My Persian lime has some leaves (older leaves) that look a bit like that. The new ones look ok though. I don't know the answer, but will be watching the thread.

I should have mentioned that about a third of the leaves are like that and that includes old and new leaves.

I have two problem trees with leaves like that. One is the Persian lime and the other is the Meyer lemon than I hacked recently. I am going to wait for the new leaves to fill out and evaluate. I don't understand because they are planted in the same medium and I feed them the same stuff...

Laura, I know what you mean because none of my other citrus have leaves like that, including my two other key limes. The tree seems healthy, otherwise.

Vladimir, here is a pic of my Meyer lemon (the one I hacked) ...it is growing well, but why the splotches?

Here's a close up...Meyer lemon

Must be a nutritional thing, we need John, Evan Cory or Barb on this one I think!

I am no expert, but, it looks to possibly be a maganese deficiency.

Yes, we need a few experts to chime in here...

Looks like an iron or maybe a zinc deficiency to me. Here is a site I often use for help in identifying symptoms on my citrus trees.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C107/m107bpleaftwigdis.html

Evan

Thanks Evan!

Vladimir, your leaves look like they have a maganese deficiency from what I can tell. The leaves show signs of leaf mottling and extend over the interveinal areas, and a dark green border runs along the veins. The clear spots, could be what is known as necrotic spots and they develop on the whole leaves.. Have you checked your pH lately to make sure it is not to high?? Have you had any cold, wet weather lately?? It is so hard to tell exactly what deficiency you have.. Zinc is somewhat similar. .

Jinnylea, I believe you are correct in your diagnosis - manganese deficiency. We have had nothing but temps in the 80's and 90's so that is not it. We are in a semi-drought but I just repotted it. I need to check the pH again. Thank you.

Vladimir, how will you check the pH of your mix?

Laura, I did not check the soil mix pH because, my understanding from what I have read, the fertigation solution determines the pH of the soil mix. I did check the pH of my 1 day old fertigation solution solution (1/2 Tb vinegar/gal, 1 Tsp Foliage Pro/gal) and found it to be pH 7.5 when it should have been 6.5!!! I thought maybe the pH changed over one day, so I checked the pH of a freshly made solution: pH 5.5! So it increased from 5.5 to 7.5 in one day. That is a one hundred fold increase in acidity (hydrogen ion concentration) over one day!

I checked the pH of my tap water alone and found it to be 6.5 so it had changed from the last time I checked when it was (I think) 7.5. So now I no longer need to add vinegar. The pH of the FP solution without vinegar is now: 6.5.

Lessons learned:

1. pH of FP + vinegar fertigation solution increases over one day
2. Do not trust your town water pH to stay constant over time.

Wow!! What a change Vladimir. I have not checked the pH lately but will now. I always mix then water...no waiting. Either way, I'm going to check periodically.

I checked again and decided that my tree is not manganese deficient.

Here is a new photo of a leaf of my key lime and below is a photo of a manganese deficient leaf I found on the Internet. Clearly, my tree is not manganese deficient.

So what is wrong with my tree?

Vladimir, those leaves look exactly like the leaves of my ST. Silica thought it looked like a iron deficiency. Look at my post from last night about my trees being deficient and check the pics. I also posted what I have given them, which Silica said should work.

Laura, I don't think your lemon (below) looks like my lime (above):

I do think yours is iron deficient. This is what iron deficiency looks like:

Thanks.

What temps are they being exposed too guys and gals?

How much Foliage pro are you using and how often? Just a refresher)

There is no reason why they should be deficient in anything unless there are other factors causing this...So let's see if we can hit the problem dead on instead of trying to figure out what the leaves show...Let's see if we can focus on the roots and see if there needs are being met..)

I have been using 1 Tsp/gal FP up to about 1 month ago when I went up to 1 Tb/gal. Have not used vinegar because pH has been around 6.5. Tree has been outdoors all summer. Symptoms started to show in spring.

I use the vinegar no matter what the reading is..Always Vladimir...I don't think out summer encouraged good growth for many of us around here being very hot and dry with no 'natural rains'...We had some very cool nights and a lot of dry air. This has been a tough summer even on my trees. Did you use any rain water at all? Was it all tap water from the faucet?

The other thing is too that for some trees it can take up to two years of perfect temps to make a huge change in your trees.One summer just won't do it..I have some that are just starting to make an improvement after two years of waiting! Our trees can be focusing on root development far longer than focusing on top growth..Just keep doing what you are doing, they will have a great time when you will see them respond well..

On a side note....I am not sure if using Repti-bark temporarily makes a difference on nutrient uptake, but I would really appreciate it if you posted this problem and asked if Repti-bark could inhibit nutrient uptake verses Pine Bark on the 'Container Forums'...Lets' see what Al has to say))) I

I never use straight Repti-bark but I always use at least half 'pine bark'. I never have these nutrient issues unless I forget to use vinegar, don't fertilize enough, if temps get too cold or too warm, or if I over water...

All tap water. I will post question about Repti-bark.

My trees have not shown these issues (other than the Meyer and Persian) until recently. It has been cooler, but not nearly cold enough to stress the trees - not like you guys. I have given all my trees FP all summer...kind of like Vladimir except I may have switched to 1 tbsp a bit earlier. I always give them vinegar, and the last month and a half, I have also given them FE along with the FP. I do water thoroughly, but that is because I worry about leaving the salts and damaging the roots. I always water before I fertilize (at least 2-6 hours before) so as to not fertilze when the tree is thirsty. I don't know what else I can do. They are all in the 5-1-1. Vladimir, let us know how that mineral supplement works out for you.

http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/ndccg.shtml

I still think it is either Mg or Mn. They look identical except the Mn deficiency shows up on the new leaves like Silica mentioned. It may be mild so that it does not look like the classic leaves shown as examples. By the way Vladimir, the leaves on my ST look just just the ones on your key lime except a tad bit lighter perhaps.

I'll try to take a closer pic tomorrow.

Vladimir, It really is hard to diagnosis a nutrient deficiency from pictures. The very first picture that you posted above, back in July, and going by your words that the leaves were showing clear spots, sounded and looks like it could have been a manganese deficiency. Looking at the newest picture that you just posted of the key lime leaf, and comparing it to the one you took back in July, the leafs look like they have different issues.. Are you still seeing clear spots? The newest picture is showing more yellowing around the border of the leaf. It could just be the angle of the picture. .

I'm interested in this thread, because I have one calamondin starting to show the same signs of Vladimirs key lime, and it is in a 511 mix made with reptibark, because I hadn't yet found daddy petes 100% aged pine fines when I potted it. I'm going to separate the tree from the others for now, just in case. I have been using foliage pro with it over the summer, but not with every watering. It's been in full sun all day, everyday.