I've noticed the leaves on my lime tree are starting to curl. It's in a spot that gets afternoon sun and its been hot in the past week so that could be it, but its next to a lemon tree which is fine. Anyone got any suggestions for a remedy?
@AndreaNg
Can I please ask whether the tree is in the ground or in a pot? And have you noticed any pests on it?
Jason
The leaves look pretty green and healthy so it probably just needs more regular watering. It doesn't look like citrus leaf miner - a moth that lays eggs in the leaves. The leaves would be more deformed.
It's in a pot and I dont think anything is eating it. Will see how dry the soil is, perhaps I haven't been watering often enough.
This is almost exactly what mine are doing...they are in huge pots...and we have had good rain, and the soil is slightly damp but not wet. It has been hot though....they are covered in fruit, so was wondering if that could be why the leaves are sacrificing themselves? No leaf drop yet though.
Glad to hear you are getting plenty of fruit @LynnieB. Your trees must be healthy. Let me tag one of our expert horticulturalist in @Noelle who might like to offer some suggestions about the cause and remedy of your curling leaves.
If you'd like to share a photo and let us know your location, it might assist Noelle in providing more specific and useful advice.
Thanks for joining in the discussion. We are pleased to have you join the Workshop community. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand with anything around the house and garden.
Hi @LynnieB
If citrus trees are otherwise healthy, with green foliage, flowers and plenty of fruit ripening, then the most common cause of leaf curl is lack of moisture. While you may be watering periodically when it hasn't rained and the potting mix may feel moist, the trees are not getting sufficient moisture to continue maturing the fruit while maintaining their vigour.
During hot weather, potting mix even in large pots will become quite warm and this too inhibits moisture uptake and increases evaporation from the potting mix. The heat of the sun will also evaporate moisture from the leaves faster than the roots can take it up and circulate it through the plant.
Over summer it is essential to water deeply every couple of days, ensuring the excess moisture can flow freely out through the drainage holes in your containers so the plants don't suffer from 'wet feet'. Regular soaking not only keeps the potting mix moist but also cools it.
While citrus generally t\love heat, when grown in pots rather than the soil, they may benefit from a shade cloth cover on extremely hot and/or windy days, just to reduce transpiration (moisture loss via the leaves).
Have a look at your growing conditions and watering regime - get both right and you will minimise leaf curl.
Great advice. Many thanks for sharing your expertise with us @Noelle. Much appreciated.
I am feeling very relieved to hear this advice Noelle. I actually decided to give them a big drink and discovered that they picked up beautifully....You have hit the nail on the head. Thank you very much.
I found that deep soaking them causes rootrot (sometimes called footrot) and massive leafdrop when they're in containers, yes, even terracotta ones.
I lost 6 kaffir limes, 2 persian and 1 key lime from this problem.
Granted, most of them were grafted on an alemow graft which is quite sensitive to soil that is compacted, it prefers aerated soil but watering deeply causes the air pockets to compact and the plant will wither and die soon after.
Even on persian lime cuttings it gets very tricky, I just got a new cutting that I was told to water once every 10 days during colder periods because the soil in the plastic container had to be dried out mostly or otherwise the plant would get root rot too, this cutting has had leaf curl like in the picture from the OP for 2 months now, watering it a little sooner already caused it to drop 3 leaves a few days later.
Welcome to the Workshop community @incubator01. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for contributing to the discussion.
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with potted citrus, and I trust our helpful members will have some brilliant advice for you.
What are you using to cover the drainage holes in your pots? I find some screen with coarse gravel or a broken brick layer on top works well for mine. I use a dedicated citrus mix like Scotts Osmocote 25L Citrus & Fruit Premium Potting Mix or a mid-range potting mix. These are an open mix which is free draining, and luckily enough, I haven't experienced ill effects from them compacting. Currently, I have an orange that I deep soak regularly planted in a three-year-old mix which has heavily compacted. The pot appears to drain adequately, and the plant isn't showing signs of leaf curl. I would encourage the use of an open potting mix and adequate drainage on any potted plant which receives regular deep soakings.
You might also like to take advantage of our perfect plant promise. All our plants are guaranteed for 12 months, so if you’re not 100% happy, return your plant (with receipt), and we’ll refund it.
We look forward to hearing about the projects around your house and garden and would encourage you to let us know if you ever need help or would like to share them with us. I trust you'll find loads of inspiration within the community as our creative members are sharing their projects here every day.
Mitchell
On the bottom of my terracota pots I put coarse rocks, medium sized, not gravel, because I had those laying around. This is because the hole in the center is quite large for gravel and I cannot drill extra holes in the bottom because the pot would crack.
In plastic containers I also put rocks but the moist was really sticking in there, not good.
The current plants I have left are a grafted kaffir lime and persian lime cutting, still young and awaiting to be repotted in a bigger container but they're also not doing great either (droopy leaves, from watering once every 10 days just like the grower ordered me to, as well as watering only little bits as he's concerned I'm watering too much)
As for soil I literally used a ton of different types, hence I killed so many plants 🙁
I started with regular universal potting soil, then bought citrus potting soil, then was told by others that store bough citrus soil was not a good choice and retains moisture too much, then I made a mix of equal parts of compost and white sand, (mind you I was following a guide, I didn't make this up!) and that retained moisture forever even in the blistering sun :s
Then I tried out equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and coco peat mixed with some bacteria to promote life, this type of soil only works well on my yucca plant, it killed everything else, even lemongrass.
Then I tried the 5-1-1 mix of pine bark, perlite and potting soil, drained well but it also killed the limes with the alemow graft.
The last 2 plants that still need to be repotted are in a Mediterranean mix, with some expanded clay in it, at least they're not dead yet but lost some leaves. Grower specifically instructed to use this mix instead of everything else i tried before.
I also "had" 8 lemon seedlings, 6 kaffir lime seedlings, 3 limequat seedlings, I was unfortunate to have planted them before autumn and they ...stopped growing, rendering most too weak and they turned brown and died. only a handfull are left, should resume growing soon.
Attached is an image of the 2 plants , though this picture is not up to date but still shows enough. The kaffir lime is lucky to still look healthy except it lost a few leaves now and the persian lime's leaves have been hanging like that for 2 months, a few have dropped too.
Yes I put it on a heating mat to make sure the soil in the bottom on the platic container doesn't stay too moist too long and the grow light was ordered from a gardening shop, so not aliexpress 😉
@incubator01,
I'd be interested to know what those squiggly lines are on the leaves and perhaps @Noelle could tell us as she's a qualified horticulturist. My first thought is Leaf Miner but only because of the tracking. However, I would have thought that is unlikely indoors.
Although it is not a budget grow light, do you think you could place shiny aluminium foil around the base of the plants? This would help collect the lost light and redirecting it back to the plants.
I'm interested in following along with your progress, and you might light to start your own discussion at some stage so others can learn from your experience.
Many thanks for sharing, and I look forward to what you will contribute to the community.
Those tracks were from a foliar spray and later on from a spray against aphids, back then I spotted a very few small black aphids and I removed the ones I could see and sprayed with a mixture of brown soap, garlic and neem oil to counter everything what's left on the plant that I could not see.
By now the tracks are gone.
However the Kaffir lime is still losing 2 leaves / day for unknown reason, soil moisture level is medium/low atm which is normal given the watering date and I see no withering or browning of branches, so I'm puzzled to the cause.
My only concern is drafts. The windows nearby (and I'm sorry to say this is the only location I can place it right now) doesn't lock properly, we're waiting for the technicians to replace the lock but in the meantime there's a draft coming in for a long time now, maybe that's what is bothering them?
Is the Kaffir lime still in a tiny starter pot similar to the ones pictured? The smaller the pot, the harder it is to regulate moisture. It would be almost a constant battle of watering and checking to see when it needs hydration again. I'd recommend potting up into at least a 25cm pot.
I suspect that the drafts aren't the issue, and this is a case of having to micro-manage a plant in a small pot under artificial lights. I'd be fairly confident that if you placed it outside in sunlight in a larger pot with a quality mix and some citrus fertiliser, it would do much better. This might not be an option for you, but as you have experienced, it can be quite challenging to grow citrus indoors.
Yes, it is indeed in the starter pot, but repotting it right now would probably be a death sentence, I was specifically instructed to do so in february,
and yes I was planning on putting them in a terracotta container of such size with the Mediterranean mix and a good citrus fertilizer with an NPK of 16-7-15 (slow release)
I just hope they hold out until then.
