I want to apologise if this has been asked a lot already. I have browsed through the forum and read most of the other post about this same problem. I wanted to ask again for my self since I have read lots of different opinions about what's going on and what to do.
So I bought a meyers lemon tree in August ( 4 months ago). It can from a reputable garden center that had a lot of these tress. They said they came from Florida. I live in alaska btw. I was informed they had been sprayed and potted correctly. It came with a care taking guide sheet. And I was to bring it back in 18 months or so and they would re-pot the tree for free in a larger container.
I put it buy a south facing window that gets lots of light, full sun in afternoon during the summer months. It went into full bloom and was looking healthy. Watered it every 7 to 10 days, making sure to let it drip dry so there was no excess pool of water underneath. A month went by and it dropped all the flowers
I gave it some citrus fertilizer once a month sprinkling it on to and mixing it into the soil a little bit. By the second month I noticed white flys, presumably brought in from the mint plant growing next to it. I started to see mottled leaves ( spoted yellow). I sprayed with neem oil and would run a fan for a few hours a day. That seemed to fix the issue
By October we started to lose our daylight here. I hung a 40w led light above and ran it for 10 hours a day. The tree began to bloom again and I thought all was good. I went on vacation and my light timer quit for 3 days leaving it to natural daylight which was only about 7 hours at that time. When I got home the blooms looked great but the older leaves yellowed considerably. One by one they dropped. I noticed the pot was not drying out so I stopped watering it. Almost 3 weeks!
Finally all the leaves fell off. The blooms died. I watered the tree in panic although I can feel how heavy it was. The water ran right out the bottom so I thought it was fine.
Now the branches are turning brown. I have it on 12 hrs of light it gets about 6hrs of natural sun. I have not waterd in 2.5 weeks I pulled the tree from the pot and check the roots. Soil is moist enough to ball up but still light and fluffy.
- I am wondering what action I should take?
- Is it going dormant?
- Do I need to keep up with lighting? Any advice will help
Please see attached photos for current condition
-Ben
