Lemon tree still dormant?

7 years ago

I have a lemon tree I got last May and overwintered in the house. It kept its leaves until April, then dropped them. I didn't think much of it because the stems stayed green. Around mid May I moved it outside along with my satsuma mandarin, Calamondin, tangerine and key lime. They're all doing fine, the satsuma is sending up new growth, but I haven't seen activity out of the lemon. Stems are still green, scratching the bark shows live wood, but no leaves. Am I doing something wrong? We've had a relatively cool spring here, only up to around the mid 70s during the day and in the 60s at night, but I've had it in the sun with the others and still nothing. My plumerias are off to a slow start as well but they're at least starting to leaf

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Comments (4)

Dee
7 years ago
It's normal for a citrus tree to shed old leaves in the spring, but I cannot tell how severe your tree is without a picture. Is it completely bare? You don't mention anything about the care it received as in type of soil, fertilizer, sunlight over the winter which would help immensely.
Matt z5b - Greenhouse 10a
7 years ago
Yes please post pic, it should kick off once you have it warm up a little. 2 months with out leaves in spring is not normal. If it were just transplanted I would say it was working on roots but that's not the case. Are you sue you see green stems?
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sorceresslelia
Original Author
7 years ago
Yeah, the stems are green. I will take a pic tomorrow, I didn't actually get email notification of new posts so I thought nobody was answering my question. Sorry it's taken so long. We've had a very cold and wet spring up here in New York. Usually it's at least 85 and sunny by now, it rained four days straight last week. Maybe that's contributing? My lantana seems to be suffering too...and the mosquitoes are loving all the moisture...
sorceresslelia
Original Author
7 years ago
Great news, everyone! I just grabbed my tree from outside and it's growing several tiny leaves! We had a warm day today so maybe it finally got it started in some way. I definitely think the cooler temperatures were to blame. In answer to the question about care, I kept them in a cool sunroom, usually in the 60s or 50s if temperatures drop, that room is unheated but the rest of my house is so it stays above freezing. I water them when the soil dried out (about every two weeks in the winter) and didn't fertilize. When spring rolls around all of my plants get osmocote and a liquid plant food at half strength until August, when I start winding them down for the winter. My citrus trees get full sun out in my front yard and water when they need it, varying between every few days to every day in a heat wave. I actually haven't had to water anything this season because of the Noah's ark rain we've been getting. The tree was completely bare for two months, yes. I'll prune off a few dead twigs and try to nurse it back to health. Thank you to everyone that responded :)