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Persian Lime dropping ALOT of leaves...

 
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moparpogue



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Wed 07 Nov, 2007 7:49 pm

Hello ladies and gents, I'm searching for leaf drop issues and I can only find info about yellow dropped leaves, and leaves that are curling, etc.

I have leaves that are dropping and still green. They look perfectly normal. However they are dropping in sequence from bottom up. It's about halfway up the tree so far. It started about a week ago and is picking up the pace... Majorly. At this pace I'll have a bald tree in about 5 days.

What can I do to reverse this issue and prevent it in the future?
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Laaz
Site Owner
Site Owner


Joined: 12 Nov 2005
Posts: 5680
Location: Dorchester County, South Carolina

Posted: Wed 07 Nov, 2007 7:56 pm

You don't say where you are located & if it is a potted or planted tree. Try doing a search on WLD if the tree is potted and inside.

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moparpogue



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Wed 07 Nov, 2007 9:02 pm

The tree is located inside under grow lamps, next to my Meyer Lemon. The Meyer Lemon is doing great, it actually flowered yesterday. Since the meyer is more sensitive I didn't think it would be Winter Leaf Drop.

The soil temp in the lime is 68 degrees. That's close to ambient temp in the house.

Should I enclose the plants and hit them with heat lamps?
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Laaz
Site Owner
Site Owner


Joined: 12 Nov 2005
Posts: 5680
Location: Dorchester County, South Carolina

Posted: Wed 07 Nov, 2007 9:54 pm

First of all Limes are much more sensitive than Meyer lemons. Limes are one of the most tender of all citrus. With the grow lights over the canopy you will need to warm the soil temps to stop the leaf drop. If the air temp is 68 F the damp soil temp will be much cooler.

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moparpogue



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Thu 08 Nov, 2007 12:39 am

Well, all 4 of my tree pots have been wrapped in Christmas lights. Seasonal and functional.
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moparpogue



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Thu 08 Nov, 2007 11:09 am

Just to update, weather got down to freezing last night. (Camp LeJeune, NC) I left the christmas lights on all night. No where NEAR the leaf drop I was expecting. Very few leaves dropped, so it seems to be working.

Are there any specific nutrients I can supplement with the Osmocote to boost foliage production?

My mandarin is in my garage under heat lamps and wrapped in Christmas lights but hasn't lost a leave since I bought it.

I'm mulling over the idea of moving my Lemon and Lime out to the garage. I'm not looking to grow like I would outside, just survive the winter.
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Millet
Citruholic
Citruholic


Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 6656
Location: Colorado

Posted: Thu 08 Nov, 2007 11:25 am

I think the problem with your Persian (Tahiti) lime is that you are growing the tree to cold. Most Persian Limes are grown in the southern part of Florida. This same condition has come up from time to time by people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia that tried growing the tree outside. 68F is not a high enough temperature for this tree.
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moparpogue



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Tue 13 Nov, 2007 10:50 pm

New update. My wife just looked at the thread and said "Hey... that's a Key Lime, not a Persian." I'm sure the cold stuff still applies.

I moved the Lime and Lemon out with the Banana and Orange. Since then, the lime has not dropped a single leaf. I wrapped all the pots with lights and then saran wrapped them. Lights stay on 24/7, heat lamps and grow lamps are on 14 hours a day.

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Steve
Citruholic
Citruholic


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Posts: 253
Location: Southern Germany

Posted: Wed 14 Nov, 2007 5:23 am

Hello,
maybe it will help.
To ensure a good root temperature, I use no christmas lights.
As seen on the picture, not much of the heat will heat upt the pot, because the lights radiate much heat beside the air of the pot, as giving their heat to the planting medium inside the pot.
So that's energy wasting....

In terraristic shops, as some special pet shops with aquaristic and terraristic departmants, are heat foils available. Those mats are water resistant and contain a high performance heating cable.
So such mats are ideal, because usually the weight of a whole fish tank or terraristic glas Showcase will be placed on it, so the weight of a pot isn't critical. Those mats radiate their heat direkt to the surface, best for our demands.
I just cut a woody board to the size of the heating mat, place it onto stryrofoam, like styropor (r) for insulating purposes. onto the wood I give a little aluminium foliar, just as reflective, and onto the alu foil A place the heating mat. Not, direct onto the heating mat I set the pot atop.

Now all the heat radiation from the heating mat will penerate from the pots bottom into the pot, warming the roots like a under-floor heating in our living room.
And the results are great.

Simply search for those heating mats, ThermoLux by Acculux is a brand name here in germany, but I am sure, there will be compareable ones in the US too

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