Question
I have had this Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree for about 5 months.  I put it in a 12" clay pot with organic Vortex "Ladybug" potting soil which is produced locally.  I live near Austin, TX.  The plant is on the front porch which faces east, and it gets a lot of sun during the day. I water it deeply every 7-8 days, checking to see that the soil was almost completely dry before watering again.   About two months after getting it I decided to add a Lutz "Perfect Spike" to fertilize it and it got more leaves and it started to bloom.  This was in late November which seemed too early for it to be blooming.  All the blooms have dropped off now, and there are many little buds that remain.  I guess these will turn into lemons if it makes it that far??  At the moment, however, what leaves are remaining are curled and have dead, brown tips, except for two new leaves towards the bottom, once of which is beginning to look a little sickly.  There are very tiny black bugs that travel up the tree.  They aren't flying insects...kinda look like sugar ants, but not.  Other than these little insects, I don't see any webs, spiders, aphids, mold.... anything.  The little tree just doesn't look healthy any more.  What do I do?  I love this little plant!

Answer
Hi Jerry,  I water my dwarf meyer everyday in pots, it actually has green moss growing on the soil.  I never heard of Lutz spike, but it is like other spikes they are not worth you spending money on them.  Get a good organic slow release fertilizer.  I use Florikan, for almost 20 years at my nursery, one of their products is dynamite which is sold at most box stores like Home Depot.  Nursery's sell their even better product.  Sounds like you do have lemons on your tree.  The curly leaves are from a moth that lays eggs on the leaves when it is hot and then if you look under the leaf it will look like railroad tracks.  As she lays eggs every 7 days it is impossible to stop unless you kept cutting off the new growth or did not fertilize during the hot months which produces the new leaves they love to curl on you.  I use Pure Neem Oil from Dyan Gro for almost all insect problems.  It is also  fungicide and a miticide.  Also another important thing is if your plant is not draining on the ground and is sitting in a container you must remove the water after 15 minutes of water sitting in the basin.  kathy