Old leaves, and a significant change in light conditions is the cause. Once the center rib is yellow, the plant has sucked back all it can from the leaf; and you can remove it with the lightest touch. You can leave it until it falls, but you risk fungal intrusion.

Yellow-vein chlorosis is usually indicative of nitrogen deficiency. The difficulty is figuring out why your plant isn't taking up nitrogen.

The first and easiest culprit is root rot caused by overly moist soil or letting the pot sit in a puddle in the saucer. Examine the roots, cut away any that are brown and slimy, and repot in a fast-draining mix such as "5-1-1" (5 parts small bark chips, one part perlite, one part peat).

I would doubt greening. Your yellowing is basically symmetrical.

Yep, simple lack of nutrients. Nitrogen being the most common.

Josh

I am having this same problem

the leaves at the base are the first ones affected

Thanks at first I thought it might an over watering problem BTW what are sings of over-watering ?

I do believe now that the plant was suffering from both over watering and lack of nutrients like iron or nitrogen. We had eight inches of rain one month and that probably did not help because stuff like iron is water soluble and just washes away.

Probably. Signs of over watering is yellowish or light green leaves that fall off easily. If it's just a nutrient deficiency the leaves will be yellow or various other patterns of yellow to light green, depending on what it's lacking. But they won't fall off easily.

Do you use tap water often?

Thinking it might be chlorosis from high irrigation pH Mike?

I always use tap water. The water here is hard.

What I am thinking is that you are deficient on every nutrient in the book...My plants, mostly tropicals and citrus trees, wait even orchids, can not handle hard water which has a higher pH unless it's brought down some how with vinegar or other suggested products...What is happening to yours is exactly what I dealt for for years until I figured this out...

In some communities, it takes a lot of soap to properly wash your hands. This occurs in places with "hard" water, where high levels of calcium, magnesium and other alkaline minerals are found in tap water.

Scientists measure the hardness of water using a pH scale, which measures the hydrogen-ion concentration in the liquid. Water with a low pH is more acidic, while water with a higher pH is harder or more alkaline, meaning it is able to neutralize acids.

The pH scale measures substances on a scale from 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends households have a water pH of between 5.5 and 9. Even within this range, however, hard water causes challenges.

Mike)

I always use tap water but i never use it right away i leave it for a few days until the chlorine is gone and its room temperature

i think my problem is nitrogen deficiency the plant has out about 50 blooms that's 50 lemons and it hasn't been getting any fertilizer so its probably running low on nutrients

Kings,

Just because you let it sit for days, it does not change the pH....I think you are missing the point. Chlorine was never brought up....Good luck)

I will test pH in a few days when I get a new digital meter. I have water test strips from having a Cichlid fish tank but those pH strips are not as accurate. The tree has sprouted new leaves after some minor pruning which is an encouraging sign. The tree was in a very small pot and it was extremely wet when I bought it.

Let me share something with you...It is MOST likely you water is alkaline and I would just adda couple of spoonfuls of vinegar to your water when watering like yesterday..It won't hurt and if anything, if it is a pH issue, you will see a vast improvement within a short period of time. I never tested my water since two tablespoons of vinegar in water is not enough to do harm even if your water was acidic anyway. I did call my water supplier after months of doing it and after my plants looked their best, and sure enough my water has a pH of 8.5..

Yeah Mike, the vinegar additive is what I'll probably do. I just can't add any more water right now. The ground outside was just saturated by another half an inch of pouring rain tonight.

seems to be getting worse with every watering even tho i am now fertilizing Dyna-Gro DYFOL008 Foliage Pro, 8-Ounce

the yellow vein leaves do not fall off easily even when pulled so cant be over watering

also another problem some of the buds are not opening they don't turn purple and open just falls off

Hmm, is your potting mix usually wet and soggy after being watered or is it loose and draining enough that it just stays nice and moist. Perhaps it could be holding too much water around the roots?

I like to use one of those soil moisture testing meters. Mine is a Dr meter one that does not use batteries. I use it for all my plants.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PTLGKSQ?psc=1

KIngs, you're not giving us enough information to make a diagnosis on your tree..What are your cultural habits, mote pics of the whole tree, how are the roots, how often do you later, how do you know when to water, what kind of light does it get, how much fertilizer, do you use anything else, like epsom salts, have you sprayed it with anything? Please, more info?

Try using a foliar spray with micro-nutrients specifically for Citrus. Let the plant dry out but spray with the foliar spray until runoff.

I've had good results using it and I suspect my citrus might have Greening. Whatever is going on, the foliar spray is recommended by the University of S. Florida extension. My tree greened up within 2 weeks. I have lots of fruit developing on lemon and oranges.

Jane

Kings, how is your tree now?

I don't have it anymore I sold it The problem was over-watering

Yes, I’m really late on this thread but there’s some good info here. My potted Meyer did great over the summer, but of course, bringing it in for winter (Chicago) is difficult. This year, I’m trying to improve its Overwinter. There was leaf drop, which I attacked by re-potting, and adding heavy supplemental lighting And a misting system. This stopped the leaf drop (for a while), but now the tree is fruiting like crazy (hundreds of blooms) with little veg growth, and some leaf drop has returned. I’m guessing these are old leaves that have been sucked of all their nitrogen, and I’m hoping new growth will replace it. Leaves show yellow veins and increasing chlorosis before drop. Btw, I use a high nitrogen fertilizer 32-10-10, and the sandy-loam soil drains well. I also mist the plants for 15 seconds every two hours or so with slightly acidic water. If you guys are still around, love to hear yer opinions.

I have similar problem in yellow veins on my two 1-foot tall Meyer lemon trees. I use cactus soil with some compost as suggested by some articles, the soil seems moist enough but not overwatering. I’ve ordered a citrus spray, hopefully that’ll take care of the problem. Perhaps it was the water too because we have hard water in MN. Will try to add a little vinegar suggested by a commenter here. Keep my fingers crossed! :) Learned a lot here.

Can someone help!? My lemon tree was THRIVING and then all of a sudden the leaves started to turn yellow and then fall off. I have been adding nutrients to the soil as that’s what a nursery nearby told me to try but it looks like they are still turning. You can see the new growth in the photos.

@Danielle Santana .... not sure you're still around, Danielle, but more info is needed. If you would be willing to answer a few questions about your plant's care history, there is a very good chance the answers would provide enough info to ID whatever the issue(s) might be.

Al

Helloooo out there! I too landed in this thread because the veins on my little lemon tree turned yellow! There is no spotting, and they don't fall off - it's actually all the med. & small leaves on the bottom branches as the really big top leaves are still green?

I'm sure it first happened because of a super cold snap, my baby is an indoor home-grown from seed tree that has lived it's entire potted life from baggie-sprout in the same living room window for the past 3 years. It's a super sunny, south facing window so hot all summer and room-temp warm and super bright even in the winter (Alberta/Canada) but this past winter we had a few days where it dropped to -35c (-31f for you folks!) and so it spent one of those days between super cold glass and the closed curtain before I remembered to pull it out! Needless to say the bottom leaves faded and the veins all turned bright yellow pretty quick. Not completely yellow, and not spotty mind you, just the veins, and still none of those leaves have fallen off and this was some months ago.

BUT, they haven't recovered either - they're still paler than the tallest parts of the tree and the veins are still very obviously yellow. I'm worried it's going to move up if I don't figure it out. Citrus tree info is non-existent in our local nurseries/greenhouses so I just went online hunting trying to match conditions :)

I chose to continue in this thread instead of creating a new one because 4 months ago active isn't too shabby and there is excellent info in this thread, myself I like to read the good stuff all in one place instead of jumping from thread to thread or forum to forum. I will try to upload some pics for reference as they really do help when folks in the know can see what exactly you are trying to describe. I'm a noob though so please bear with me :)

I know mine aren't ideal citrus growing conditions, and I fully never expect my little lemon tree to fruit but I do want it to live a happy healthy life indoors with the rest of the living entities in this house!

To give you something to think about before you post more info, general chlorosis (aka yellow vein chlorosis) can be caused by a number of issues, among them are nutrient deficiencies, poor drainage, uneven watering or under/over-watering, root injury/ disease, pH levels too high, a high level of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, badly skewed nutrient ratios (in the soil solution), low fertility.

Info you need to add to get reasoned info: Have you ever repotted or potted up (they are very different)? if 'yes', when last. Have you inspected roots to check for root rot? If you lift the tree from the pot, does the soil/root mass remain intact? How do you decide when it's time to water? How do you fertilize (with what product [include NPK %s please], how often, when last)?

Al

Most likely cause is over watering

You are better off growing Calamondin orange tree they easier to grow

Your assistance is much appreciated :)

<q> Have you ever repotted or potted up (they are very different)? if 'yes', when last. Have you inspected roots to check for root rot? If you lift the tree from the pot, does the soil/root mass remain intact? How do you decide when it's time to water? How do you fertilize (with what product [include NPK %s please], how often, when last)?</q>

Yes to potted up, just once - the sprouted seed was grown in the same pot for the first while and then it was replanted into it's current pot about a little under 2 years ago.

I haven't taken it out of it's current pot to check the roots yet because I didn't want to stress it any further, but I will do so I just need to get up the nerve lol!

It's in an organic potting mix and no doubt needs some proper fertilizer I was just never sure exactly what to give it so I erred on the conservative side as I didn't want to kill it with the wrong/or too much stuff. I have given it a measured amount of miracle grow twice a year (it's the blue stuff, I don't know the NPK sorry - we just keep it in a plastic container with the ml/liter for general purpose feeding taped on the outside. The last ferilizer would have been just before fall last year and I would normally be doing it again around now.

I water all our plants once a week, give or take a day or so depending on how moist the soil is. I water them from the bottom, the Lemons pan is 1 inch deep and about 3/4 of an inch larger around than the pot. I fill the ring of the pan and let the plant suck up as much as it needs in 20 minutes. So if there is water still there after 20 mins I dump it out and if it sucks it up really fast (5 mins or less) I add a little more.

Also I haven't put the plant back in the quasi-bay window since the mini-freeze-yellow-turning because it'd actually got too big for the spot and didn't fit well. It's still in the same room and about the same location but farther back from the window now in the living area so it may be missing a bit of extra direct sunshine. Alberta is known for it's crazy sunny-bright winters even though the temps drop way way down!

With Easter prep and company coming and such it will be a couple of days before I could risk taking it from the pot - but when I do Al what should I look for and should I clip any roots or add fresh potting soil to the bottom?

Thanx again for your suggestions and Happy Easter folks :)

The most finicky tree I know if your mix is not very porous , you don’t provide an abundant amount of light and water properly. Oh yes , don’t forget to fertilize since they eat like pigs.

living room lemons, from what you wrote above concerning your fertilizer practices, your tree's yellow lemon veins is most likely caused by a lack of enough nitrogen.