If you’ve got a green thumb, or a bit of knowledge and experience with plants, I need your advice.
We’re trying to nurture a lemon tree. It came out of a pot and went into the ground about 9 months ago. It’s a lemon that was grafted on to another root stock.
It’s grown to be about 3 feet tall, perhaps a bit taller.
But now its leaves are curling up lengthwise, as you can see in the two photos below.
So the question is: What’s going on here? What conditions could cause this to happen? Some essential nutrient missing, or too abundant? Too much water? Too little water? Bugs? What should I be doing to get it nice and healthy?
I would love to hear your advice and suggestions.
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The people at Ace Hardware (here on Kauai) were crackerjack at helping me when my lime tree was hitting the skids. After I described what was happening, they recommended Malathion, and my tree’s thriving one year later, after only one application. Maybe you could take your photos to Ace and ask them for their recommendations.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/leaf-curl-citrus-tree-37359.html
Water Stress
A citrus tree that does not get enough water becomes water-stressed and the leaves begin to dull and curl. As the time passes, these leaves will dry, become crisp and fall from the branches. If the citrus still doesn’t receive proper water, flowers and fruit will drop prematurely, and the life of the plant is threatened. The amount of water depends on the citrus type, time of year, weather and size of canopy. For example, an orange tree with a 14-foot diameter canopy requires up to 29 gallons of water a day in July in a dry climate.
Mulching around the base can help with if the tree is water-stressed.
Another possibility is insect infestation. You might consider spraying with something like dishwashing detergent– I use Lemon Fresh Joy, but I don’t think you can buy that any more. This is, I believe, a relatively benign treatment environmentally, so you could try this at the same time as increasing the watering.
I agree Blaine that the problem is insufficient water.
You stated that the tree was in a pot until nine months ago. If it had been in that pot for a while, it might have become root bound: the roots filled the pot and turned into a convoluted, compressed mess. When the tree was removed from the pot, some work needed to be done to untangle the roots and to cut some roots to encourage new roots to form that would expand into the new bed. If the roots have not expanded into the new bed, you need to be sure to water near the trunk of the poor little tree, where the roots are.
There is an excellent Facebook site, “HawaiiTropical Fruit Growers”, whose participants are happy to answer questions and solve problems.