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Persian Lime Tree losing leaves and bark problems

#1 · 26th January 2023, 10:37 am

Hello everyone,

I am quite new to gardening and looking after plants so trying to learn and keep my plants thriving. I bought a Persian Lime tree and i noticed it's struggling with the cold. Bought a lamp to help with light and warms which stopped the leaves falling. Now I noticed that above the root on the tree there is some sort of crack unsure if it was there before. I have added a picture unsure if this is normal or what it would be.Any help would be appreciated!

#2 · 26th January 2023, 4:54 pm

Hello Luisa MB,

I don’t know too much about diseases on trees, but I did have a search online and the nearest thing I found was a disease called “Armillaria Root Rot” images I found looked very similar to those on your tree, I could be totally wrong and most possibly are wrong, I hope that Lee can pick up on your post, my other suggestion is to ask at the garden centre or nursery from where your purchase was made, should you come across the answer please let the forum know, it may help others.

Bob

#3 · 29th January 2023, 3:23 pm

Hi @luiza-mb

Thanks for your question and the helpful reply by @bob

The advice I'd give is to look at the conditions a Lime or any Citrus tree would need. As these are hot climate plants they need both full sun and warm temperatures to thrive and fruit. However, they do need some form of dormancy when in the wild they would slow down and recover from summer fruiting.

The lamp sounds like a good idea if its been a bit lacking in sun and heat but do not expect the citrus tree to be constantly fruiting or growing loads of leaves during the winter months. It will need time to recover.

For any citrus tree, it will need a good plant liquid feed through the winter ready for next year. This should help keep it fighting fit.

Citrus tree stem issues:

I think Bob's research is spot on. It looks like as a young plant this citrus tree got some form of infection and it's grown past that. It doesn't look new I'd suspect it's always been there but your new focus has alerted it to you. As long as the tree wound isn't leaking or seeping I wouldn't worry. It looks like it's sealed.

Follow my citrus tree feeding advice above and you should be ok!

Let us know how you get on!

Lee