I don't know which it is, but it looks like a serious nutrient deficiency. Have you fertilized it lately?

Don't know your problem. I would not let the water stand in the pan after watering. You must empty it.

Yes, I use a citrus fertilizer every three months per directions on the box, most recently two weeks ago.

The pan is dry, I empty it after every watering.

Wow that is crazy... never seen that before.

Do my plants have the same problem? I believe my guys have spider mites, if that is of any help.. (though I also wonder about a deficiency.. I am so new at this..)

I am interested to hear what others think about your plant; hoping to bump not hijack this post!

Oh wow, they look exactly like mine! My discolored plant didn't get mites as bad as my others, strangely, but my healthiest, largest tree lost all of its leaves and half its branches by the time I figured out what was going on with the mites. Do you see webs in your leaves? They'll be more underneath than on top.

Last week I started spraying with a neem oil/soap/water solution, but yes I have seen tiny webs, but not a ton of them. I just inspected them now and I see a lot of yellow- pests? Not sure if those are spider mites or something else? Oh, I feel so exposed :(

I know, it's a horrible feeling! The mites are sort of yellow-ish as nymphs, and new ones hatch all the time. when I found out i had them I took my plants into the shower and rinsed them really well, then took a wet paper towel and wiped every leaf, top and bottom, and stems/branches to make sure I get them all. If you have some newly hatched, since your plants aren't too large, maybe wiping would help dislodge some eggs and get rid of anything that has hatched. You can even dip the paper towel in the neem oil solution so you're coating everything too.

Thank you, I will try what you suggested. Do you think the leaf discoloration is from the spider mites?

Bump hopefully someone will help. No spider mites would make the leaves kind of shrivel up and they would be all webby and disgusting. I'm leaning toward some type of deficiency as well.

That link is a gold mine of information on citrus mites and photos there show similarly damaged leaves. Thanks Jean, for sharing.

Thank you!

Norman, you say these symptoms appeared almost overnight. Nutrient deficiency and pest problems are unlikely reasons in that case. The only thing I can come up with is sun-burn. To me it looks like it. Were they in a low light situation for a length of time and then moved to a very bright location?

No, I have five lemon trees started from seed about a year and a half ago and they were all in the same place on the porch next to each other. That's what was strange, the one plant is the only one that became discolored. It looked almost speckled then spread. I thought it might be powdery mildew and tried baking soda/milk which didn't change anything. Also the leaf is smooth. I looked at it under a microscope and took some pictures, don't know if this will help or not.

I would separate that tree from the others.

I side with Jean..She is a long time standing member and knows her stuff..Has great credentials and to me is an expert..I have yet to question her diagnosis since she has always been right by me..

The picture is beautiful - you do not want to hear that anyway. I do not have any experience diagnosing from such a close-up. May be others have seen this before.

It could be a viral/bacterial attack and just for that I would quarantine the plant. I am no expert in citrus related problems. I have only a few kinds. In fact most of my plants are either one or few of a kind. So most of my comments tend to originate from a general plant problems/needs point of view.

Just realized that these are seed grown. It could also be as simple as a genetically weak offspring. Just throwing out another idea. Several times I had seedlings from the same batch die of absolutely unknown cause while others did very well.

Thank you! :) It actually amazes me looking at things under the microscope, how much detail there is to something that looks like a solid color to the naked eye. Anyway... yes I have quarantined it. And of the five, one grew ten times faster and bigger than the rest, it was over three feet tall and full of beautiful, perfect leaves until a mite infestation left it bare two months ago. I thought there were harmless spiders living in it when I saw the webs and it was too late when I realized what was happening. It is growing new leaves, and I bought a blue/red light to supplement indoor overwintering. The rest are all varying sizes and levels of health, yet they all have the same type soil, fertilizer, worm castings, light, etc. so the genetics idea makes sense, especially since the seeds all came from different lemons.

Jean, thanks for the link, I bookmarked it for future reference. I have had a mite infestation like that on my potted peaches, if left mites can get that bad. After treatment the damaged leaves do not turn green again. The less damaged leaves stay stippled as long as they remain on the tree.

I'm a sucker for before and after's, in case anybody else is too... Neem oil (and regular fertilizer and approaching spring I assume) has my limes putting out some beautiful new leaves!! Norman, I hope yours is looking hopeful too! Thank you for the advice!

I would chop the old discolored leaves. They are not doing any good and may still harbour those pests that you think you got rid of. Spider mites are very tenacious.

Remove *all* of the affected leaves? The left tree only has 2 new smallish leaves, do you think that will be OK? I suppose, are they productive in this condition anyway?

The tree will shed those leave when it is done with them.

6b Steve

Chlorophyll is gone from those leaves and I see no reason to keep them around. I would snip them and keep a little stub to save the bud at the base. My worry will be that the mites are still around on those leaves.

My largest lemon plant/tree ended up dropping all of its leaves and ended up growing back big, beautiful dark green ones even though it was bare. I gave it supplemental light and lots of TLC. So I think your plant would do fine if you got ride of the old ones and kept the good ones, there is plenty there to take in the sun :)