Dwarf Citrus Tree Sick! Help!

[luxygirl]

I've had a dwarf orange tree for about a year. I keep it outside in a container (I live in N. California).

About 5 months ago I noticed the leaves were becoming deformed. Green, but some mishaped and wrinkly. I moved it out of direct sunshine on adive of a friend.

Then, the leaves started turning yellow. The veins turn yellow first, then almost completely yellow and they fall off easily. I then gave it some fertilizer thinking maybe that was the problem, about 6 weeks ago.

I have recently noticed that not only are a lot of the leaves still deformed and others yellow, but that a lot of them seem to have black specks on them that I think might be some sort of powedry mildew?!!

I do have some strawberry plants growing in the same pot, I am going to move them now, but the leaves were going bad before I even put the plants in.

I really want to keep this tree happy and alive, but it just seems to get progressively worse each month. I'd appreciate any advice? I'm going to try to take a picture and upload it if that helps!

Thanks!

 

[LightningLoader]

citrus tree

Sounds like you have a number of different things going on.

1. You tree needs proper fertilizing. It could be short of Manganese, Magnesium, or iron. All of these will turn the leaves yellow. Go to home depot and ask someone to find a balanced fertilizer for you that includes these minor nutrients. You should fertilize twice a year.

2. Eather a bug or disease is getting to the leaves and making them curl. You need to get what is called oil spray for this. Also available at garden section.

3. Putting a citrus tree in the shade is not the way to go. Citrus trees like full sun.

Don't think that the strawberries planted around the base are hurting anything. You may want to spray them at the same time as the citrus tree though if you do a fungicidal spray like copper. Wait, you don't get fungus in California...never mind (I forget that all places are not cursed with the same levels of humidity as FL).

 

[luxygirl]

Would whiteflies possibly be a culprit for the curled leaves? I have a whitefly problem on another plant... I don't see them in the citrus but I imagine they do like to fly...

Also, for the whiteflies, I have an insecticide soap, would this work (or is it the same thing?) for the bugs?

I'll move it back in the sun! Thanks!

 

[LightningLoader]

Don't know that white flys are too harmful to citrus, but I can't think of anything that they help. You need more than just an insecticidal soap for the curly leaves though. The oil spray will stick to the leaves and protect them from pests and diseases much better than a plain insecticide.

 

[LightningLoader]

is this what it looks like

Do your leaves have little trails going through them like in this picture. This is leaf miner damage, and it makes the leaves curl up.