Why Your Citrus Trees Are Losing Leaves And How To Fix It

If your citrus trees are losing leaves right now, don’t throw it out and don’t give up. Citrus leaves falling in the winter in northern planting zones is most likely caused by stress. This could mean a lower light environment, lower humidity, or temperature fluctuations in the root zone.

Make sure you allow the soil to dry out between waterings, and hold off on the fertilizations in the cooler months of the year. Make sure you take your trees outside for the spring and summer once nightly lows stay above 50 degrees.

#viral #garden #fruit #lemon #lime #orange #tree #howto #plants #citrus

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[hilarydixon]

Perfect timing. I noticed the leaves dropping off my citrus and then this video popped into my feed. Thank you now I can relax and just let nature take its course confident ithat when the warmer weather comes back my lemon will recover. Thank you.

[donnamorgan]

This was Your trees look amazing! Thank you for this, I feel much better! I was panicking over my little tree.

[MartijnLG]

Thank you, I was really getting worried about my orange tree, but now I feel calmer as it still blossoms and have a fruit hanging. Probably because of the temperature change. Also I live in The Netherlands where we lack sun during winter but I just found some grow lights.

[zuiking]

My mandarin tree is loosing its leaves but as you mentioned it is flowering so I was confused. Your video helped out to understand 👍🏼 - I did change to a bigger pot recently maybe that contributed to the problem but it had started defoliating this December after fruiting so I thought taking it out of the original plastic pot was necessary - I amended the soil and put it in another bigger pot - I do think it needs more sun so I’ll move it - thanks!!

[dboy.status]

Thank you, sir! My 4 year old keylime tree started blooming for the first time, and it shed a lot of leaves. This video took my worry off. Zone 9 Texas.

[cbk]

I live in Vermont, I had my lemon and lime trees in my greenhouse. I put them in my kitchen.leaf drop was bad. I put them in my woodstove room with humidifiers and mist them.much better!70-75 all the time. I do have to water more often which I know I’m not getting root rot.for me it’s temperature and misting.fruit and flowers when it’s 20 degrees outside!!

[KristinBennett]

Great video!! I am just getting started with a few citrus trees, I am in WA by the coast, so I guess I am a little crazy, keeping them inside during winter time now, need to find a good way to create some humidity, and I love videos like this that help me along the way, thank you!!

[rider]

Great tip, if the tree defoliates and stems go black it needs cutting or if the branches dry out. Homes are really dry sometimes.

[garycard]

I have a theory: when citrus defoliate and then suddenly put out a profusion of flower buds from the almost bare branches, it has gone into 'panic mode' and wants to 'spread its seed' (pass on its genes) in case conditions never improve again. Since I have stopped using readily biodegradable substrates like coir or compost, I no longer get winter defoliation on my citrus, even at temperatures just a few degrees above freezing (e.g. 5 degrees C) and even at suboptimum winter light levels. I've watched the livestreams by Gary Matsuoka (channel: Gary's Best Gardening) and what he says makes a lot of sense: readily biodegrable substrates, like coir (coco 'peat') or compost, are continuously breaking down due to microbial action, and if these materials are fine-structured and powder-like, they hold onto too much water at the expense of oxygen. Under these conditions, anaerobic bacteria establish themselves, and they attack the roots. Under anaerobic condtions, bacterial fermentation products like hydrogen sulphide are produced, which are poisonous to plant roots. The finer the potting substrate, the more water it holds onto (at the expense of oxygen), meaning that root function might be compromised especially in winter, when plants are less photosynthetically active and the substrate remains moist for longer without the periodic dry-downs that enable fresh oxygen to permeate into the substrate. No longer do I see defoliation and twig die-back on my plants- including the citrus- since I've been using a very fast-draining and oxygenating coarse aggregate-based substrate (a mixture of chunky pumice, perlite, calcined clay 'gravel' (also called 'kittydama'- a cheaper alternative to akadama), coarse-grained potting sand or grit, coarse coconut husk chips, charcoal and a little amount of peatmoss (the peatmoss is to provide acidity and cation exchange capacity). I grow all my citrus in containers, by the way.

[SoulSearch]

Hi, I am in zone 8 and have a meyer lemon tree and key lime tree that were doing great until I brought them in. Artificial lighting is my only choice . They are dropping leaves fast, please advise things I could do to save them and help them thrive. Thank you!

[BrokeFarmer]

Definitely agree, seasonal stress and watering variations did it for mine

[fishycomics]

thank you. Happy New Year. Great to know its stressing out as said. I guess everything I am doing is spot on, we'll ust keep picking up the leaves, glad its another 100 days till warm weather hits again Lol. Maybe I'll throw another grow light on wrap a blanket around the base add some heat, and talk to the plant some more

[petesullivan]

Thanks for you video.
I have a Meyer lemon tree I bought from a nursery in December. It was in a special citrus green hoist and was repotted in October. It was a super healthy larger tree .
I put it in my morning sun room that gets a lot of afternoon sun.
All the leaf drop is perfectly healthy.
From what you mentioned .. should I put it in my green house on a heat pad with extra grow lights. Humidity in the little green house is 70+ and temps never lower than 50.
What do you suggest?

[fritagonia]

I love this channel and the content, I think this channel really can take of in a couple of months, maybe a year.
You are good at making troubleshooting videos, explaining common citrus problems and soforth. So interesting and easy to follow along :)

[curtisd]

My orange tree is defoliating now in this Arizona heat. We did replant it to a Terra cotta pot to give it room to grow from the original pot from the nursery.

[jackietomkins]

I live in zone 9a Florida. My ruby red grapefruit is planted, not in cold soil gets watered once every week or 2 if no rain. The fruit were almost ready to pick and it's dropping all of its leaves. I think this is a nutrient deficiency.

[snowwhite-jtcj]

tree is so tall!
Magic ✨
how come to my orange 🍊 tree is stress I kiss them every day :/

[cinderellie]

When i moved my lemon from natural light to growlight for winter all the leaves fell off. I havnt moved it since and i have new spring growth but those leaves are falling off as well. I dont think its still in shock. We dont have good sun here yet so idk what to do

[cuddlebuddymc]

I live in the panhandle of Florida. In mid August my potted Meyer lemon tree dropped ALL it's leaves. Im not sure what to do. We get rain, I've fertilized it, and it's in a sunny spot. It's potted in a ceramic planter with a nickel sized drainage hole.
Maybe i need to switch the pot?

[corlissyamasaki]

I planted my yuzu tree in the ground and it started to show transplant shock. Some leaves have turned yellow and when the sun is out, it droops. I spray leaves with water and it seems to help keep leaves hydrated.