Restoring a Citrus Tree from Root Rot: Need Help

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I've been trying to restore a 2 yr old Murcott Orange tree from root rot. To give a little backstory: We purchased the tree April 2016 along with 3 other citrus trees, the other 3 are fine but this one developed root rot for some reason. It's still very small (about 6 feet tall) but it started to develop root rot at the end of last year. By the end of March 2017 most of the leaves were yellowing and had fallen off. I took it out of the ground and sure enough it had massive root rot. The root ball itself was just a little bigger than my foot (about 12 inches). I clipped off all of the blackened roots and got rid of all of the rotted roots, washed it off and basically gave it a 20 minute cleansing in my pool because I read somewhere that the chlorine kills the root rot.

So as of 2 weeks ago I transplanted it back into its original pot and put it in my patio so it's out of the sun because I also read somewhere that you want to keep recovering citrus trees without leaves out of the sun. Let me emphasize that when I put it back in its pot a few weeks ago, It had no leaves left but the tree itself was still green. Also I'm using new store bought garden soil in the pot and I added a root building stimulator from our local plant nursery when I first watered it in. Now here's the crazy part; after I transplanted it it's been about 2 weeks now and it's making only flowers everywhere and very few leaves. It's basically a flower tree right now and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I want it to make leaves so I can put it back outside. Also I need to know when is a good time to bring it back outside and replant it in the ground. How big should the leaves be and how long should I give it in the pot to develop it's root system before I re-plant it in the ground. Thank you in advance for all your tips and suggestions as I've no clue what I'm doing except for others' feedback and input.

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Comments (3)

poncirusguy6b452xx
9 years ago
"washed it off and basically gave it a 20 minute cleansing in my pool because I read somewhere that the chlorine kills the root rot."

Are you still married.

I would make sure the root rot in the soil is eradicated before you replant in the ground. You can plant in ground elsewhere. Container growing for the summer and ground planting it in September would also be fine
snooker79 thanked poncirusguy6b452xx
Laura LaRosa (7b)
9 years ago
Lol Steve, you crack me up! The tree is stressed and when citrus are stressed, they make a last attempt at reproduction by putting all their energy into producing fruits to get seeds in case the parent tree dies. I had a totally defoliated tree do this that bounced back just fine. You will need to pinch off any fruit it tries to grow so it will grow leaves. My concern is that you put a tree with root rot into regular soil in a container....that may not be so good. I would leave it in there for now and move it back in the ground as soon as possible - like Steve said or even sooner. I am not an in-ground citrus person, so maybe others will have better advice.
snooker79 thanked Laura LaRosa (7b)
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snooker79
Original Author
9 years ago
lol I washed the root system totally bare of any soil before I put it in my pool but I did get some strange looks from a neighbor :P; he probably thought it a bit strange seeing a guy sitting in his pool with a half dead tree for 20 minutes. Anyhow thank you both for your help. I'll take it out of the patio in the Summer and replant in a different spot in September.

Laura, yes I was a bit unsure about putting it back into it's original pot but I finally decided to go this route because I want to make sure that the tree is free from any root rot fungus and doing well before I planted it in another area of my yard as I wasn't sure that the chlorine would work and I didn't want to contaminate another area of my yard potentially with root rot because I read somewhere that some strains of root rot spores can last up to 10-13 years... ugh. I plan on planting a lot more fruit trees in the future which is why I'm worried about further contamination. It is quite a relief to know that the massive amount of flowering is normal and another person has gone through this same struggle with their tree. I will definitely pinch off any fruit as you've advised. Thank you both so much. I'll try to keep this thread updated with info on the tree's health progression.