Lemon Tree leaf drop

[Laughton]

We have a lemon tree in a terracotta pot that's a few years old now. Last summer it produced 4 promising looking lemons that are still attached but still green. In the autumn we brought it inside to hopefully avoid the worst of the weather over the winter and it sits in our unheated porch. It seemed to be doing pretty well up until about the beginning of December when leaves started falling. I watered it a bit but that seemed to make the leaf fall worse so I stopped watering it which didn't help. So then I watered it but now we have very few leaves although the lemons are still hanging on. Some of the very small lemons are wrinkled and very unhappy looking.

Googling seems come up with "don't overwater"/"don't underwater" advice but even a water when it was dry seems to trigger leaf drop.

Does anyone know the real secret to a happy and healthy lemon tree?

[Nimrod103]

I have two lemon trees, now both about 1.2m high, which I bring into my unheated conservatory during the winter. They are doing reasonably well, though last winter they were attacked by red spider mites which yellowed a lot of the leaves. I am combatting that this winter by occasional sprays of moisture, as supposedly mites don't like that, and so far so good.

Dropping leaves is quite usual from what I have seen, especially if they are yellow, though dropping too many is a worry. I would agree not too wet and not too dry, and they definitely prefer rainwater. I believe they really benefit from a being well fertilized.

They should tolerate temperatures down to 0 degrees without too much problem, though keep them dry then. My conservatory is very sunny in Winter and maybe that helps, the temperature never drops below 4 degrees.

[Breelander]

All citrus trees are prone to leaf drop if you bring them into a heated room for the winter. The air is too warm and dry, citrus require cool conditions over winter. Regular spraying with a mister can help.

The good news is that they should burst out into leaf from new buds in the spring.

It is vital to use rainwater, tap water can too hard. Hard water can prevent the take up of iron and cause yellowing of the leaves. Citrus respond best to allowing the pot to get quite dry then give it a good soak. But only enough to thoroughly wet the soil, do not leave them standing in a tray of water or you may cause root rot.

More here:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/citrus/grow-your-own

[Breelander]

You may also find useful tips on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=20318

[servodude]

Here's some folk knowledge from places where lemon trees are common
https://vegderful.com/human-urine-for-lemon-trees/
turns out it does help - but probably not to the extent that the kids go on about it when they find out

[Nimrod103]

You may also find useful tips on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=20318

I had completely forgotten about that thread. Thanks for reminding me.
I have rather neglected the lemons during the last year (been thinking more about keeping zonal pelargonium going over winter). The lemons are growing well enough, but not so many fruits as my photo on that thread shows. I probably have not been feeding them enough.

[Laughton]

Many thanks to all.

Some good tips there which I am going to take on board and hope I can get the tree through to the summer when I'm sure it will pick up when moved outside.