I have a potted citrus, grown from a seed that is now 10 years old.
It blossomed this year and now has pea sized fruit. Problem: Over night
it has lost all of the leaves in the topmost branches, leaving only the petioles on the branches. I remember reading on this forum what cauises this, but, can`t recall the reason - With your help, i can rectify this problem and get my first fruit this year - Mandarins!

Bill

How long has it been since it was repotted? It is warm enough I do not suspect winter leaf drop, so the next most likely is root rot from soggy wet soil. Since you have had it for 10 yrs, you probably know how to water, but what changes is that the soil (media) degrades and turns to a fine muck that retains water in the bottom far longer that the media on top--that leads to root rot.

See if you can lay the container down and slide the plant out and look at the roots--if they are cream colored -fine, if they are mushy brown cut them off and repot in fresh media. If you have to remove much root, you should remove some top to match.

In the case of Billy's tree, if he has to balance the amount of foliage to match any possible root pruning, I would remove some of the lower foliage and none of the newly mature upper branches. When a seedling citrus tree finally reaches the required node count and begins blooming and fruiting, it is only the upper nodes of the tree, where the required node count has finally been reached, that are mature. The lower branches remain juvenile. If Billy cuts back the top branches, the tree will revert back to being Juvenile. If it has been over 2 years since the tree has been re-potted, now is a likely time of year one would see trouble. - Millet (Drill ANWR)

Thanks - I suspect you are correct. Tree has been in the pot over three years and sits near the hose!! I probably got carried away on occasion.

Wiil repot in the a.m.

Thanks

Bill

I re-potted the subject Mandarin. There was no moisture collection in the bottom of the pot. No dead or dead looking roots - in fact, no roots, with the exception of some big tap roots poking out of the drainage holes. All of the roots were tan and in ahuge ball about 10 inches round near the top of the pot to about 10 inches down. The soil below 10 inches was heavily compacted - almost like sand. (the pot is about 2 1/2 feet tall)

I re-potted using mostly pine bark mulch, some sand, some perlite and a little bit of expensive garden soil (M.G.) I would have used CHC`s but I did not have any washed and prepared. I did prepare the root ball by washing as much of the dirt as I could get off of the ball.

I think the compacted soil below 10 inches may have been the problem, altho it wasn`t wet or mushy when I re-potted.

Thanks for your help.
Bill