A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Dying Meyer Lemon

I repotted my Meyer lemon using plenty of TLC, 2 days ago.
I have kept it out of direct sun for 48 hours, didn't break the root ball, etc.
Today it's light yellow all over, every leaf, and some leaves are crunchy.
Yesterday the leaves were all curled up.
This tree wasn't a really good one to start with.
At least in my opinion.
The nurseryman picked it out for me and as he's a master gardener, I figured he'd know a good specimen.
Any idea on what has made the tree so ill? BTW, it's cool here now, and cloudy, so I thought it would be good transplanting weather.
I took off the 4 lemons it had, so as to help the tree focus on calming down and growing new foliage.
HELP !!!!

You did the right thing with the removal of the lemons. If it had lemons on it in the first place then it was a stressed tree. When they stress they produce fruit. When selecting citrus, choose one with healthy leaves, a good shape and no fruit. Or few fruit at least.
However, get some seaweed or kelp extract and give it a drink at the rate recommended on the bottle. Give it another one in a week or so. I'm assuming you watered the plant well before and after transplanting and that the potting mix is moist, not water repellant and also that you planted it at the same depth it was before. If you only bought it recently, i'd be tempted to take it back to the nursery and quiz the 'master gardener'. Good luck.

Thanks, Longy.
It's not a new tree, the soil is good E.B. Stone cactus mix, and yes, it was moist before and deeply watered after the repotting into a new container.
The problem was, the old pot was so heavy that I could not maneuver it anymore.
So I bought those nice foam pots that are painted and look like ceramic.
The tree now has two tiny, tiny new leaves, but they must have been there before-would it have new growth in only a few days?
The trunk and branches are a good dark green, so I'm not giving up on it yet.
Many thanks for your interest !

The tree now has two tiny, tiny new leaves, but they must have been there before-would it have new growth in only a few days
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OK. As long as those leaves are there it should be OK. It went into some kind of shock from the transplant i'd say. Your timing to transplant, ie the end of Summer, isn't great but it'll probably be OK. Try the seaweed and don't feed until the new growth becomes more evident. You may get no more for the year but don't panic. You may get some flowers again in Autumn. You know what to do!

I've seen new leaves on some plants in extremely short periods of time. As has been pointed out - the tree probably went into shock and should recover. Encinitas is normally not too cold in the winter - but do take care not to let it be exposed this winter to temps below 32. There are ways to protect against the cold - - in Cerritos - we used to use a blanket wrap - - in Pahrump where I am now - and we get a lot colder weather - we use christmas tree lights (the large bulbs - not the small ones that don't put off heat). Since Encinitas does get colder (if memory serves me correctly) than Cerritos - you might want to take the precautions this year.

Again welcome to the board

Jon

I bought a Meyer lemon and when it arrived the leaves looked too yellow. I gave it Espoma Natural Traditions Garden Iron which is 55% sulfur. It is doing beautifully now. I know that isn't the same as your problem but in the future you might consider giving it some of that.