You are "flushing" the soil to remove the soluble salts, but your using hard water to do the flushing. Change to rain water, or you can also melt snow water, or buy good clean clear water from the supermarket.

That is a valid point and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I thought I was flushing to keep the fertilizer from building up. It hasn’t been raining around here much at all, but I recently switched to using filter water to water my plants. Don’t know if that will make a difference. I just might go collect some snow next time I take the dog, but there’s not much snow here either.

I would remove the trees from the clay pots altogether. It looks like the salt is accumulating on the sides. Plastic would be a better choice long term and add extra holes at the bottom for better drainage. Um, what kind of soil are your trees in?

Are you guys thinking that the current leaf deterioration is caused by mineral build up in the soil?

They are in a fast draining peat mixture currently. It dries out pretty quickly, even during the winter.

I wiped down all but two trees with alcohol last night, every leaf individually. I’m going to finish the last two today and then follow up with HO to try an keep the bugs at bay, but my Meyers are so pathetic looking.

Peat retains water so a lot of people don't like it for that reason. I put 10 bags of peat in my garden one year because I had clay soil. I read peat would break it up. Ten bags was over kill. Whenever it rained, it was like walking on a wet sponge. Check your roots to see how they look and how wet it really is at the bottom. Citrus do not like soggy soil. Winter is the hardest time to combat that. What mix are you using for your trees?

The first year I had my first lemon, I didn’t know anything and I put it in garden soil and a giant pot. It would be super heavy from all the moisture in the soil. Amazingly, it did fine for nearly a year until my MIL began watering it everyday, then I had serious root rot. The roots are still recovering. I moved it to a small put to minimize excess soil and moisture. The mix it is in now drains really well (Epsoma cactus mix with lots of extra perlite). I can tell by how heavy the pot is that it’s bone dry within a few days.

The leaf damage and loss I’m seeing now is not the same as from overwatering. The leaves are not curling or turning yellow. They are turning brown and crispy starting from the edges and working it’s way to the top of the leaf.

The weight of a pot is a good method to determine when to water. I use a pot's weight all the time to make such decisions. Your tree has classic high soluble salt build up symptoms. Depending on how many trees you have to water, collecting rain water from the roof down spout, can give an ample supply with each good shower..

I’m not disputing that it is likely mineral buildup. Because it looks like feetizlier burn to me. (I’m a bit annoyed that it didn’t occur to me earlier) I just think it’s weird that none of my other plants seem to care. They are all incredibly healthy. I’ll try to use snow/rain water and I also have a bottle is distilled water and see if that helps.

Perhaps your plants differ in their tolerance for salt.

My first Meyer thrived when it was in heavy clay soil, a large pot, drafty window and the same well water I’m using now. I repot it in quick draining soil, an appropriate size pot and it’s falling apart. I’m going to consistently water with rain/snow and see if that makes a difference. Should I halt the fertilizer?