TJAnonymous
Sprout
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2021
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 7
- Points
- 5
I have a 3 yr old Meyer Lemon. It was repotted into a larger, self-watering container in Aug 2020. It was also fertilized at that time. I kept it outside until November when the temperature started to drop. The tree was flourishing...
I brought it inside for winter and it has been downhill from there. I noticed in early December that it was losing a few leaves. I thought maybe the water reservoir was low... I filled the water reservoir and also gave it some Osmocote slow-release fertilizer. It seemed to get a little better for a week but then started losing more leaves again.
I went online and started doing research into what might be happening. I found two possible culprits -
1) overwatering
2) winter leaf drop
I immediately bought a hygrometer to check soil moisture. It pinged off the chart. I tried to dump as much water as possible out of the container which is far too big for me to really lift. But I did try to drain as much excess as possible from the overflow drain.
As for the WLD, I put a heat lamp on the soil to try to warm up the roots. The tree is inside in my south facing sunroom. Room temperature is consistently around 68 degrees. I also turned on a warm mist humidifier.
Despite these efforts over the past month, the leaf loss has greatly accelerated. But despite the leaf loss, there is also new growth.... So I don't know what to think?
Considering the stems are still attached to the limb, I'm thinking the problem is WLD. But the soil is warm so I don't know what else to do? I put my finger down in the soil today... It is bone dry for at least the top 3 inches. It does get a little moist about 4 inches down but not "wet" by any means.
My tree back on December 30th
My poor tree as of today...
New growth
More new growth
I brought it inside for winter and it has been downhill from there. I noticed in early December that it was losing a few leaves. I thought maybe the water reservoir was low... I filled the water reservoir and also gave it some Osmocote slow-release fertilizer. It seemed to get a little better for a week but then started losing more leaves again.
I went online and started doing research into what might be happening. I found two possible culprits -
1) overwatering
2) winter leaf drop
I immediately bought a hygrometer to check soil moisture. It pinged off the chart. I tried to dump as much water as possible out of the container which is far too big for me to really lift. But I did try to drain as much excess as possible from the overflow drain.
As for the WLD, I put a heat lamp on the soil to try to warm up the roots. The tree is inside in my south facing sunroom. Room temperature is consistently around 68 degrees. I also turned on a warm mist humidifier.
Despite these efforts over the past month, the leaf loss has greatly accelerated. But despite the leaf loss, there is also new growth.... So I don't know what to think?
Considering the stems are still attached to the limb, I'm thinking the problem is WLD. But the soil is warm so I don't know what else to do? I put my finger down in the soil today... It is bone dry for at least the top 3 inches. It does get a little moist about 4 inches down but not "wet" by any means.
My tree back on December 30th
My poor tree as of today...
New growth
More new growth