I planted this tree about 3 years ago. When we bought it at the markets, it was about 4 feet tall (now its over 10)- so it was developed and steady but with no fruit.
I keep supplying it with manure and epsom salt (with an occasional spoonful of brown sugar). Last year, it flowered well, but none of the flowers turned to fruit. This year, we see very little lemons but they keep dropping. This is a picture of the bunch of flowers and a itsy bitsy lemons :
https://imgur.com/a/7o58aM9
Cheers
Since I see a bunch of teeny lemons I am guessing pollination isn't an issue. But still, I can get on with a q-tip and help with some manual pollination.
teeny lemons doesnt necessarily mean it's been polinated
black leaf looks like it's using all energy to fight something growing on it. look at spraying for mealy bug ect
Sure, thanks.
Pee on the ground around it.
at last someone who knows the value of peeing everywhere around the yard
Pee will only provide urea, afaik. Urea isn't a problem atm as its leafing very well.
If you know so much, why did you bother posting asking for answers?
have you got sooty mold on the leaves? one of the leaves looks blackish
Thank you, I will check it out
Given your username, that lemon tree perhaps needs some lovin'.
Oh, only if my body parts could please my beloved tree. Sigh.
Is it grafted? Ungrafted trees grown from seed can take very, very long to fruit.
I have no idea. I bought it from the markets when it was fairly big. I am guessing it is grafted.
Look at the base. Can you see a join in the trunk where rootstock was grafted with the scion?
growing more than double height in 3 years sound like grafted one, seeded one doesn't grow as fast
some sort of gypsy curse is preventing it from fruiting.
Makes sure it doesn't have any wasps attaching itself to the lemon tree. I had them devastate my lemon tree which used to have fruit many lemons. Eventually the tree grew no more lemons and died.
Beware>>>>Citrus Gall Wasp. that's the piece of shit that devastated my tree. I wish I knew about it earlier. damn I miss lemons.
I would honestly just check youtube for this.
Probably somebody out there telling everybody their winning recipe right now as we speak so yeah youtube ftw unless you know how to google fu pro tip search "my lemon tree is doing perfect" or "how i successfully grew my lemon tree" or "lemon tree tips and tricks" or "how to grow a lemon tree" alternatively "how not to grow a lemon tree" and compare notes on that but yeah youtube is best because usually they have plenty of visual aide and tutorials etc and you got visual proof if it works or not from the video.
Agreed. Thank you
Check the soil PH. Prune it. Use proper fertiliser. Read up on lime sulphur as that may help. So many variables to take into account.
Good advice. I’m not sure why I see people recommending Epsom salts all the time compared to proper tailored fertilizers
The black thingy in the middle (stem) looks like sooty mould. Do you see ants around it?
My grapefruit tree was exactly in this condition. Infested with gall wasp and then this sooty mould was the final straw, it was also infested with bug scales.
Got rid of all the scales with pain and attempted to get rid of the black sooty (because it prevented sunlight from coming into the branch - photosynthesis thingy) by scraping it with knife. Bad mistake!
It soon shed leaves and eventually died and never recovered. I had to rip it off the ground and replaced with kafir lime.
So check any scales, check any gall wasp (put up the yellow trap thingy), I use the Yates Acticode (I used two brands but definitely this one works very well) monthly during this time of the year but once every 3 months during offpeak season.
I see no ants. But I will take closer look soon. Thank you for replying
I had the same ( almost) problem too with my lemon tree years ago. I went to my local Burnings Store where I got good advice from their staff. The staff recommended me some fertiliser, something called nitrates ( in pebbles ). Thereafter no looking back. I spread this fertiliser every year during the months of August or September without fail. It grows and flourishes well and bear numerous fruits even up to now .
thank you for replying.
My lime tree is not growing the fruit as well. They seem to keep dropping off after reaching the size in the picture. Would also like to know how to fruit our trees better. Ours is a 1 year old grafted lime tree though.
Here is a picture of it when it was flowering
you need to wait longer til the tree is bigger and stronger, then the fruit will stay on the tree… when its young the fruit will fall off very easily.
Here is a picture of it when it was flowering
To the right of the open flower the leaf curling up my Fig tree gets this. They roll up from the underside little black bugs with wings inside and the leaf starts to get brown blisters.
OP can you take a close up photo of root zone to show soil? At the moment, stop all fertilizing and epsom salt, there's a possibility you are overfertilizing. Use seaweed solution like seasol but half recommended strength, wet both leaves and soil AFTER each watering. Do this until you see improvement, usually after two weeks or so there should be new young leaves. You have bugs, suspected grasshoppers, possibly earwigs too. Seaweed will make you plant strong quickly and deter some bugs for a while, won't stop them though. How often do you water, for how long?
Manure is going to give it a lot of nitrogen. Which is great for foliage growth, but not when it comes time for fruit and flowers. You've probably given it too much of this fertilizer which is why your flowers are dropping with out developing fruit.
Test the soil pH (Bunnings has reusable kits, like 10 bucks or so) to rule that out.
Hit it with some Sulphate of Potash to help the nitrogen situation.
Stop feeding it so much nitrogen. Switch to a citrus specific fertilizer if you really feel like you need to do something.
Cutting the top to stop it growing would be a start and hand-pollinating the flowers with a paintbrush might help if it's not a self-pollinator.