Yellowing and Green Veins

[brokenarrow1970]

Just discovered today my indoor lemon tree which are seedlings are yellowing and have green veins. Zinc, Magnesium Deficiency? I recently had a fungus fly problem but ridded them by putting a small layer of beach sand on top of the soil. Could anyone tell me whats going on here?

Thanks Don

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum! Chlorosis is often caused by an iron deficiency, but it can also be a shortage of other minerals. My lime trees often get this after being indoors for a long time, but it goes away as soon as I put them outside in spring, indicating that the shortage of light has something to do with it, as well. I try to fertilize my indoor plants with hydroponics solutions, as these have all of the minerals in them, instead of just the NPK.

[brokenarrow1970]

Hi Pepperhead212 thank you and thank you for your reply. This is my first time growing lemons, it all started after I bought a lemon and before I threw away the waste away, I said I wonder if these will grow. Sure enough they did and germinated rather quickly. I also bought a Meyer lemon tree from a florist and it is doing the same. I thought buying a grow light and having it on them 16 hrs a day and maintaining the humidity level between 60 and 80 percent would be good enough. I might have to upgrade my lights as I'm scared my trees might wilt and die. I do spray my trees down every week with a kelp fertilizer high in nitrogen and I just recently started bottom watering all my plants after a major fungus fly invasion and man they are hell. I also have a layer of beach sand down about a 1/4 in deep to prevent another invasion. I sure hope I am doing this right as I really want to grow these guys out.

[imafan26]

Citrus like a slightly acidic soil and need micros. I use citrus food on everything because they contain micros. They also need well drained soil and cannot stand sitting in water. Yellowing can also be a sign of too much water. Make sure you water well when you water but the plant does not stand in water and you don't need to water until the soil is dry, but before the leaves droop.

[brokenarrow1970]

Hi imafan26, Thanks for your reply. I use Miracle-Gro for Citrus, Cactus ect.. I will deep water every month and bottom water every week or so considering the humidity level. Every other day I will spray the plants with a fogger on the top leaves and bottom leaves using Alaska Pure Kelp Plant Food. My trees have not been outdoors since sprouting excluding my Meyer Lemon tree and they are in pots for their sizes. Now for being the newbie such as myself I believe there is a number I should be watching for Nitrogen and nutrients? The last two numbers have got to be half of the first? I have kind of an old number on my foiler fertilizer that says something like 0.13 - 0 - 0.60. I know that Kelp is excellent for citrus trees but what would you recommend for a foiler to spray the tree? Or should I be using a soil fertilizer? If using a soil fertilizer I am paranoid to remove the top beach sand, don't want them Gnats back lol. So far I have found this site very informative and I will be the typical question newbie lol

[ButterflyLady29]

To keep the fungus gnat numbers down hang some of those sticky traps near your plants. Once you have a gnat problem it is very difficult to get rid of them without harming your plants. I tried everything including reducing the water level in the soil. Some plants dried out so bad they died. I just put the sticky traps out in the plant area and had covered traps within a week. Safer brand whitefly sticky traps are the best ones I've used.