My citrus tree is dying

Question

I have my mother’s citrus tree and I want to keep it alive as one of my special remembrances of her.

It never had fruit, I assume because it was grown in a pot from a seed, and I don’t think there is enough sun in the north east. It is about 35-40 yrs old.

I have pictures, the leaves are turning yellow and brown and falling off. The stems are starting to dry and die. I have cut back dead wood.

8 years ago I had the small mites that would make the leaves sticky and curl up. I used water to rub gently all the leaves and the problem went away until I moved last year. I had the same problem with these bugs, so I brought my plant outside and used a very mild solution of castile soap to wash down the plant and brought the plant back inside. It was very happy. However, they came back. Either I did not get them all, or I believe they came from my other plants that were infested. So I did the same wash down. This time I used neem oil after the wash and isolated the plant. Those buggers are gone!

The plant shot up quickly with another stem about 18 inches! Wow. But now slowly, for the past 6 months, I have issues with the leaves turning yellow sometimes curling and falling. It keeps getting worse and now the wood is starting to die back.

During this period I have tried to diagnose the problem and I am failing. I can’t figure out what this is. I have tried adding nutrient via spikes, magnesium, copper, much less watering (which I don’t think helps) and I continue with neem oil once every two weeks and misting with water once every couple of days.

Please help — freaking out.

Answer 1

It appears that the pH of the soil is off. I have many citrus in container, and they always used to have something going on with them. I recommend keeping dolomitic lime, iron sulfate, and citrus fertilizer handy. You will want to add all three of these at least once per year. This will save you so many problems in the future. Here is an article for more information on citrus in container: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lime/potted-lime-trees.htm