What is the black liner? Does it go throughout the hole the tree is planted in? What type of fertilizer are you using? Hopefully it is not organic. When you dug the hole hopefully you backfilled it ONLY with the dirt that was removed while digging,

The black liner is just what holds those little wooden posts together. Doesn't really go into the ground. the small wooden posts have a little pointy end to hold them in. I like a rim around the trees where I try to keep weeds and grass out. Obviously I've not done well at that at the moment. I'll have to look up the fertilizer, it's a citrus and avocado fertilizer. I give it to all my citrus. I had foliage pro but haven't restocked. I do have fish if that will help at the moment?

I didn't add any extra dirt. There was plenty after digging in that hole. Before the tree it was the home of ten thousand thick vines.

I think it just needs some time to get established.

Don't overthink it, it's been wet and cold in CA the last several weeks. Its blooming and pushing new growth. Patience will be rewarded.

The only Q or concern I have - - - - where is the graft ? Is it above the soil?

I would guess you put in too big of hole; and the roots need time to grow. It looks like the tree is getting ready to grow; and that is normal for March. Be patient, and I would not fertilize it more until you see new leaf growth.

Thanks. There isn't much below the soil except the roots so I'm not sure on the graft. I was afraid it was the last chance bloom going on. It's supposed to rain the next two days and then sunny so I guess we'll see. I over mother everything in the beginning so I try not to touch my citrus too much. It's hard but I keep my hands off for the most part. I'll just weed around it and see if it improves. It's my only orange tree, I have many lemon. I want it to survive!

Thanks John. I will be patient and not fertilize anymore until then.

Ugh, it's looking even sadder.

I did the last post on my phone and thought I'd added a picture. Oops! Here it is.

The tree thinks it is dying; so it is making seeds (flowers). keep treating it well; and after the flowers fall, you should begin to see new growth; when that happens is the time to begin fertilizing.

Thank you John. I figured it was that type of bloom. It's so sad to see. I will keep an eye. I appreciate it.

I don't have a picture but now it has no leaves. :(

Kelly, did you perc the hole before planting? I know that California has a lot of clay. At least when I lived in CA, I had to see how the area drained before planting a fruit tree. You mentioned "lots of sun and water." How much water is the tree getting?

If I were you, I would dig up the tree and put it into a pot before it gets worse. Check the roots to see what type of condition they are in.

Do you know the name of the plant nursery the tree came from? Four Winds Growers or Buck Farms, anybody else?

What's "perc"? It gets watered about once a week or 2. I try to see if it's wet before I water. I have 4 citrus trees I've put in the back yard that are doing wonderfully with about the same treatment. I didn't water it as often in the winter unless it was a particularly hot week.

"perc" means percolation; i.e., drainage.

I didn't check the drainage. It was a bunch of old vines in the ground before. I spent days ripping them and digging them all out.

I think I might have gotten it at Home Depot. I was on a tree buying trip there for a while. Could even have been costco. I've found most growers people use on this forum don't ship to CA. I buy at local stores...OSH, HD, Costco....oddly enough I'm surrounded by many, many nurseries but I don't always have faith that they're any better. I asked repeatedly to my local nursery what was wrong with my first lemon tree and they kept telling me to water it. The owner kept telling me it needed water. It didn't. You guys help me identify that it was just burnt and not to overmother it...give it time, whitewash it...and I did and it is growing so well. It also came from walmart so I wouldn't always bet on one grower over another here. The lemons are great from it!

Sorry for that aside. I have a lot going on these next few weeks, won't be able to dig it up. If it survives the next month I will dig it up. I have some bark i can plant it in with perlite, the moss, and lime. I would love another orange tree if this one dies though. I'm hoping it will do better! This one wasn't thriving in a pot either. I hoped like another tree I had that the ground would suit it better. I also thought it was my husbandry but my pink lemon is doing wonderfully in its pot, 511. I even got rid of scale at one point. The ants are a whole 'nother story....I hate ants at this point.

Its blooming and therefore trying to produce seed. This is the point where I'd be feeding it, but with a liquid fertilizer.

If it were in my yard, I'd give it a dose of liquid high N food (about 1 Tbsp. to 1.5 gal and) watered in - once a week.

Although I have pulled small trees back into pots to revive them, the exercise was mainly for learning what was going on and finding the problem. For me, it was either poor nutrition, inadequate water, or neighboring shrub/tree root invasion (if you suspect this, then you will need to dig and fix that issue... if others, likely better to leave the tree where it is).

You will have to determine what conditions contributed to the stress... but with food, the tree should grow leaves and thrive.

Would fish suffice as the high N food? I do have that and can do that relatively quickly.

I wouldn't water it that often if it's been cool in your area. I noticed in your initial photos there were brown round things along the liner. Were they mushrooms? If they were mushrooms then it would've been an indicator that it's very damp and humid under the bark mulch.

When my tree was indoors losing leaves, it dropped down to a total of 5 leaves. I tried to stop overthinking and over mothering it too. I let it dehydrate for a bit too long when I stopped thinking about the tree and finally started watering it again but only once every 2 weeks. It's finally pushed out new leaves.

For your tree, being inground means it has better access to moisture and water so during cooler periods you can hold back on watering. There should be more surrounding moisture inground than in a container to keep it satisfied for a few extra days. And because it has no leaves, don't water too often! The extra water usually escapes through the leaves but your tree has none so the water will stay in the ground longer than you think. When I watered my tree 1x every 2 weeks it was also almost leafless but mine was indoors where there's no cold wind and the temperature is consistent. Your tree outside has no leaves and on top of being outdoors it makes it hard to know what to provide it next. I suggest you do the soil moisture test with a wooden skewer. Just stick it in the soil and leave it there for maybe 5 minutes or do an errand. You'll know its adequately moist when the skewer looks a bit darker with absorbed moisture or you get dark/damp soil bits on the skewer when it comes up. Kinda like poking a cake in the oven with a toothpick! I wouldn't worry too much about fertilizing yet until you're sure the roots haven't been jeopardized

I will water less often. Supposed to rain tomorrow then 80 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. That's the way it's been for the last month. Hot cold... you never know! I took a picture when I got home today and noticed a few new leaves!

Yes, kvetch, they were mushrooms. I pulled them but good thinking on that. I will keep watch.

Omg that's great! Seeing new leaves is always a relief and a great sign! I also hear you on that repeating hot/cold thing going on. Being in a completely different environment is probably also one of the reasons it dropped all its leaves with the hot/cold switch to top it all off. When I'm worried about the moisture issue, sometimes I'll just use extra takeout chopsticks we have on hand. We have tons leftover and it does the job just as well but it will take a bit longer to absorb moisture

I used to keep pencils outside to check moisture. I'll start again. Thank you for the comment and advice. I really appreciate it! I'll post a pic if it starts to thrive, I hope it does. I have all lemon and limes growing well now. I'd really like an orange tree!

I will definitely keep you updated as I heavily rely on you for all my citrus advice. I did fertilize it recently so we'll see. I just looked back at my pictures and I see I put it in ground in mid September of last year so yeah, it's been in the lower temps while in the ground. I'm sure we're in for a hot southern California summer so it might just be ok! Thank you!

On second thought, it is true that water can pass down underground much further so it's not likely to sit in a pool of very wet soil. But since your temperatures keep fluctuating that much, the watering is something I'd consider if it were me. But I grow in containers and not inground so that could explain why I prioritize watering factors. Absolutely take what I say with several grains of salt! Molewacker is definitely more experienced than I am in both years and in-ground growing.

I had the same thing happen to my 3 yr old Rangpour Lime tree. What caused it was hard to define, maybe overwatering along with some other major issues. What did it was keeping it nearly underwatered for a month or so along with a lot of earthworm castings... Somehow that did the trick....

Thanks Anthony. I'll see about not watering it so much. It's about to get really hot again!

Kelly, what part of SoCal are you in? Here in SD I have a lot of clay when I get down a few feet. I about killed a Washington Navel, I think the whole I dug didn't drain well, plus I had a lot of insect-type critters munching on it. What was a nice small tree when I bought it, had a lot of branch die back. I eventually dug it up and put it in a large pot where I could give it more care. Between applying Neem when needed, plus more control over watering and better attention to fertilizer, it's gone from one straggly, sickly branch, to multiple much fuller branches. It's not recovered enough to where I would want to put it back into the ground, but it's getting better.

You may want something longer than a pencil to check moisture. Moisture building up at the bottom of the hole will rot the roots, so maybe try to find a longer wooden dowel to check on your moisture. My local nursery recommended not putting mulch around citrus as they do not like wet roots.

Jason, I'm in the OC. I'm sure we have clay soil, I guess I just figured we have so many trees in the ground in the back yard that are thriving that the same would happen in the front. It wasn't doing wonderfully in its pot either. So I probably exacerbated issues by putting it in the ground at that point. Hopefully it bounces back. I can put it back in a pot but honestly I probably won't. I have a variegated pink lemon in a pot that's doing great but my track record with potted trees isn't promising. I will look for a longer dowel.

I mulch also to try to keep the weeds away. They are so plentiful! Plus our summers are weeks of 100 degree weather sometimes, admittedly not yet for this tree. Thank you for the ideas. I will definitely keep you guys updated.

Well, it lost all leaves shortly after I posted in April but, it seems to be sprouting some new life!

I found with my meyer it wasn't getting a deep watering and that's all it took.

Hi Matt, we have been trying to get it watered a bit lately because we're near 100degrees daily. We just put the hose near it and leave it on for a while. The one sprinkler that was in that area is broken so until we get that fixed, it won't get watered automatically. I meant to take a picture when you posted yesterday but it's been a crazy 2 days. I'll take a picture tonight after work. It has lots of new leaves!!

I have an email that someone posted asking me if it's potting soil around the tree but that post doesn't actually show. But, no, it's not potting soil. I wouldn't use that in the ground. I tend to buy both garden soil and potting soil because I have a few raised beds. I did supplement with garden soil because a lot of vines, roots, and dirt was removed when I dug up the hole. I had to fill it back up a bit.

Kelly that was me who typed it. I deleted it because I felt I was wrong. Sorry about that. I didn't realize people got copies of whatever is posted. I do edit my posts so I apologize if I offended you. I guess from now on I better be careful of what I submit because somebody is going to read it even though it is not on the forum. Thanks for letting me know.

Denise - not at all. I appreciate all comments. Means I'm not being ignored lol! But definitely, you never know what someone has checked or not while troubleshooting. I'm in IT and even if I think I'm asking the most simple things, believe me those are the ones that are overlooked the most!

Kelly, I saw white dots on the top of the soil and thought perlite which should not be in the ground. I looked at some of the other pictures you posted and realized it was fertilizer which is why I changed my post. Sometimes newbies to gardening, not that you are one, do things with the best intentions.

This is today. Looking a lot better!