What’s wrong with my lemon trees

[Zellephant]

I inherited some mature, but very neglected lemon trees at our new place. I was rather excited by this. They were in bloom already, and decided I would let them go through this growing season and then attempt to prune them back in shape before the winter.

The blossomed heavily, and almost all the blossoms looked as if they were forming fruit after the flowers fell off. But then to my dissapointment yesterday when inspecting the garden, it now looks like all of the budding fruits have disappeared and fallen off. What would have caused that?

 

[maumau]

They're notoriously capricious.


EDIT: One possibility is not enough water.

 

[tetrasect]

Just give them a good water with some 1:1:1 fertilizer.

If they are anything like mine, you'll get a new set of flowers soon.

You can also prune them now, that should speed things up even more.

I keep mine very short and wide, but if yours are in a bad state then this pic is a really nice guide:

 

[B-1]

Like others have said they need a fair bit of water and fertiliser rich in potassium (K) when fruiting.

How sure are you that there are no fruit left? It may just take some time. Most lemon trees fruit for a large part of the year.

 

[B@rrels]

I had same trouble when the tree was young and noticed a lot of ants on the tree eating the white fungus that grows on it and the blossoms.Got rid of the ants and fed the tree 5.1.5 fertiilizer and all the blossoms grew into beaut lemons

 

[B-1]

I had same trouble when the tree was young and noticed a lot of ants on the tree eating the white fungus that grows on it and the blossoms.Got rid of the ants and fed the tree 5.1.5 fertiilizer and all the blossoms grew into beaut lemons

Those are aphids the ants farm. They move them around and protect them and milk them for nectar. The aphids do quite a bit of damage to the tree.

 

[tetrasect]

Those are aphids the ants farm. They move them around and protect them and milk them for nectar. The aphids do quite a bit of damage to the tree.

Yeah those things are the worst, and they keep popping up again. They also attach to the lemons and make them look dirty and "wrinkly".

Gotta spray for that. And unfortunately the stuff they sell at the shop is organophosphates which is not really the best stuff to be putting on food.

This is the biological alternative, it's a fungi that attacks the aphids:

Eco-BB Beauveria Bassiana - Hydroponic.co.za

Eco-BB Beauveria Bassiana, sold in 40 g sachets. A fungal inoculant for the control of white fly and suppression of red spider mites.

hydroponic.co.za

 

[Bliksis]

Yeah those things are the worst, and they keep popping up again. They also attach to the lemons and make them look dirty and "wrinkly".

Gotta spray for that. And unfortunately the stuff they sell at the shop is organophosphates which is not really the best stuff to be putting on food.

This is the biological alternative, it's a fungi that attacks the aphids:

Eco-BB Beauveria Bassiana - Hydroponic.co.za

Eco-BB Beauveria Bassiana, sold in 40 g sachets. A fungal inoculant for the control of white fly and suppression of red spider mites.

hydroponic.co.za

I really don't consider spraying fruit with pesticide as putting things on food, especially lemons.

Natural solutions will take forever to work, repeated applications, and just all in all a lot more effort. I just use rose guard, gets rid of aphids and mealies.

Crinkle leaf is just something that always comes back but does not really affect the tree negatively.

 

[Zellephant]

Like others have said they need a fair bit of water and fertiliser rich in potassium (K) when fruiting.

How sure are you that there are no fruit left? It may just take some time. Most lemon trees fruit for a large part of the year.

Thanks, I will feed some good fertiliser, and prune them this week, and hope for a new set of blossoms in the near future.

I’m pretty sure there is no fruit left. Two weeks ago, the tree was full of miniature budding lemons were the flowers had dropped off. Today there are none.

 

[The_Ogre]

@ShaunSA knows all about lemons

 

[FiestaST]

 

[ShaunSA]

@ShaunSA knows all about lemon parties

I'm a proud subscriber to @UB40's OF

 

[B-1]

Thanks, I will feed some good fertiliser, and prune them this week, and hope for a new set of blossoms in the near future.

I’m pretty sure there is no fruit left. Two weeks ago, the tree was full of miniature budding lemons were the flowers had dropped off. Today there are none.

Don't go too heavy on the the pruning. Have a look at what tetrasec posted for lemons its really about cleaning up any unwanted growth(vertical, interfering, damaged etc) and allowing air to move freely through the tree.

Its not like a peach tree for instance that needs to be pruned back for new growth to form fruiting areas.

 

[tetrasect]

I really don't consider spraying fruit with pesticide as putting things on food, especially lemons.

Natural solutions will take forever to work, repeated applications, and just all in all a lot more effort. I just use rose guard, gets rid of aphids and mealies.

Crinkle leaf is just something that always comes back but does not really affect the tree negatively.

Not sure what's in rose guard, but this stuff, which is available in most shops, is systemic:



If you don't have any fruit on the tree then I guess it's fine, otherwise I would stay away.

The biological stuff works just as well, you just need the right conditions. No wind, no sun, so spray in the evening and let the dew help raise humidity for the fungus to survive.

Might need a second application but at least you know you're not gonna be ingesting poison at the end of the day.

Here in SA we can get pretty much anything. Tons of the stuff we get here has been banned in the EU.

 

[Bliksis]

Not sure what's in rose guard, but this stuff, which is available in most shops, is systemic:

View attachment 1776139

If you don't have any fruit on the tree then I guess it's fine, otherwise I would stay away.

The biological stuff works just as well, you just need the right conditions. No wind, no sun, so spray in the evening and let the dew help raise humidity for the fungus to survive.

Might need a second application but at least you know you're not gonna be ingesting poison at the end of the day.

Here in SA we can get pretty much anything. Tons of the stuff we get here has been banned in the EU.

Rose Guard is spray on pesticide, not systemic. I add a surfactant/wetting agent to make it stick a while longer.

 

[tetrasect]

Rose Guard is spray on pesticide, not systemic. I add a surfactant/wetting agent to make it stick a while longer.

Just because it's a spray-on, doesn't mean it's not systemic.

I just looked it up and Rose Guard contains Bifenthrin, Bupirimate and Propiconazole.

The latter two chemicals are systemic. Bupirimate being an pesticide and Propiconazole being a fungicide.

 

[SAguy]

@ShaunSA knows all about lemons

lemonparty[.]org

 

[A3@MBB]

Aphids are easily sprayed off by a jet of water.
Garden hose with a spray attachment or finger at high water volume will solve 80% of your problem in one go.
Repeat a day or two later and you will break the infestation.

 

[tetrasect]

Aphids are easily sprayed off by a jet of water.
Garden hose with a spray attachment or finger at high water volume will solve 80% of your problem in one go.
Repeat a day or two later and you will break the infestation.

Yeah a lot of pests can just be sprayed off. You just have to do it regularly cause you only get "most" of them.

 

[Zellephant]

For interest, this is how my two trees currently look.

I plan to cut quiet a bit off the top of the larger one, to make it more manageable, and the smaller one, just keep pruning the water shoots that come out the bottom and grow straight against the stem, feed them some good fertiliser and then hope for the best. We have some solid rain forecast for Stellenbosch tomorrow and Tuesday, so will try get the fertiliser in early before the rain