Thank you poncirus. I will get a PH test kit this weekend. Would adding the acid loving plant 30-10-10 be too much since we just put down 10-5-5 fertilizer?

Desertdilemma, how often are you watering it and how much? Where are you located? Do you have alkali or clay soils? All of these things have a bearing on which direction you should go when it comes to saving your tree.

Evan

I am located in S NV (Las Vegas area) and have alkali soils. The tree was on a drip system getting watered twice a day everyday but I turned it off so I could start measuring exactly how much water it gets. I’m starting off with a gallon of water every other day but I check the soil everyday for dryness. I’ll be getting a PH tester today to determine if my soil is an issue

The soil is not an issue, all of my trees are in alkali soils, Las Vegas is known for clay and caliche type soil. I would put your tree back on the drip system, it is much more consistent. Twice a day watering is too much water, what’s happening is you’re probably leaching all of the nutrients out of your soil and 1 gallon per day is not enough. You should be watering more but less frequently. What type of drip system is it on? Are they bubblers that you can adjust the heads on? Or are they just the standard drip emoter that is rated at a certain gpm? Fertilizer is key in our climate and “Arizona’s Best Citrus Food” is what you should look for at your local hd or Lowe’s and use on your tree. This fertilizer will help with your alkAli soils too. Right now I’m watering my trees every other day for about 20 minutes and I have basins built around my trees that fill with water and let the water percolate slowly into the ground over a couple hours. Hope this helps.

Evan

It has a drip emoter 13-gph but we’ve never had the drip head fully open. I can’t change just the one drip so if I turn it back on it will get water twice a day like the rest of our plants. How much water should it be getting? We just bought some Pennington ultragreen Citrus & Avocado plant food (10-5-5) that we put down a few days ago. I’ll look for the Arizona’s Best Citrus Food to use next time as I don’t want to over fertilize it

I am going to assume that most of the rest of your landscape is xeriscape or some type of desert friendly plants. If they are desert plants than twice a day is too much for those plants as well. My citrus is tied to the rest of my plants and shrubs in my yard (desert landscape) and I adjust those with different gpm emitters as needed for the type of plant. Like I said, I would back off your watering schedule and use your irrigation. That will be the most effective and fastest way to get your tree and all your plants healthy.

Evan

Thank you Evan for all of your advice. I’ll get my tree back on the drip irrigation and adjust our watering schedule

My comment about concrete and ph above i missing.

Poncirusguy I remember seeing your comment about concrete and PH but I don’t know where it went. Our PH level is too high right now but I’m hesitant on adding the 30-10-10 fertilizer you suggested since we just put down 10-5-5

That’s weird Steve, I saw your comment there yesterday too.