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CitrusTreesGarden
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Meyer Lemon Tree Dying

5 years ago


Hello! I’ve never used any kind of forum before so hopefully this works!

I’ve had this meyer lemon tree for ~3 years. we have had our share of ups and downs. I bought the 1yr old tree in 2019. That year I had unexpectedly moved & had to dig up the tree that was planted in the ground. Obviously it was not happy, dropped all its leaves, and didn’t bloom for almost a year after. I had initially potted it with soil from the ground it was planted in & in spring 2020 I changed the soil to something less compact since the initial soil was very dense & causing root rot. Again it dropped all its leaves but made a quick recovery. I even had my first big fruit that grew about the size of golf ball.

About 3 months ago we had a somewhat severe cold front & I had to move the plant inside for ~1 week. Again all the leaves dropped but this time there has been no recovery at all. The branches have started to die off & I am worried the plant is dying. I have no clue what to do at this point. I worry that re-potting it will shock it straight to death. I recently drilled additional drainage holes and have been fertilizing once a month.


It gets full sun and lots of rain. I’m in growing zone 9. Any advice would be so appreciated. It feels silly but this tree has been a constant through a lot in my life and would be devastating to lose :/

Featured Answer
  • 5 years ago

    if i understand the scenario.. its been 3 moths since total leaf drop ... we would expect it to have releafed by now ... otherwise.. its not good ...


    but you can hold out hope for as along as you wish.. but at some point.. it just gets to depressing to look at it every day ... so either throw it behind the garage where you cant see it ... or just get rid of it ... its the having to look at it that is the problem.. so dont look at it.. lol ...


    blame ma nature for the cold snap.. and move on.. she usually wins .. no matter what we try to do ...


    in theory.. every named cultivar ... is a piece of the original plant.. back in time... this is a hybrid plant ... so they all trace back to the original cross


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_lemon


    so if you get a new one.. you will be getting the same plant ... so you can just transfer the memories to the new plant ...


    in my way too many decades of gardening.. i have killed every plant at lest 3 times ... rather quickly you get over sentimental attachments to certain plants.. if you can get another exact copy of the plant to replace it ... then you just move on ....


    sooo .. give it another month ... and in the meantime... get a new babe ... pot it in proper media for a TREE ... ask here if you need guidance on that [new post]... and start a new story with a new plant that is the same as the old plant ... call it chapter two ...


    ken

    Comments (6)

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