Allotments 4 All

Hi everyone, this is my 1st post and I hope someone can help with my very sick looking lemon tree. It was purchased last spring from Homebase, looked healthy and green but doesn`t now it`s leaves have gone yellow although there have been lots of flowers, that have just dropped off. It was kept indoors over the winter. Anyone got any idea`s because I think it`s heading for the compost bin !

Hi Patti1
Welcome to A4A...
They can be very tempramental... mine managed a couple of years but ended up in the compost.  :-X

perhaps the shock of moving it outdoors.............probably too much sun and heat rather than too cold. I move mine into a shady area outdoors to start off with

and it recovered fully eventually after having just a few leaves once (ex OH tried to kill it, me being not available)

Patti, welcome and don't give up! I'm no expert on lemon trees, but we have had three (All season varieties, which fruit and produce flowers all year) in pots for three years, and other friends locally who have really big and old ones.  Ours often have yellow leaves that drop off, and the flowers drop too.  But they seem to recover and keep on producing  fruit, some of which drop but most get to a reasonable size.   We have ours indoors during winter but out all summer after the serious frosts have finished.  Are you feeding it?  They need feeding every two weeks or so. Also a reasonable amount of water.   Their roots don't like being hot at all, so our three have their pots sunk in deep holes in our grass in a part of the garden where they get some sun, but not all day.  Hope this helps.

Citrus often does 'the drop' early in the season..it may looks quite drastic but soon you will see new growth coming on.. ;) As long as the branches are still green they will sprout. Like peanuts said..bit of TLC and all will be well again. It would not hurt to top up the surface with fresh compost. You could also sprinkle a bit of blood, fish and bone meal..good watering and off they go..get your clippers out as soon you'll be pruning the excess growth off.. ;D Don't forget to switch on summer citrus food...or....you could mix some wee into water and use that.. :-X
Trust me..lemons love it..

Thanks all for the advice, not too sure about the `wee` tho !!
Just a thought, how do the lemon tree`s manage living in the sun in Spain/Italy etc were usually it`s much hotter than here ? Thanks again..

I have some citrus, a couple of which I have managed to keep alive for about 15 years now.  The things they don't seem to like, and which will make them drop their leaves are overwatering when they are not needing so much water ie spring winter, and quick changes in temperature at any time of year.

I recently read they are better if watered via matting, but haven't tried that yet.  What I try to do is leave it until the leaves just begin to almost wilt a bit, then give a nice thorough watering, but don't leave water standing  in the plant saucer.

Also liquid seaweed fertilizer seems good as a watering or leaf spraying fertilizer

They will stand a couple of degrees of frost, but not real solid freezing.

Often the leaves will fall off completely, but as long as you don't overwater at this critical point they will come back.  I bought a lemon tree with no leaves at all from a garden centre for £5 and it is fine now. 

All the best
Sue