HelpfulGardener.com

When it rains it pours.

Two months ago, one of our two bountiful @3-4 year-old lemon trees mysteriously began to die due to what I was told to under-watering, and it would not respond to deep waterings once we began to notice the leaves wilting.

A tropical storm dumped heavy rains and high winds here on the Gulf Coast of Florida today, and the combination of winds and saturated earth left the second of our lemon trees laying on the ground. Oddly, the ground is bulging on the one side but yet the roots are not exposed; when I prop the tree back up while tamping the dirt around it with my feet, it slowly falls right back down again. (I should mention that the tree is 10' tall with about a 10' canopy, and it has perhaps 100 nearly ripe lemons on it.)

I read on a different website that a fallen tree with non-exposed roots is hopeless and should be removed, but it doesn't explain why. Anyone have experience with this? Should I try to stake the tree?

Thank you.

A quick pic of the lemon tree would be helpful- Before and after the fall.

It all depends on how badly damaged the roots are, and it also depends on where the tree was growing.

If the roots are still in a sort of "root-ball" shape, the tree may be able to survive. If, however, the roots are all over the place and some have been snapped, that may be a problem.

If the tree was growing in light, perhaps new soil, the tree may be alright. On the other hand, if the soil was rough and hard, that is bad.

But then again, I cannot be sure without an image. So please do post a couple up.

some of the roots have to still be attached or the top of the tree would be drying. Prop it up. and you may have to stake and guy wire the tree. If the soil has eroded around the base you may need to replace it but make sure you do not bury the trunk. I would use gravel or decorative rocks under the tree to stabilize the soil to keep it from eroding further. I will also act as a mulch. Citrus canopies are usually too dense to let much light through so not a lot of things will survive under it if the tree does stabilize.

As a follow-up, I pulled the tree back up into place and roped/guy-wired it for stability. A week in, it appears that all is well with no broken roots, as it still looks as full and healthy as ever.

Dodged a bullet on this one...