Joan wrote in message
,
We are currently carrying in and out of the conservatory (out in the
evening into the warm living room, back into the light conservatory
for the day) a 12inch twig. It had leaves on when we bought it in the
spring and has had lots of flowers but by November we were singing
"four leaves on my lemon" then "three leaves on my lemon". Two weeks
ago the last leaf fell off and on Monday last the pathetic little
half-inch green lemon hit the carpet. Is there any hope for it? Are
we wasting our time carrying it in and out? It's in very well
draining compost and I only water it when it's almost dry.


Sounds a bit like bad news Joan, especially considering the time it's taken
to slowly die off.
Might be the right time to remove it from the pot to take a look at the
roots which will either confirm death or otherwise.
Lemons require a more acid compost than other citrus so I would always
recommend ericaceous compost and rainwater with an occasional water with
hard tapwater to provide the minerals needed. Feeding is important to.

We did bring our Tahiti lime back from an almost no leaf situation.
When we bought it we were on holiday in Cornwall and it suffered total
dryout due to my stupidity. It was in full growth and leaf within a couple
of months.
Just bought a Kumquat for £10, reduced as it's badly in need of some TLC.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.