I have a Meyer lemon tree in a pot that was doing wonderfully outside this summer. When I brought it in for the winter, the leaves have turned yellow and dropped. Can someone help?
My calamonden tree has had the same treatment and it is getting ready to bloom.
I'll love to hear what answers you get for this...
Many of my woody plants drop some leaves after being brought indoors as a reaction to the lower light conditions. They then generally make new ones more adapted to the dimmer environment. So I never give up on them as long as their stems still are green, and most survive.
Chlorosis, due to soil which is too alkaline, can sometimes cause yellowing of the newer leaves. But, for that, the veins usually remain green.
Also, take a very close look at the leaves and stems. I had a Meyer Lemon in the house, I found it easily infested with scale and spider mites. The spider mites especially made the leaves turn yellow and drop off. It seems like when the plants are outside for the summer natural predation or rains keeps these in check, then populations explode when the plant is taken inside. I also agree with giving it a chance to recover.
My Meyer Lemon was a pretty heavy feeder, definitely liked some fertilization.
Citrus grows best in high humidity. I've found tropicals more sensitive to the shift to lower indoor humidity than lower light. For this reason l bring mine in well before temperatures dive and the heat is turned on. An earlier transition means the house humidity is closer to that of the outdoors resulting in less shock.
I can relate with the comments about the plant dropping leaves due the the transition of adjusting to the indoor climate. This is common, and the plant generally will recover from this just fine. From the image, the leaves do not appear to have spider mites from what I can see, as there are not any tiny webs that are common with mites.
If that lemon has spider mites, chuckl, there will be chiggers indoors shortly! My Meyer drops leaves after lemons are off and cool sets in. Or after the grasshoppers eat all the leaves. So far, it has recovered and returns in warmer, more humid, and lighter days.
