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So I was a really bad lemon tree mom and didn't take the best care of my lemon over winter time. I've given it a severe prune and when I scratch the bark back at the base, it is still green. Can someone give me any advice or help ease my bad feeling that there is hope!

Thank you! enter image description here

Ann Marie
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  • For as long as there's green in there, it will survive. Best to remove all dead wood (i see some at the very top) and keep it in a warm place next to a sunny window inside untill the weather heats up enough to bring it back outside. Dont overwater and dont fertilize. Not untill you start seeing new growth. – Hamid Sabir Mar 24 '20 at 17:49
  • Thank you Hamid! Would you suggest trimming all of those branches away completely? – Ann Marie Mar 24 '20 at 19:17
  • Only if they're dead. You can scratch the surface like you did at the base of the plant to check for any sign of life in those branches but you'd be able to tell dead branches apart even without having to scratch by their dark and dull appearance. The tree has been pruned hard enough already and shouldn't be cut down any more then necessary. – Hamid Sabir Mar 24 '20 at 21:39
  • Hi Hamid! Not much has really changed with my tree. Is there anything else that can be done? – Ann Marie Apr 04 '20 at 06:11
  • Has it been getting more die-back? The tree would take some time to recover from the hard pruning and severe frost damage so best to leave it alone. However, just to be on the safe side, there's one thing that you can do and thats inspect the roots. Try taking it out of the pot and check for root rot. If the roots appear brown and soft then those need to be cut off with a sterilized pair of scissors untill you reach a point where the roots are white and more firm in texture. Then repot it in fresh soil. Let me know how it goes.. – Hamid Sabir Apr 04 '20 at 12:08
  • Hey ! Thank you so much for your answer! I had repotted before I pruned it and gave it new soil. The roots weren't soft or looked like they had been rotting. I haven't given it any water since that day. I guess I'll just have to give it more time, like you said. – Ann Marie Apr 05 '20 at 07:47
  • and there really hasn't been anymore die back. It's been pretty unchanged – Ann Marie Apr 05 '20 at 07:54
  • Yeah, just needs time. The roots are fine and you mentioned that there's hasn't been any more die-back, well that's all good news to me. Btw, how's the soil like? Is it slightly dry or completely bone-dry? Im assuming it's totally dry since the last time you watered it was 2 weeks ago if im correct. – Hamid Sabir Apr 06 '20 at 00:05
  • Yes! It's pretty dry, I thought to give it some as this week the weather is pretty warm. What do you think? – Ann Marie Apr 06 '20 at 04:44
  • Yes, give it a good drink. I think it's about time cause it has been sitting in dry soil for a little over 2 weeks now. Wait untill the soil drys out again once you've watered and then let me know how things are. – Hamid Sabir Apr 06 '20 at 17:32
  • Also, make sure not to give it too much water since the tree has no leaves at the moment. Moist is about as much as you'd want the soil to be with this tree as opposed to wet. In order to do so, I'd advise taking the amount of water that you'd normally give it or have been giving it the past year or so and do half of that. – Hamid Sabir Apr 06 '20 at 17:44

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