Citrus help!

9 years ago

Hello you lovely people, I have a question about my two citrus plants that I have lovingly grown from seed. I am a novice gardener and tried my luck one day at germinating a few lemon seeds and one random orange seed that my housemate gave me. They all sprouted but unfortunately I lost most of them apart from one lemon seedling and surprisingly the orange seedling.

The lemon seedling flourished at the start (even though I germinated in Winter) and has given me steady growth over the summer period. The orange seedling has grown very very slowly and is still only a couple of cm tall.

The issue is that recently my lemon tree (I will ambitiously call it) has started growing yellow tips on the new leaves and on some of the topmost older leaves there are slight yellow patches. The first leaves at the bottom are still dark green.

My orange seedling has started to show brown spots at the edge of all of the leaves. Can anyone diagnose what the issue is? I've put so much love and attention into these little seedlings I would hate for them to die now.

I assumed the issue with the lemon tree was that I hadn't been fertilising it so I now feed it every week, it's Summer here so it makes sense from what I've read on forums for the yellowing to appear now. Re the orange tree though, I have no idea, I think it might be the soil? I'm also fertilising that weekly.

For info - potting soil I've used is a general all purpose compost and the plants sit on a sunny warm windowsill so they are not cold and get plenty of sunlight.

Thanks in advance! I have attached pics

Natalie

Featured Answer

sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)

9 years ago

Do your pots have lots of holes in them? If not, make lots of holes in the bottom of the pots. In the transparent cup the roots are exposed to the light. Cover the sides of that cup with kitchen foil or dark paper.

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Comments (8)

Silica
9 years ago
When was the last time you flushed the medium that the lemon is growing in with clean pure water? As you are fertilizing every week, you are also building up soluble salts. Giver the medium a good flush and that should take care of it.
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Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for your comments!

Hi Silica - the yellowing started before I started fertilising so I'm not sure if flushing would help? I'm concerned that the yellowing is due to nutrient deficiency and then worried that flushing would make it worse....

Hi Sunshine - that is such a good point about the transparent pots. I've planted some broad beans (fava beans) in those and they've grown like crazy but are also drying out really quickly so that's probably why. Thanks!
Vladimir (Zone 5b Massachusetts)
9 years ago
I agree with Silica. It looks like salt build up. Is your water treated by a water softener? If so, then that is the problem.
poncirusguy6b452xx
9 years ago
A typical pot of mine
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6b Steve
sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Browning of the leaves is indicator of salt buildup and/or plant being rootbound.

Natalie, move your beans to bigger containers. I think they already hit the bottom of the pot.
hibiscus909
9 years ago
I think your initial yellowing was due to not fertilizing. But now that you have started, you need to periodically flush clear water through to remove buildup.

When you repot, go up one size and add drainage holes. Wait a few weeks to resume fertilizing. I would suggest fertilizing every 2 weeks in summer and once a month in winter.
eSilviu
9 years ago
Natalie: first 2 images: the leaves started to grow, then stopped for a few months, then grew again - the same leaves. New growth was in the middle of the leaf, thus that umbrella shape. Nothing to worry about.

The last image: too much salts in soil... or should I say soil is not good for citrus? Maybe too much humus or something else in the soil from the beginning.

Lemon seedlings are the most variate from all I have germinated. I'got not even 2 identical (in therms of leaf shape, size, growth habit) lemon seedlings. Plus, it't very easy to kill them with root rot in winter, when soil temperature drops under 20 degree celcius.