Hello people. I have this weird key lime plant. The top leaves seems kind of deformed. The bottom leaves have small yellow dots. The plant is in citrus soil. I'm thinking of throwing it away but I'm curious if there is a simple explanation to why this happened.


I have a couple of other key lime plants which looks healthy. I think I read somewhere on this forum to cut the top if the plant when it reaches 50 cm. I'd like to keep my plants small and bushy so I cut one of them much earlier. Is the advise on cutting the plant at 50 cm just to make a long stem that is suitable when having a big tree outdoors?

I've grown these plants for about 8-9 months indoors with only 30-40W of cold white LED's. Right now I have a "Demon red" chilli plant under these lights which is 10 cm tall and already has a great number of flower buds. I'm sure this is not the most suitable lighting but it's made of parts that I had available.

Hi!
Just a random shut... Did you check for mites or aphids?

There is nothing wrong with your tree. The cause of the leaf formation is genetic. This type of genetic growth occurs more or less frequently. Your tree will grow out of it. I assume by looking, that the trees are seedlings??? If you trim (prune) them, or top them, they will never produce fruit. The best culture to provide a seedling tree is leave them alone, and to be SURE that you transplant them into larger container as soon as the roots begin to touch the side of their containers. All in all VERY nice looking trees. Good luck to you and your trees. - Millet (744-)

I think it is physiologic stress. Drought and/or very dry air.
Keep moist in the durst and in the air and the leaves will grow OK.

I got that leaves on very heavy feeded trees so my guess is you overfeeded them .

Millet what did you mean when you said that never to cut the top off , I was told that in this way I can force him to produce sideway branches who will increase the chance of producing fruiting branches?

I've never seen a true citrus with a double petiole. It seems every leaf on your seedling has two petioles. Is that typical for Key Lime?

Here's what I mean.



It's similar to the constuction of Hesperthusa crenulata leaves.

If you've looked to the above pictures you would've seen that his Key Limes have the same leaf structure.

So it must be a common thing.

Bravo Wirtual24. Well seen!
It is (at least for me) very odd.

Sorry, I forgot to add that I cropped and pasted author's photo to point what I mean. None of my citrus plants has similar leaves.

That explain how they looked similar , indeed odd thing having that leaves

Thanks everybody for sharing your knowledge.
I sure hope that it is Key lime. I bought the seeds on Ebay.

Danero, as Spazze's tree has been grown from seed, the tree must continue to grow until it finally reaches the required node count to become mature before it will begin to flower and fruit. The node count numbering on a citrus tree is vertical not horizontal. Therefore, a citrus tree must continue to grow until it is tall enough, to finally reach (produce) the required node number, which is different for every citrus variety. Therefore, if the tree's top is cut off before reaching the required number of nodes it will not, cannot not, become mature, therefore cannot flower nor fruit. Because a grafted tree is mature from the very beginning, and capable of producing fruit, cutting off the top at some point can limit fruit production, due to keeping the tree small, but will not stop all production. Wishing You A Happy & Prosperous 2011. - Millet (742-).

Here's a new picture of the seedling with weird leaves:

I guess Millet was spot on. I've done nothing special to the tree at all since last picture.

I found the topic where Laaz and Millet recommends topping seedling trees at about 20 inches:
link
Are key limes usually mature at 20 inches?

Those petioles are unusual, and the plant cannot be a true Key lime because of those petioles. Could be a hybrid if you know the seeds came from a Key lime, although that would be unusual, in that Key lime is among the most highly nucellar of all citrus, with usually about 99.99% of seedlings coming absolutely true to type.

Malcolm

Spazze it is a very unique citrus seedling you have got! I am dying to see its fruits and flowers! Would you consider to sell it to me in a spring time, when it will be warmer? Or may be exchange it for a grafted chinotto orange? I live in NON citrus productive state in USA so it should be no problem with the post office.

I would like to graft your seedling on fruiting roots of lemon Meyer or even Ponderosa lemon so it will flower sooner then usually seedlings are. Ready to wait 5-10 years.

Please please...