If there is a better forum for this, please tell me!
My container meyer lemon tree does this each year. I cover it well with flannel sheets, but the lower lemons look like this and rot away soon. Is this frost damage or something else? So far the top lemons that I figure are best protected seem OK. It's only gotten down to maybe 27 degrees for a few hours overnight.
Thanks if you can help me!
If it IS FROST, what easy way to protect it better than wrapping in layers of flannel sheets? Add a light bulb? Hot bricks? ;-)
srkrause,
I just saw your thread. I used to live in the eastern foothill of San Jose. I remember seeing something like that. Let me look it up and get back to you later today.
BettyDee
BettyDee... Thanks! I'll check in later!
srkrause,
Do you have snails or slugs in your yard and do any of the leaves look like they have been chewed? If you do, they could be you problem. The large wound looks like snail damage. It could be caused by slugs, but snails are the worst culprit. The smaller wounds could be the same thing, but it's difficult to tell from the photo. Removal of the rind allows some sort of fungus or bacteria to grow and rot the fruit. The thin rind makes Meyer lemons more susceptible to snail damage. Look for snails under the leaves, under the pot and just under the soil surface. Hand picking the snails should take care of any other damage. I was never able to rid my yard of snails so I inspected my citrus trees for snails every time I watered. That took care of most snails.
In the Bay Area, Meyer lemons produce flowers and fruit year round. I know Boulder Creek is south of San Jose, but you're close enough that you probably get fruit year round also. Do you? If you do, does this damage occur at times other than winter?
Are you removing the sheets during the day? The sheets could be trapping too much moisture around the fruit and, given the wounds the fruit have, accelerate the rotting.
Meyer lemon are not true lemons and are much hardier than the true lemons, Eureka and Lisbon. It can withstand temperatures down to the mid-twenties. I never covered my citrus trees, including the Meyer lemon, but the smallest pots were 24 inches in diameter.
Hope this helps solve your problem. Best of luck.
BettyDee
Not slugs or snails.
srkrause,
I'm enclosing a link to the Santa Cruz UC Cooperative Extension. Through them, you'll have access to UC Citrus experts. E-mail a photo of your lemon and provide as much information as possible.
http://cesantacruz.ucdavis.edu/common/stafflist.cfm?county=2031
BettyDee
Thanks, BettyDee---
Too funny! I live about 20 minutes from there! Tx comes thru!
sekrause,
Please let me know what the Extension Agent says the problem is. I'd like to know.
BettyDee
Me, too. My little tree produces heavily and thus far no problems, but I'd like to be prepared, just in case!
It was Brown Rot.
Luckily, my citrus trees have never had brown rot. What conditions cause it and how can it be prevented in citrus? Is it the same bacteria as the one that causes brown rot in peach and nectarines?
BettyDee
I was told that wet weather and splashing rain causes the disease.
