The tree was a delayed ship because they send them out in fall which is supposed to be the preferred planting time.
The tree came in a long box, with the top 18" of the plant stem bent over inside the box (it broke in half at some point during the trip)
It had many leaves on it in the package, but as soon as I touched it - those leaves all came off it like a green snowfall. I assumed that it was sensitive to being moved, boxed up, cut back EXTREMELY as they do to ship them, and then was also likely very sensitive to temperature and humidity changes.
I set it into a large rubbermaid wash tub, the kind with rope handles. It was outdoors for about a month and began to show a plethora of new green leaf and branch growth, but we had a day already where it went down from our usual mid-eighty and above weather to down in the forties. So I brought 'Lime-San' indoors.
It held it's leaves for about 48 hours, and then the green snowfall happened again...
~You can see in this pic that the stems are very green and viable looking, even though denuded...
It does look viable, but I don't know how long it can go without green growth on it. I have it in a room that will eventually become an attached greenhouse, next to my driveway. *I also have 2 other citrus plants, an orange I started from a seed, and a Meyer Improved Lemon that is doing marvellously!
~Meyer Lemon-San, in it's new place (my livingroom)
I mist all three of my "Tree-San's" several times a day, it is a pleasureful and relaxing sort of ritual in my daily routine, I keep the spray bottle full for whenever I am passing by.
I take it that this is normal for these trees, and why the lime in particular was held until late in the year when it might be expected to drop leaves anyway. Do I have any real cause for concern?
If I keep this tree in the greenhouse room year round, would it help keep it from being affected like this anymore, or is it better to get it outside during the warm season and not baby it?
~Wolfie
