Texas Gardening: Improved Meyer lemon, 1 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
DaneaJ,

Meyer Lemon trees are naturally smaller than other citrus, but jujubetexas is right, yours should be larger by now. It's not getting the nutrients it needs or it is not getting them at the appropriate time. Citrus trees grow in spurts and need to have the nutrients available when the spurt occurs. Because potted citrus are watered more often and much of the fertilizer can be washed out, use a slow release citrus fertilizer that contains all the micro-nutrients or divide the recommended dosage into smaller but more frequent applications.

Your tree show signs of chlorosis, but in citrus, there are a variety of reasons why it develops. The soil pH may be too high, drainage may be poor, roots may be damaged or compacted, lack of or insufficient nutrients or the rootball may be getting too hot, a real problem here in Texas. My potted citrus had hot rootball issues, but before I could get my DH to make some shade panels for the pots, the grasshoppers ate all the leaves and bark off leaving only the below ground rootstock. Shading the pots would have kept the roots cool yet allowed the tops to get the full sun they needed. Citrus need a minimum of 6 - 8 hours of direct sunlight. Full sun would be better.

Citrus shouldn't dry out between watering. The soil should be moist at all times, but not waterlogged. Drainage must be excellent because over watering easily leads to root rot. You need to come up with your own flexible watering schedule. What works for other may not work for your tree since the environmental conditions won't be identical to theirs. Use a moisture meter or cheaper still would be to use a finger inserted to a depth of 2" - 3" to check the moisture level at that depth. Water when the soil at that depth is barely damp.

When potting up, the usual recommendation is a pot 2" larger all the way around. Potting up to a larger pot than that encourages root rot because soils that don't have roots in them drain more slowly. The roots then sit in waterlogged soil that keeps oxygen from getting to the roots.

Magnesium is essential for a number of plant functions, but is needed in small quantities. A complete citrus or palm fertilizer that contains all the micro-nutrients should be able to provide all the magnesium the tree needs provided the soil pH is in the appropriate range. However, used with caution, using epsom salt, magnesium sulfate, now and then won't hurt, but it is a salt that can build up in the soil. Plus in high quantities one nutrient can interfere with the uptake of other nutrients. It's a good idea to run water through the soil every once in a while to leach out salts.

You may find the following links useful:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ozdyUy-ptF4J:www.p...

http://www.plantanswers.com/garden_column/june03/4.htm
http://www.simplynetworking.es/calida-416-66-11-citrus_tree_...
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/citru...
http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Mg_Basics...