What is wrong with my lime tree?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Hi all,

I am in New Zealand and spring has just hit and my lime tree is flowering like crazy, its a couple of years old now, but since spring has started and it has started flower it has droped almost all of its leaves.

It is in a pot with well draining citris mix, I am careful not to keep the soil to wet or to dry, im not sure what is going on, should I pick most of the flowers off to encourage more growth?

Featured Answer

myermike_1micha

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

It is most likely past root damage and potting it into a different mix so early in the season there which just set it back more..

Fertilizing while the roots are damaged is not a good thing either..

Therefore the lots of blossoms on twigs with no leaves..It has just enough energy to put out blooms but not to support leaves..Not enough energy to even hold on to leaves...I'll bet the blossoms are even half developed and open prematurely.

It it were my tree, I would set in it good sunlight and I would not fertilize at all.

If that is in a clay pot, I would watch that it doe snot dry out completely since a clay pot will dry it out even faster than a plastic one...

Once you see any signs of leaf development, then fertilize and make sure to flush your mix once a month until you re pot it into a better mix once it gains strength..

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Comments (10)

Laura LaRosa (7b)
9 years ago
Can you post a picture for us? We may need more info...did you recently move it? How often do you fertilize it and what do you use?
David van Schreven
Original Author
9 years ago
Hey here it is, I could not upload a pic with my desktop for some reason
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David van Schreven
Original Author
9 years ago
I recently removed it from the pot to replace the potting mix with a citrus mix which drains better, but that was over a month ago and it's still dropping leaves and flowers, I have been fertilising it with a Yates liquid citris mix
Laura LaRosa (7b)
9 years ago
I don't know what to tell you. Is there any evidence of mites? Did you perhaps let it dry out too much or overwater it at some point?
David van Schreven
Original Author
9 years ago
Hmmm no not a single insect on it, I think at one stage I was over watering, I was giving it some water every day. But then I read that you should only water a citris tree which is in a pot when the soil looks to be drying out, so I have started to do that.

It was still dropping leaves quite fast until recently, now it seems to be holding on to the last few it has, but dropping a lot of its flowers, but I have herd it is normal for citris trees to drop most of their flowers?
Vladimir (Zone 5b Massachusetts)
9 years ago
Did it lose the leaves before it put out the blossoms?
David van Schreven
Original Author
9 years ago
I can not remember 100% but I think most of the leaf loss was when the flowering started, but also before
Troy Mentor
9 years ago
Hi David i'm also in Auckland, NZ! My Limes are also flowering like mad & have lots of little fruitlets on the go. Mine all have their leaves though. But they also have lots of new leaf growth pushing out too so maybe yours is flowering now then will shortly start to push out new leaves. This has just happened with my Buddha's hand actually. It dropped ALL of its leaves which caused me a slight concern then within a few weeks is covered in lots of little new leaves. Hopefully this is the case with your tree. I have heard of Winter Leaf Drop which can affect potted Citrus, but all my trees are inground so i don't know a lot about this. Here's a pic of my Buddha's Hand......
David van Schreven
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for your info, I have recently noticed mine is hanging on to its last few leaves now and has also just sprouted a few new shoots also, not as many as yours has but the weather in Auckland is much more favourite for citris of course which is probably why yours has more