Millet, you may remember the thread on GW last summer about my Meyer lemon losing healthy leaves. I thought I'd show an updated picture:

today:



last summer:



It took about three weeks after repotting into the CHC mixture to stabilize, and since then has only lost a few leaves. It's hard to take a good picture with the light background, but the tree is managing to support about a dozen fruits that seem to be progressing nicely. Plus there are a ton of new blooms on it right now also.

A couple of questions. Is the fruit basically ripe when it turns completely yellow, or should I wait until it starts turning a bit orangish (as one source I read indicated).

Also, I'm wondering given I'm in a coastal zone 10 if I could fertilize year round instead of stopping in November like I did. Since I believe I have a high pH level in my water I thought it might help to water with an acid based type soluable fertilizer.

Thanks as always for your (or anyone else's) help.

Hey there, I have two Meyers and what I do is. If I want juice I pick them mostly yellow with a little green(sweet & tart). If I want to eat out of hand, I wait till all yellow(sweet). I have tried to wait till they where darker like you mentioned but they seem to start loosing juice at that point for me(pithy & dry).
I bet you in the summer it will flush out some more leaves. even though meyers are everbearing they sprout out according to temps. cooler temps produce the flower buds and warmer will give you a nice leave flush. Hang in there, your Meyer looks better than some.
I would pick up a cheap water PH test, and test your theory. To find the right mix of acidifier. You can kill with kindness.
If I lived in a place that had bad tap, I'd set out some large beautiful water tight urns and collect all the rain water. Stick a potted plant in the top to seal the opening. Keeps mosquitoes out and the rain will filter through the pot and collect in the urn.
Good luck and I think your tree looks fine, Mantis 212

Oh yeah, you are in the greenhouse zone! I would not stop fertilizing....I am sure its for trees going into a doormant state for colder zones. Meyers are everbearing so maybe thats one of the reasons you had leaf loss. I see a little yellow on the leaves on the ground. Tha usually means lack of nutrients or over watering. Now that you have the newer faster draining soil I would fert year round....
My two cents, Mantis212

Gman, yes I certainly remember your post, and I also remember the wrought iron balcony you grow your trees on. I see your Meyer Lemon has done a lot of recovery, however, the foliage is not as dense as it should be, nor as dense as it was before the leaf drop started. I think the reason that it has not recovered a full foliage canopy is because you let the tree produce fruit. After a citrus tree loses its leaves due to a stress to the tree, and is given the corrective treatment, many times the tree recovers and puts out new growth and leaves. The life span of a citrus leaf is 17 to 24 months. First year citrus leaves supply most of the photosynthates that they manufacture to the developing fruit for the first growing season, and not to bloom or foliage growth. Then during the leaves second growing season, these same leaves will supply food (photosynthates) to the bloom. This is why clusters of blooms with leaves (lefy inflorescence) have a much better fruit set and less abscission than those bloom clusters that lack leaves. Once the newer leaves of the leafy inflorescence have expanded and can take over and supply the developing fruit, then the second year leaves will supply food to only the roots. So if you let the tree fruit the first year after leaf drop, the newly regained leaves give their energy to the fruit and not to the blooms and leaves. If you remove the fruit, any any blooms, the first year, the leaves will then give their photosynhates to developing leaves, and you will see a tremendous amount of foliage growth. I would not worry much about the lower yellow leaves. They just look like old leaves that have lived out their lives. I'm glad that you join the Citrus Growers forum, and I hope you will continue to be an active contrubutor, you have much to offer. Take care - Millet