bought a lime tree end of summer and its started to flower but never really developed any fruits due to reduced light.

anyways moved couple of weeks ago and despite being in a room with greater light levels its dropping leaves every day with some branches almost bare.

i cut the remaining flowers off to try and help, as i thought this may b something to do with it as maybe the plant thought it spring after i bought it for some reason. i have feed & misted the plant very week but this doesn't seemed to have helped.

your help is much appreciated as its looking very sorry next to my year old and healthly lemon tree.

The message m
from Tiger303 contains these words:

bought a lime tree end of summer and its started to flower but never
really developed any fruits due to reduced light.

anyways moved couple of weeks ago and despite being in a room with
greater light levels its dropping leaves every day with some branches
almost bare.

i cut the remaining flowers off to try and help, as i thought this may
b something to do with it as maybe the plant thought it spring after i
bought it for some reason. i have feed & misted the plant very week but
this doesn't seemed to have helped.

your help is much appreciated as its looking very sorry next to my year
old and healthly lemon tree.

I haven't pampered my 6 months old grown-from pips lemon trees at all.
They don't get misted and are rarely fed. At present they are just kept
slightly moist. The largest is twenty-six inches high, and all are
strong and healthy.

From the look of them, they are evergreen? If so, I don't know what the
problem is, but I don't think you'd be doing any harm (at this time of
year) if you removed it from its pot and checked for pests in the
soil/peat.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

Tiger303 wrote:

bought a lime tree end of summer and its started to flower but never
really developed any fruits due to reduced light.

anyways moved couple of weeks ago and despite being in a room with
greater light levels its dropping leaves every day with some branches
almost bare.

Overwatering? Overfeeding? Hard water? Pests in soil? - ie Vine weevil. room too
hot?

----
Rod
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/

thanks, doubt its overwatering or overfeeding but will just keep soil moist until spring to be sure, & will check soil for pests.

the room may be too hot, when heating is on its about 21C, what temperature is ideal?

"Tiger303" wrote in message ...
thanks, doubt its overwatering or overfeeding but will just keep soil
moist until spring to be sure, & will check soil for pests.

the room may be too hot, when heating is on its about 21C, what
temperature is ideal?
--

You don't say what sort of Lime you have, tropical or Tahiti? Anyway, Limes
don't like the cold and are more sensitive to this than most citrus.
I keep all our citrus at a min of 50°F during the winter, only water when
the soil seems dry, and feed every third watering making sure I flush the
soil through with pure rainwater (at room temp)every now and again to stop
any build-up of salts.
Never leave a citrus in a water tray, it must be allowed to drain any excess
water away. Wet roots are the main cause of problems with citrus (that and
Scale Insect) especially in the cold/low light of winter.
If you can't get rainwater and have hard tapwater then you should repot your
citrus in Ericaceous Compost with added inert grit (I use orchid type bark
chips) as they don't like too much lime, indeed, prefer a slightly acid and
a well draining soil. If you remove your plant from it's pot and the roots
look damaged or the soil looks like it's breaking down then repot
immediately as above. Using E C is an old trick to get sickly citrus to pick
up.

p.s. if you don't know if your grit is inert then pour some vinegar on it
and see if you get a reaction. If it froths don't use it. (old fishkeeping
trick) :-)

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

[quote]Originally posted by Bob Hobden
[b]You don't say what sort of Lime you have, tropical or Tahiti? Anyway, Limes
don't like the cold and are more sensitive to this than most citrus.
I keep all our citrus at a min of 50°F during the winter, only water when
the soil seems dry, and feed every third watering making sure I flush the
soil through with pure rainwater (at room temp)every now and again to stop
any build-up of salts.
Never leave a citrus in a water tray, it must be allowed to drain any excess
water away. Wet roots are the main cause of problems with citrus (that and
Scale Insect) especially in the cold/low light of winter.
If you can't get rainwater and have hard tapwater then you should repot your
citrus in Ericaceous Compost with added inert grit (I use orchid type bark
chips) as they don't like too much lime, indeed, prefer a slightly acid and
a well draining soil. If you remove your plant from it's pot and the roots
look damaged or the soil looks like it's breaking down then repot
immediately as above. Using E C is an old trick to get sickly citrus to pick
up.

p.s. if you don't know if your grit is inert then pour some vinegar on it
and see if you get a reaction. If it froths don't use it. (old fishkeeping
trick) :-)

thanks Bob, i'm afraid i've no idea whether its tropical or tahiti, thou i remember when i bought it, it said 'american bartenders lime tree' for description. its still in plastic pot that i bought it so i hope it was originally potted in E C

haven't got garden big enough to store any rainwater properly though manchester is a sofwater area and as i said my lemon is very healthy

do u think a temperature of 70F is too high?

will check roots @ weekend when i have time to repot

"Tiger303" wrote in message ..
Bob Hobden wrote:

i'm afraid i've no idea whether its tropical or tahiti,
thou i remember when i bought it, it said 'american bartenders lime
tree' for description. its still in plastic pot that i bought it so i
hope it was originally potted in E C

haven't got garden big enough to store any rainwater properly though
manchester is a sofwater area and as i said my lemon is very healthy

do u think a temperature of 70F is too high?

will check roots @ weekend when i have time to repot
--

I do think you are keeping it at too high a Temp. considering the low light
levels during the winter, and you keep it indoors which also reduces the
light it gets compared to when it's outside in a sunny spot in the summer.
I also doubt it was originally potted in E C. or with enough built in
drainage if the ones we have obtained over the years are anything to go by.
You have soft water, you lucky person you, now citrus do need some calcium
so perhaps you should phone the water co to check on the analysis. If it's
very soft you might need to forget the 100% E C. and use a mixture of E C
with normal peat based compost also with the added drainage grit.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

"Tiger303" wrote in message
s.com...
bought a lime tree end of summer and its started to flower but never
really developed any fruits due to reduced light.

anyways moved couple of weeks ago and despite being in a room with
greater light levels its dropping leaves every day with some branches
almost bare.

i cut the remaining flowers off to try and help, as i thought this may
b something to do with it as maybe the plant thought it spring after i
bought it for some reason. i have feed & misted the plant very week but
this doesn't seemed to have helped.

your help is much appreciated as its looking very sorry next to my year
old and healthly lemon tree.
--
Tiger303
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


My eperience is with Lemon, but they are the same family so here goes, they
don't seem to like a change of conditions, from cooler to warmer or warmer
to cooler, it's okay if it's really gradual, but they always seem to react
funny if I move them from one to another.

Having said that just lately my best cropper has been suffering very badly
from a scale insect infestation and this is leading to large scale
"deforestation" on my little lemon tree. I've had to pick/scrap these pests
off by hand and then sprayed with something obnoxious, which I hate doing.
The other real nasty pest which may cause this is the RedSpider mite, give
your plant a really good check over and make sure there's nothing like this
on it.

Good luck
Duncan

In article ,
"Druss" writes:
|
| Having said that just lately my best cropper has been suffering very badly
| from a scale insect infestation and this is leading to large scale
| "deforestation" on my little lemon tree. I've had to pick/scrap these pests
| off by hand and then sprayed with something obnoxious, which I hate doing.

I cleared it by scraping alone - admittedly on a very small tree.

| The other real nasty pest which may cause this is the RedSpider mite, give
| your plant a really good check over and make sure there's nothing like this
| on it.

Soft soap works as well as anything, and is pretty safe.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Druss"wrote in message ...
..

Having said that just lately my best cropper has been suffering very badly
from a scale insect infestation and this is leading to large scale
"deforestation" on my little lemon tree. I've had to pick/scrap these
pests
off by hand and then sprayed with something obnoxious, which I hate doing.

These are a constant pest on Citrus but can be dealt with by blasting them
off with your sprayer filled with a couple of drips of washing up liquid and
pumped up to max and kept there. Takes time but start at the top and work
down every stem checking every leaf and especially the nooks and crannies.
Recently was given another Lemon tree by a neighbour that was emigrating and
it was covered with scale of all sizes such that the stems were totally
hidden, it took three thorough goes to get rid of it which was three
soakings for me to. :-)
If I'd have left it then all our citrus would have been the same come
spring.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

Had a little look at the SETI wibble, but I rather think this box
wouldn't be very useful for them: I don't use a screensaver and don't
leave the box running when it's not in use.

And it's hardly got resources to have it chuntering away in the
background either.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

Had a little look at the SETI wibble, but I rather think this box
wouldn't be very useful for them: I don't use a screensaver and don't
leave the box running when it's not in use.

And it's hardly got resources to have it chuntering away in the
background either.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

Had a little look at the SETI wibble, but I rather think this box
wouldn't be very useful for them: I don't use a screensaver and don't
leave the box running when it's not in use.

And it's hardly got resources to have it chuntering away in the
background either.

Something that would find intelligent life on Usenet would be far
more useful. Try sci.anthropology.paleo for a proof that ape to
human is definitely a descent :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

Had a little look at the SETI wibble, but I rather think this box
wouldn't be very useful for them: I don't use a screensaver and don't
leave the box running when it's not in use.

And it's hardly got resources to have it chuntering away in the
background either.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars, there's bugger all down here.

Had a little look at the SETI wibble, but I rather think this box
wouldn't be very useful for them: I don't use a screensaver and don't
leave the box running when it's not in use.

And it's hardly got resources to have it chuntering away in the
background either.

Something that would find intelligent life on Usenet would be far
more useful. Try sci.anthropology.paleo for a proof that ape to
human is definitely a descent :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.