I have a 10 yrs old citrus tree which is about 7ft tall. I have been bringing indoor every year when winter starts around December, and bringing outdoor about March or so. I live in Dallas, TX area. This year I have noticed excessive dead branches
There are several possible causes: too much water, not enough water, too little humidity, spider mites. However, the most likely cause of dead branches is treating citrus as a house plant, which it definitely is not.
I had a dwarf lemon in a large redwood tub. The tub was on a small platform with wheels. In the winter, I would roll the lemon into my garage at night when I got home from work and then roll it out onto the driveway when I left for work in the morning. It was kept outdoors during the daytime. During the night, it was NOT in my house (with heat and low humidity); it was in the unheated garage. The tree lived for some 35 years or more, well beyond the estimates given by several nurseries that dwarf citrus in containers live only 25-30 years.
Where I live now, the winters are slightly more mild. In the winter, I leave my dwarf citrus outside at night. See my .
I grow a lot of citrus as outdoor in summer, indoors in winter plantings. I am in northern NJ.
They tend not just to get spider mites in winter, but aphids and scale, too. Nevertheless, even with considerable leaf drop in winter, as I have experienced with some once in awhile, they usually make a full recovery when moved back outside.
An example is this very season...my two kefir limes have actually grown quite a bit since September and have had no leaf drop to speak of. These are in a northern exposure in a window are right over heat risers, where one might be concerned about temp and humidity. They love it there.
My Meyer lemon, though, has lost 2/3 of its leaves and has had to be hosed off and sprayed with Safer a few times to keep the aphids under control. It bloomed prolifically in December, though, and I still have a few lemons hanging on to the almost bare branches. This pot sits back from a southern exposure in a kitchen with enough humidity to be a good environment for orchids. And the grapefruit and blood orange are shiny leafed and happy in the kitchen. Go figure.
My attitude is one of "what the heck, let's try" with a lot of my unusual (for here) plants. I got an Arebiqua olive to bloom and fruit last year. That over winters in an unheated garage. I also have a sequoia and a Joshua tree that I over winter inside in the basement or garage or sometimes in the kitchen. Their weirdos are surprisingly resilient to the various conditions to which I have subjected them.
Did I tell you I am growing a pomegranate from a seed pulled out of a fruit a couple of years back? It's really happy spending summer outside and winter in the kitchen. It has just leafed out the past few weeks and it is looking mighty fine.
Boron
Thanks for interesting post. All I have is a kefir Lime which had scale last year but none so far this. I have a sequoia growing outside year round . Your others look like a research to do. We have a few bamboo begonias and a couple abulitions (Sp) flowering now . Outside it is 47 f last week it was - 5 f.
Bill... still the hellebores are coming on. But Late.
I've often wondered if I found a good, sheltered place, if I could grow it outside. I got the seedling in Amador County, CA some years ago. Yup have the advantage of a milder climate down there. How big is the sequoia?
Crazy weather that past few months.
Boron
About a ten year old tree that was purchased as a 5 foot tree. It grew to about 10 foot before the main leader died and it is now about 7 foot. Grows slow. ad a another one that was varagated but it died in
3 years. This growing in the back of the garden with just a bucket of water when I think of it.Bill
Indeed - very slow-growing. I will be able to keep it potted for a long, long time.
Boron
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