Thanks for the weather report. How old and big are your plants?

Around 1.5 years old and about 12-14 inches tall. Definitely can tell they are on the slower end of growth on their native roots given that I started several key lime trees from seed around the same time which are now roughly 30-36 inches tall.

My grafted (trifoliate orange) kumquats are also slow growing but I think it's more to do with my soggy, compact soil. I haven't grown a kumquat from seed but I have a calamondin that's 12-15ft tall and guessing around 7 years old....no fruit yet.

Kumquats are the slowest growing of citrus. your kumquat on its own root should be more cold hardy. Any plant that is covered can take lower temperatures than it could uncovered even if the temperatures are identical for each. I had a Meiwa from seed that showed outstanding cold resistance. It would be striped to the stems by spider mite 2 time a year before I knew what was killing it. It is now dead and it never flowered.

6b Steve

Thanks for sharing pictures. I hope my seed grown kumquats flower this summer

fukushu#1
Fukushu#2

6b Steve

Related to my kumquats, they are experiencing some leaf drop and twig die back. Am I to understand that's a normal occurrence for indoor citrus in the winter? And should I trim off those dead appearing twigs or can they become revitalized in the spring?

I can't tell you with out seeing the tree but in general if the twig turns brown it is dead. I have also found that citrus send up new stronger shoots from below rather than build new growth on top of the small twigs. I let the small twigs die when they loose leaves.

dead fallen leaves are normal

The twigs circled will all die. The tree will not add growth to these but will replace those with much more vigorous water sprouts. The tree is sending one up that will bud off at about 2.5 feet with a diameter of just under 0.25 inches.The tree is in the process of dropping these branches. When the tree goes outside this spring it will send up water sprouts to replace these branches that will match the current main 2 trunks.These are the parts that the tree will build on. The small limb above not in the black circle is the one next to the brown stick. The tree may or may not keep that limb by summers end. Only the Shadow knows what will be

6b Steve.

Thanks for the response. Here are some photos of what I'm talking about. Lost a couple of immature fruit on this branch as well.

For some reason there isn't really any new growth either by may be because of the season and indoor location.

The most 3 important factors for your tree's real estate is Location, Location, and location. It needs light.

I figured it was light or soil moisture. Was beginning to worry about fungal process but don't think that's it. Light is probably the issue so I'll increase the time under the grow light. Interestingly my key lime has continued to thrive with even less light than my kumquats or lemon.

Key lime trees are weeds and therefor will grow whether you want them to or not. You can also pull fresh air through the trees root-base.

works every time. You can also drill a hole bigger to use a hair dryer to push warm air through the roots. My wife would be happier if I used my Hair dryer instead of her vacuum cleaner.

Another possibility I was wondering about was whether overdoing it with neem oil could be to blame. Had an issue with spider mites and began using neem oil about once every day to every other day. Spider mites are better but I had read that sometimes the combination of neem oil and light can be problematic. I guess that is what is frustrating as leaves continue to fall. Too much water? Too little water? Too little light? Neem oil?

Since the prior photo, all kumquats have now fallen (about 12) and majority of the leaves have also fallen. I increased grow light time to at least 12 hrs (also gets quite a bit of natural light in the window) and backed off watering a bit and these things happened in spite of it. Any ideas?

This might help you: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=13332.0

It seems like many of us are having problems with our Kumquat trees suddenly.

Cory

Dant1, that is exactly what happened to my kumquat! If you look on the Jan pic thread, I just posted pics of mine close up. I don't think mine is going to make it.

I don't think it's WLD in this case. My other two identical kumquats are fine. Something else is going on.

LOL Steve, you crack me up!

Seems my grafted kumquat is about to lose all of its leaves now. Most have fallen and what is left looks to be in the process of falling. Any chance of it coming back or is this likely graft failure or something?

don't ditch them untill the stems are brown and dead. If the rootstock is good you can graft something to it.

6b Steve

Okay... I will be patient and see what happens as spring arrives and I get to put it back outside. Just can't figure out what went wrong. I have numerous other indoor citrus (key lime, eureka lemon, and several other nagami kumquats from seed) which have all done well. Same light conditions, humidity, watering regimen, potting soil, etc. This grafted nagami kumquat is the only one that seems to be really struggling.

What I did (what was recommended) and keep in mind, I am still not sure it will work...is cut back all the dark branches to a bit into the green wiping the clippers each time with alcohol. Then I sprayed what was left with a 50/50 solution of water and alcohol. I repeated it tonight. So far, the dying back of the branches has not advanced, although it is pretty early to tell. I hope yours does better than mine has.