventive spray on the younger tree and on the ground around the tree you remove. If this is a disease that gets in the root of the plant I would not replant in the same spot.

My understanding is that the older root stock was highly suseptable Phytophthora Gummosis. I've treated the tree successfully in the past with Copper fungicide, but, it's like it just gave up this year.

Believe it or not, last year, it was full of leaves and blooms. It does not sit in a puddle of water, so, it's not a drainage issue.

It does look like a loss but perhaps a last ditch effort would be to prune the tree right above the graft and treat the soil with an iron chelate product. My navel orange tree started down the same path in 2004 after the hurricanes. I was told that salt water may have gotten into the soil and was blocking the tree from iron nutrients. I applied an iron chelate to the soil and leaves and it came back.

Good luck to you.

If you can't save it maybe you can chip it up for smoking wood. I use a lot of arborvitae in my BBQ grilling and I have a friend who swears by citrus wood.

Awww StP, so sorry. I hope it can be saved!

It's like losing an old friend..... :-(

looks like you should address WHY the trees get root rot before you plant anymore trees. from looking at the fence, the spot may get too wet. My personal rule of thumb on citrus is, 'if you water enough to keep grass alive, you water enough to kill citrus trees'. you may need to cut watering back substantially and even shut off the zone around the citrus trees. ONCE ESTABLISHED, citrus need water sparingly, depending on drainage, air movement and temps, no more than once every one or two weeks.
Air movement is also important, but water is the key to root rot. Best of luck.
Why dissing HD citrus? I bought a MAGNIFICENT Dancy tangerine in 25 gallons that was picture perfect and LOADED with fruit, I gave to my MIL for her birthday. I had called around nurseries for similar size and none had anything near it for same price. ($169).

Sorry to see your tree pass on... I know the feeling...so sad.

That's just it though....I RARELY water trees, especially established trees. I figured that they've survived this long without me intervening....why start now?

So, any watering they receive is mostly from rain water or run off from other plants being watered.

Good to know you had good luck from HD on trees. I just made the assumption that a citrus nursery would be better. Perhaps, not? They are better priced than most nursery plants.

Thanks for the condolences. I sent the pics to the county argiculture dept. to see what they say/recommend.

Well... in the case that you do not over water, you may have a low spot or very rocky spot with poor drainage. Do you have lasting puddles in that area when it Rains? If you do, unless you can solve the drainage issue, you may want to build a raised bed with a well drained mix and try that....

I read that citrus trees only live from 25-30 years at most, so it was probably just time for it to die. It's still sad, though. If you are anywhere close to me on the West coast, I have some awesome citrus trees I'd be happy for you to come dig up. They're still not too big to transplant successfully.

Citrus greening is killing thousands of citrus trees in Florida. If you've never heard of it - look it up. I wouldn't spend big money on a citrus tree these days. Robyn