Looks underfertilized to me.... can anyone else weight in?

Can we see a pic of the yuzu??? I have one too and am curious, not too many on the board have one.

I agree with under fertilized, yellowing of leaves in assorted patterns is the most common problem I face while trying to grow citrus. I think I get it fixed and then it shows up again in varying degrees.

I am just north of you hobbyartisan, what is a yuzu???

OH, forgot to ask if your water is alkaline, is that the reason for the vinegar, or is it making the soil too acidic?

It looks like nitrogen deficiency which may be caused by alkaline soil pH or root rot. Check the pH of your fertilizer solution with a pH kit used to check pH of aquarium water water. It should be around pH 6 - 6.5. Dropping of yellow leaves is indicative of root rot so you may have root rot causing nitrogen deficiency. Check the roots. I know you are taking all the precautions against root rot but you might want to check anyway.

Hi ubro I remember you from last year, we were talking about your greenhouse and boiler system, hope you are enjoying summer!

A yuzu is a Japanese sour orange, it is very seedy but the small amount of juice you get is highly prized. I haven't had any fruit yet from mine but the OP's location should be a great climate for yuzu.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm going to get a soil test kit this weekend and check the pH. Is it possible the pH could be too low in the case of the lime? I poked around in the lemon's soil today and the roots felt almost crumbly to me, and were a yellow color. Is that indicative of past root rot? I didn't find any brown or slimey roots.

I am putting two capfuls of FP in each 1.5 gallon of irrigation; there's no way that's not enough fertilizer for them, right?

Pictures of my yuzu below for Hobby. I've tip pruned it once already to encourage it to branch out more. It has a few small fruit on it but has been self-selecting and dropping some of the immature fruit it set this spring.

I hope you get it worked out. I would keep adding that much FP until you see the new leaves that come in look good. So Hobby, what is the juice of the yuzu used for? Marinades? Stan McKenzie sells them along with some other interesting varieties.

Laura,

I believe the yuzu, along with the Sambokan are key ingredients in the manufacture of Ponzu sauce.

Laura,

Yuzu is indeed used as a citrus component in Japanese Ponzu sauce. The flavor of the juice is complex with elements of grapefruit, lemon, mandarin, and lime. It can also be used to make traditional sweet syrups, marmalades, and in cakes. It's been a trendy ingredient in Western kitchens as well, and can be used to flavor stocks and soups. The zest is used to lend flavor to custards and stocks as well, but the fruit tends to either give you lots of juice (when unripe) or zest (when ripened), so you have to pick with a plan for the fruit.

The plants are a common backyard tree in Japanese home gardens and are winter-hardy enough to survive winters here in the Pacific Northwest (generally considered to be hardy to somewhere between 10 and 25 degrees).

Hope that helps!

Sorry to continue asking questions, but I'm hoping this will help to clear things up. I went upstairs and took the plants up out of their soil for a look at the roots. I took pictures of what I saw; I'm hoping someone can tell me if there's evidence of root rot.

First up, the lemon, planted in potting mix amended with bark and pumice -

The media around the roots seemed dry while the rest of the pot was quite moist (it rained here today). The roots have hardly grown at all since I potted this in May.

Next, the Bearss Lime, potted in 5-1-1 (I erred and used Vermiculite instead of Perlite because I didn't know any better). There was more root growth visible here but still, not a ton of new growth.

1. Is the bark I'm using breaking down too quickly? Could that be tying up Nitrogen?

2. How do the roots look to you all on both plants?

Thanks very much for all of the advice!

I didn't hear back after posting the root pictures so I went ahead and bought some repti-bark and re-potted both trees. Here they are immediately after re-potting:

How does the mix look?

Last question: my lime has dropped about 10 leaves since the re-pot. How long do you think it'll be before I see a flush of new growth?

Don't use fertilizer for a couple of weeks (it's supposed to allow roots to grow by seeking nutrients) then start again. I have found Meyers to be very heavy feeders. I use two tablespoon full of FP/gallon (once per week) on top of a slow release fert. I use 1.5 tbs full of fp/gallon on top of the slow release. I think we will always have nutrient problems here in the PNW because of our nightly lows. Our plants roots don't function at night were as people that grow their plants were nights are warm, roots can take up nutrients 24 hours a day. Jack

Looks good! Sometimes it takes even longer than a few weeks to see new growth if they were really lagging so don't get discouraged.

Jack, just for clarification - are you using 1.5 tbsp plus slow-release or 2 tbsp (or both?) Would it be better to just take them in every night if their roots are shutting down at our relatively cool summer nights? How often are you watering your plants in 5-1-1 this summer? It's been so cool in Seattle - we may get through July without a day in the 80s!

Both, I use two tbsp on my Meyer lemon (every watering) and oscomote plus, and 1.5 tbsp on the lime plus the slow release. I think it would be better to bring them in at night, but that's a lot of work. I have been watering once a week. It has been a weird July for us also. My Meyer looks pretty good right now but the key lime still looks pale to me. If you want a pretty citrus that doesn't seem to have any issues I would get an orange tree. My Washington navel looks gorgeous and I left it outside under cover all winter. Jack

Jack, your trees are pale because the roots are not functioning properly...Both those mixes do not look good to me way above and I would not be surprised if it causing a host of issues...Roots can not take up fertilizer when they are suffocating or dying.

Did you wash out ALL of the old mix before you planted them into the new Repti-bark mix? Did you soak the bark before using? Did you use lime? Do you know how to water properly in the newer mix?

Also, most like as mentioned above, pH does not make a difference when the roots are doing poorly anyways..Once the roots start to function properly, pH will make a huge difference...I nice capful of vinegar at every watering with your Foliage Pro will do wonders if your water in not acidic enough.

How often do you fertilize? have you ever thought about using a granule one too ?

Hello everyone,

I thought I'd follow up with a status on the trees since the transplant. Both trees seem to have stabilized. There leaves are (generally) pretty green and they haven't been dropping them since the re-pot into Reptibark 5-1-1. I haven't been adding Foliage Pro per the earlier recommendation to encourage root growth. Both trees (but especially the lemon) have been slowly putting out flowers almost every week since the re-pot. Unfortunately, all the energy seems to be going into blooming. I pick the baby fruit off after about a week but they keep putting out more blooms. How can I encourage the tree to begin growing leaves and new shoots again? Can I resume adding FP to my irrigation? A month without it seems like a very long time for citrus.

Thanks!

Definitely start fertilizing with FP and vinegar. I would give them at least 1 tbsp per gallon FP to start. I think now that they are in the 5-1-1 mix, they will improve. From my experience, the leaves that are yellow/deficient will not color up, but if your tree is healthy, the new growth should be nice and green. Post pics please!