You lemons are ripe enough to pick so do that now, they are sucking all of the energy out of your tree. It may be too late to save it but if it were my tree i'd take off the lemons, prune the tree to where you have the tie on the top of the stake and give it as much light as possible. Put it next to a sunny window and add a lamp about 6-8 inches inches away from the tree. In my experience with Meyers it will send out new shoots and not replace leaves on existing branches. So keeping that extra length in the stem will only be a burden to it. My Meyer had lost most of its leaves over the summer and only really responded after sever pruning. Now it has quire the flush of new leaves. After you get some new growth i'd repot it into a faster draining mix, you could attempt to do that now if you think your soil is causing root rot but the extra stress may be too much for the tree right now. Since it has no leaves its not going to need much water maybe once every week 1/2-2 weeks between watering.

If it was my tree, I would throw it away and chalk that tree up to experience. Then I would purchase a new tree and go on from there..

I don't have the heart to throw away citrus seeds anymore and don't throw away plants that have any possibility of thriving. I am addicted badly. lol. I think the OP should at least give the tree a chance as a learning curve, then maybe getting another citrus tree. I purchased orchids on the clearance table at Lowes and they were half dead. I learned how to grow orchids with those and managed to save a few.

You make a great point Denise! It will be a valuable first hand experience at treating a sickly tree without having to wait for your next tree to become sickly.

Sophia, you could keep your current wonky tree to try to save it (and get some experience) and also get a new citrus tree at the same time so you can still have a lemon tree if the wonky one doesn't survive! Try to have your tree in full sun but if has to sit by a window, give it sun that's not filtered through the glass window. Some sunlight will always get a bit filtered/blocked even through clear glass. I have plants on two windowsills right now, one with the window closed and another open. The open window plants are growing much healthier and quicker because it's getting direct sun through only a window screen. Good luck!

Hi all!

thankyou all so much for the advice!

now I’ve taken the lemons off and moved it to a sunny spot on my window sill, it’s already started to grow something, perhaps a leaf!? PicturedI’m planning to let it adjust and then repot it next week in a bigger pot as it has definitely outgrown its current home! I’ve also bought some quick draining soil and fertiliser as advised.

My next question is how would I go about repotting I don’t believe the current soil is the best as it never seems to feel dry on top...

I think there is still hope! I’d be sad if it died. But I have definitely learnt a lot from this experience either way!

I'm not too sure about repotting. Maybe a more experienced grower can chime in about the timing for repotting your tree. If you're worried about your soil not drying out fast enough, you can point a small fan at your tree and pot to get some extra evaporation of the soil surface. My open window gets a lot of breezes which my plants like too and it helps dry them out faster if I water them too much. Another suggestion is to drill some holes all over the lower 1-2 inches of your pot. Also more small holes under the pot and raise it a bit. That plus a fan will help dry the bottom portion a bit better.

This is the original pot my tree came in this summer and as a newbie I didn't know how to repot. The soil wasn't ideal either so the next best thing was drilling lots of holes lol and it ended up working out for a few months until I learned how to repot :) I can't tell if your tree pushed out a new leaf but update us after a few days when it grows bigger! It'll be great if it did

Sorry Sophia, it is not new bud or leaf, it is stem of an old fallen leaf. Don't repot now, best to do it in the spring. Do not overwater and give your tree lots of light. Kvetch gave you a really good advice.