What kind of fertilizing regimen do you have? That many lemons requires a lot of food.

Can you tell us what kind of lemon it is; and possibly the rootstock? I don't know that I have ever seen a tree with a 1,000 lemons; but I can tell you that my inground Meyers that produce 3-400 lemons get 3 pounds of 18-6-12 every year divided into 3 feedings applied at the dripline of the tree.

Hi Brian. I have always grown my citrus in ground and live in a hot and dry inland area of Northern California... so in may have some helpful info that applies to you.

First, it sounds like you inherited a very mature, healthy tree when you bought the house so congrats! And it's awesome that this is inspiring you to get into growing! You're in good company here. Welcome!

Second, like Cory said, some trees have alternate bearing ... which means they produce a lot one year and less the next, then a lot, then less. That may be a little of what's going on here.

Third, I wouldn't prune the tree. Plants sometimes defoliate to save energy. Try feeding it first and see what happens. Liquid feeding is probabaly better than granular. Keep an eye on pets and kids afterwards just in case.

And considering how large and healthy the tree has grown with the current sprinkler system (it was there when you bought the house right?) ... you probabaly don't have to change the sprinklers. I think Cory is totally right and a different way of watering is best... but considering that it has worked well for this tree in the past you probabaly don't really need to change it. In CA though, with our water shortage and climate, I do drip irrigation to everything instead of sprinklers.

I would just change one thing at a time and see what happens before you throw the kitchen sink at it.

Try feeding first. That will probabaly work wonders.

If not, try changing the watering to drip.

if not, come on back, update us with more pics and ask some more questions. :)

Good luck, congrats on a wonderfully desirable, mature lemon tree and welcome to becoming a grower! :)

Oh... I would also mulch it after you give it the liquid fertilizer. Some people say don't mulch 6 inches from the trunk... but I always have mulched to about an inch here in HOT and DRY CA without any root rot issues. You could probabaly use about 4 bags of mulch around just the tree... or have a service deliver a truck load mulch and spread it around the whole area around the lawn. If you use the bags it will cost around $25. For bags...I like earthgro ground cover bark. It's not really mulch, but it has worked well for me and is easy to find for about $4-5 a bag.

The truckload is much less expensive for a larger area though... and it's not a bad idea to do it now before the hopeful rain starts. Mulch helps to hold moisture in the soil since it's so hot and dry here. It also tends to help with good microflora so it can help keep away disease/pests in this climate. I usually have a few new truckloads put down every fall.

Plus it just looks nice. :)

Thank you all so much for your advice and help on this! Sorry for my delayed response...

To answer some of your questions:

Sprinklers: Yes the sprinkler setup was already in place when we bought the house, and I haven't changed it. I'm not going to touch it for the moment, and i'm nearly certain that none of the sprinklers actually spray water on to the tree trunk itself. Cory--I'll try to check for soil dryness like you suggested between waterings.

Fertilizer: I fertilized it for the first time myself in late spring/early summer this year. I bought some of those "spikes" that are maybe 4-6" long and put in 3 around the tree. Cori Ann--when you talk about liquid fertilizer, is that something I can get regularly at Home Depot or a gardening center? Any particular recommendations? (Got it on the mulch, I think there's a bit of old stuff on the ground, but can't hurt to put a new layer on)

Grass: there's a bit of grass under maybe 1/3 of the tree (you can sort of see it in the foreground of the pictures I posted). Again, it was like that when we bought the house so there's been no change there. I've actually been thinking about pulling back the grass from the tree a bit more because ideally i'd like to plant a couple avocado trees near the lemon tree--will get there soon, hopefully.

Pests: no signs of insect issues or bark issues from what I can see (though I'm no expert). I'll keep an eye out.

Picking fruit: I mentioned that we left many lemons on until late in the season, maybe too late? Is it possible that would have prohibited growth of new fruit this year? Or maybe it's the alternate bearing pattern you both mentioned... for alternate bearing trees would you expect the leaves to fall off too, or just that they wouldn't have a lot of new fruit?

Type of Lemon: I don't know what type of lemon it is because it was here and mature when we bought the house... is there any way to tell?

Pruning: I will hold off now, per your recommendation. If we do want to prune, is there a good time of year to plan on doing so?

I'll post some more detailed pictures of the leaves, bark, and grass around the tree in the next few days.

Thank you all so much!!!!

Brian, do not use those fertilizer spikes as they can burn roots and are not very effective as a fertilizer. I will step back and let others that grow inground to help you with types of fertilizers and how often and how much to feed your tree as I grow in containers.

Cory