Hi Wanda. About seven months ago I planted a small Eureka lemon tree in the yard. I've kept it watered and mulched a little and occasionally throw some fertilizer (mainly the water soluable all purpose) on it. The leaves have most all come off but I think it finally took root because there are blossoms and even little lemons on it. Hope they don't all drop off. Mine is in full sun. How about yours? I'm going to fertilize it with regular citrus fertilizer next month. I also have a huge orange tree that is STILL trying to fully recover from Hurricane Wilma. We used to get wonderful Florida navel oranges from it...loads of them, but now it produces much fewer fruits. I've noticed several golf ball sized oranges on it, though, so maybe it's making a come-back. We used to have a large Marshwhite grapefruit tree that produced tons of sweet, juicy grapefruits year after year. It finally went into decline about two years ago and we had to have it removed. But it was 30 or more years old! If I were you, I'd just fertilize your tree (follow package recommendations) and water it thoroughly once a week. The tree should start taking hold pretty soon. Take care, Sheri :)

I am not a citus expert but everything I have read says NOT to mulch around citrus trees. I hope you get an answer soon.

I used to grow citrus, until the floriduh dept of agriculture took them all away. My experience has been that when small, citrus trees normally drop most of its fruit and that is the recommended course of action. That channels energy towards growth instead of fruit.

Planting shock can cause a tree to drop fruit and leaves, its important to not disturb root ball if at all possible. ALso a big change in sunlight can cause leaf drop, meaning if leaves sprouted in a shady place and then its planted in full sun, it will likely have some or most leaves drop.
When planting a citrus tree you should water daily for a couple of weeks (unless your soil is heavy and retains water well, then it just requires steady moisture) until the tree is established and new roots are pushing out. Hold back fertilizer until the tree is well established, and even then go slow with fertilizer. Established citrus need water only every couple of weeks. Heavy watering and standing water can be a killer of citrus, causing root rot and forcing tree into decline. Generally speaking if you water enough to keep grass green and growing well, you are over watering your citrus and will soon see die back and rotted branches. Pruning is also not recommended except for removal of dead branches.

Mulch is not necessarily a bad thing, if the soil is mostly sand and water drains very fast, I would use some mulch to hold on to some steady moisture.

I sure miss picking my tangelos, persian limes, dancy tangerines, and navel oranges with my wheel barrow. Now I have to buy them.

Hi, Wanda. My lemon trees have dropped some small lemons.
First all,We need the rains. The soil is very dry. Young
trees are suffering. goldenpond is correct about the mulch.
Mulch must not be too close to the tree for it would promote
disease to the tree and a hiding place for damaging insects to hide. Fertilizers unless it's liquid would stress the tree further. Water the tree with a good soaking every other day.
Most likely this is will pass.
Felix

Young citrus can take several years to recover and be happy after planting . Some people advocate picking all fruit as it sets to allow the tree to send energy to root growth for two or even three years .
Many older citrus trees - like mine - were grown on stock that is no longer disease resistant . Older trees that go into a slow decline over years - as bluesky7 mentioned - may actually be suffering from Tristeza virus rather than old age .
This has been a VERY bad year for citrus production ; too dry and too many pests and diseases . Some think this is still a remnant from the hurricanes blowing viruses and pests through the area far and wide . A neighboring commercial grove is slowly re-planting all their citrus trees on the newest disease resistant stock - hundreds at a time ! It is a very discouraging time to be a grower .
Water and wait and do not fertilize yet . Give your new tree a good long time to get settled . I planted two new ones more than a year ago and they are still not over the shock . I picked the green fruit last year and have picked it again this year to give them more time to mature . It is difficult to be patient !

Thank you, guys, for all your info.

I guess I'll have to be patient and give it a chance to recuperate. It's just that I can't wait to finally pick a lemon off my own tree instead of buying them for 50 cents a piece!

In the meantime, I'm going out to clear the mulch away from it. I only put it down a couple of days ago thinking it'll keep it from drying out.