Hi all,
I'm hoping you can help. I've had a washington navel orange for about 4 years. It's about 4ft tall at this point. It spends summer outside and winter inside. Suddenly it;s dropping leaves like mad. I can;t find any bugs or anything. Its being kept on the dry side. any ideas?
Many thanks,
Deb
Orange tree dropping leaves
How is it for light?
Hi tropicbreeze,
Its near but not in a window (too big!) There is a grow light nearby. Its been fine all winter now suddenly this?
I would check on your watering, and also make sure it's not directly in the path of hot air from a heating vent, or a cold draft from a door to the outside that is opened regularly. On the watering--I know you said you were keeping it on the dry side, but how are you determining that it's dry? If you're just looking at the surface of the soil, the very top can dry out pretty quickly with the low humidity indoors, but a few inches down it could still be sopping wet. The best thing to do is the finger test--stick your finger down a couple inches into the pot and see how wet it feels. Over and under watering can often have similar symptoms and the finger test can help tell you which one might be happening to your plant.
Mine often drop a lot of leaves in the winter when they get a bit too dry, then start getting new ones almost right away with water and light.
See any new green at the top?