Tahiti (Persian Lime) questions.

 

Hi - in the UK, I have a Tahiti (Persian) Lime in a pot on the kitchen
windowsill plenty of afternoon sun - It's in citrus soil ( well
draining mix) and is watered every 1-2 days, basically when the medium
feels dry. I am feeding with citrus fertilizer twice a month. Any idea
why leaves have been dropping recently and I'm not seeing any flowers
or fruit this year? This is the second year I've had the plant, and
I've had very little fruit at all so far. What might I be doing wrong?
Any ideas? Crossposted to rec.gardens.
Thanks for any ideas,
Mike

 

On 4 May 2005 09:40:17 -0700, mike.sendrove@gmail.com wrote:


Could you be over-fertilizing and building up too many mineral salts
in the soil?

You might try repotting it if you think that might be the problem. Be
sure and remove as much of the old soil as possible. I don't know how
sensitive a lime tree might be to water; but to save the over
fertilized house plants I rescue from my friends, I just put the whole
pot in a bucket of water and let it soak for several hours. It leeches
the worst of the mineral salts out.


Penelope

 

il 4 May 2005 09:40:17 -0700, mike.sendrove@gmail.com wrote:


I have a lime in a pot too but mine sits out on the porch as it is
far too big to sit on a windowsill. Check your plant doesn't need a
bigger pot. When you feed it, is it a liquid feed or grains?, cos
twice a month can be a lot. They also like about 50% humidity. Your
windowsill could be getting too hot. Aren't you in spring? Maybe
yours is still young?

Leaves yellow and drop because they are either too dry, too wet, too
much fertilizer, too little fertilzer, no iron (also affected by
cold), or no magnesium. Always a problem trying to work out which it
is, if not all. Good luck!

--
Cheers,
Loki               [ Brevity is the soul of wit.  W.Shakespeare ]

 

Thanks both for the suggestions. I'm fertilizing with a liquid feed,
the label on the bottle suggests twice a month in the growing season,
and once a month in the winter. I think I'll halve the amount in the
growing season and not fertilize at all in the winter, and see what
happens.
This weekend, I'll give the soil a real good soaking to try to get rid
of the built up salts. I'll report back here in a couple of weeks if
there's any change.
Loki - do you get much fruit? At the moment, I have 0 flowers.
Thanks again,
Mike

 

il 6 May 2005 09:07:32 -0700, mike.sendrove@gmail.com wrote:


The first time I put it in a bigger pot, shortly after buying it, it
had a million flowers. Most of which fell off as teeny fruit. But
each year it seems to be having more stay as it gets used to its
growing environment. Our winters always slow it down. Your plant is
possibly too young still. How big is it?

--
Cheers,
Loki               [ Brevity is the soul of wit.  W.Shakespeare ]