How can I treat yellowing leaves on my lemon tree?

[Gregory20]

How can I treat yellowing leaves on my lemon tree?

Community manager's note: Check out How to diagnose a sick plant for expert advice.

[Jason]

Hi @Gregory20,

Welcome to the community. We trust you'll get loads of helpful information, advice and inspiration for all your projects around the house and garden from our amazing members. 

Can I please firstly direct you to the excellent D.I.Y. Advice article on the Bunnings website - How to grow and care for a lemon tree

I also suggest you share a photo of your tree and please describe it's conditions. Is it in a pot or in the ground? Does it get regular water? And when was the last time it got a feed? Any other changes the plant has experienced recently would really help our members to identify the problem and suggest a specific remedy.

Many thanks,

Jason

[dirtygardener]

Hi Gregory

Yellowing leaves generally mean a nutrient deficiency.

Depending on the type of yellowing it could be a nitrogen or other trace element deficiency such as magnesium or zinc.

I would feed the tree with a good citrus fertiliser that includes trace elements. There are several options at Bunnings.

Make sure you water in any fertiliser well and give the tree another feed every couple of months.

I keep a compost bin next to my lemon tree and I never empty it. I just keep adding to it and the worms feed it to the tree at the bottom. Lazy on my part but the tree is bountiful.

Good luck!

The Dirty Gardener

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gregory20.

It's great to see you have received a comprehensive reply to your question by @dirtygardener.

If you were looking for suggestions for the feed I can recommend Richgro 5kg Black Marvel Premium Fruit And Citrus Food or Yates 500ml Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food as a direct fertiliser which will get the nutrients where they are needed now. For sustained growth and health, you can use Osmocote 500g Fruit Citrus Trees And Shrubs Fertiliser or if you wanted an organic option Osmocote Plus Organics 3.5kg Fruit And Citrus Fertiliser. Both of these products are slow-release and feed for up to six months.

If you need further information about these products or had other questions, please let me know.

Mitchell

[laidbackdood]

Yellowing Leaves can also be caused from cold damp mixes.....esp in winter ...lemons quite often go yellow then because they feel like it !........they need to stay on the dry side through winter and an occasional foliar feed with seaweed will provide them with the nutrients they need.....feed once a month as well but you dont want to encourage growth in winter.......I have noticed this a lot when the mix is staying too wet but they go yellow when their life cycle ends as well......typically 2 to 3 years is a leaf span i believe.......then they go completely yellow as the tree sucks back what nutrients it has left in its leaves.....spring time is the key....mid august feed with good nitrogen and new growth should be good......Id suggest troforte Fruit and citrus....around the outside....Its the best out there.