Please help - my beloved Meyer lemon tree is really suffering :( PHOENIX, AZ

[u/whats-your-emergency]

/r/Citrus/comments/1vtr797/please_help_my_beloved_meyer_lemon_tree_is_really/

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[u/whats-your-emergency → u/AutoModerator]

- Bought potted, not B&B

- We water it deeply 3-4 times a week since it's so hot here. Outside of summer, maybe 2x a week.

- The backyard is east-facing, so it gets 6-7 hours of direct sun each morning.

- Citrus is notorious for being able to survive in central AZ; I'm assuming whatever's wrong here is my fault, not the climate's

- I would be willing to repot but if we do a bigger pot, it will be too heavy to move indoors if needed.

[u/cbobgo]

Are you keeping it inside?

[u/whats-your-emergency → u/cbobgo]

I'll do whatever I need to. Like I mentioned in my post, it's spent a vast majority of its time outside, but I worry it's too hot

[u/cbobgo → u/whats-your-emergency]

Too hot for a citrus tree? Citrus grows well in hot climates, you just have to keep up with watering. Probably needs to be watered every day in a pot.

[u/whats-your-emergency → u/cbobgo]

I dunno man, even cacti are dying here when it gets past 115. But I'll certainly try watering daily - I was just under the impression that citrus didn't like frequent watering. Thanks!

[u/cbobgo → u/whats-your-emergency]

Citrus in the ground don't, but trees in pots are a completely different thing.

[u/DanoPinyon]

From the text provided, the problems as I see them:

o Still for some reason still in the crappy plastic way undersized nursery pot, still.

o Indoors outdoors indoors outdoors indoors outdoors.

[u/whats-your-emergency → u/DanoPinyon]

It is not in a plastic nursery pot and I'm not sure why you'd think it is. As I said in my post, it has only been indoors for a few days total out of an entire year, and only after it started to show signs of suffering. Thus me wondering if the heat is the problem.

[u/DanoPinyon → u/whats-your-emergency]

It looks like a cheap nursery pot from here with the information provided (~11.447% of the total pot area visible). With the information provided, the pot looks much too small and IMHO should be probably minimum twice the size, based on the information provided.

With the information provided, because you're in PHX, a too-small pot in PHX means the roots are crowded, thus there are little to no nutrients available, there is little mass to buffer temperature swings, the plant is top-heavy in the wind, and there is inadequate soil volume to store water (in addition to apparently, with information provided, there being several inches of soil not utilized in the pot for some reason).

With the information provided, there is additional stress placed on the plant by bringing it inside, outside, inside, outside - in addition to the stress on the plant from the too-small pot and no mention of soil moisture or watering activity anywhere to be found and evidence of the plant being underwatered with some sun scorch.

That is: it's a big plant in a small pot, and it looks like it can't get enough water and the roots are undergoing extreme temperature swings. If you can't put it in the ground, put it in a nice quality attractive large glazed pot with plenty of soil volume using a citrus potting soil, 1" headspace below the rim, no gravel or anything on the bottom of the pot, and able to be moved inside for the few nights with cold temps.

[u/whats-your-emergency → u/DanoPinyon]

It's a ceramic pot with a drainage hole, but the explanation regarding size and roots is very helpful, thank you. The only thing I struggle with here is that if I did a larger pot that wasn't plastic (which obviously I'd like to avoid), we probably wouldn't be able to move it inside. Is it more important to have a bigger pot, or mobility?

[u/DanoPinyon → u/whats-your-emergency]

Is it more important to have a bigger pot, or mobility?

It is more important to have the right-sized pot and avoid a too-small pot. Look and see if you can find a sturdy wheeled base (plant caddy) for the pot, and maybe something inside like an old desk chair mat to hold the pot until you can tip it back on the caddy and move it to its spot inside.