Hello all,

I've asked various questions about this Meyer lemon over the 9-10 months that I've had it. Here's another question for you...

I'm wondering if/how this tree can be saved. I live in Phoenix (zone 9b). I purchased it last April and placed it in a dark blue ceramic pot (yikes). I also placed it in Miracle Gro potting soil (yikes). Because of poor draining soil I struggled to effectively water it all last summer. I had various issues maintaining healthy leaves. I finally repotted it in August, placing it in a wood pot with a 5-2-1 mix. It lost most of its leaves during the winter. I water it deeply every couple of weeks, the soil is probably not as dry as it should be when I water it again, but I have hard water and want to flush the deposits, plus my understanding with this soil is it's fast draining enough I shouldn't be stressing the roots too much. It is retaining moisture but is definitely not soupy or "wet." It is now reaching about 70 degrees during the day and 40-50s overnight. I recently applied some fertilizer for the spring (time release, Arizona's Best, about 1/8 cup).

My observations: 1) it can't keep hold of its leaves. Based on the yellow veins, I'm assuming a nutrient deficiency, perhaps nitrogen. You'll see in point #2 below that it is trying to bloom; my initial hypothesis was the tree was pulling nitrogen from the leaves to feed new growth. I thought the fertilizer would help with that, but seems to have made no impact. I also started spraying a foliar spray for citrus, emphasizing the micronutrients. Its directions say every 2 weeks, I have given it two applications. Again, no discernible difference, although there is very little foliage to absorb anything.... I painted the branches because without a canopy, I feared the limbs would get scorched in the upcoming summer.

2) It is trying to bloom like crazy. None of them have actually opened up yet, but they are developing and have been for the last few weeks. I don't see any leaf growth. At first I thought the blooms were a positive sign that my tree was healthy and happy despite the lack of foliage. But I've done more reading and learned that lots of bloom growth can be a sign of stress, that the tree thinks it's dying and is trying to prepare seeds. Given it can't keep its leaves, I'm inclined to think that is the case here.

I tend to hover over my plants, probably too much so. Part of me thinks I should just sit back and allow the sun and the fertilizer to do its work. But I can't help not trying to help it ;)

What do you guys think? Should I just buy a new one? Might it self-correct in the next month or two? Anything I could do to help it out?

Some close ups of the leaves, highlighting the yellow veins:

Blooms all over:

Even the little leaf stems are yellow, which probably means the leaf is about to drop?

Close-up of my soil. It's damp, but not sludgy (I don't think):