Question
Hi Kathy. We have a lemon tree our daughter grew from seeds. It's potted and now some 2.5 feet tall. We are in CT so it's indoors part of the year and outside in the warmer weather. Last fall the pot cracked and I had to transplant it into a much bigger pot. Used regular potting soil around the exsisting root ball and soil. Since then the plant has not done very well. Leaves are dry and fall off over the winter. No matter how much or less it's watered. The pot it's in a some 2' wide and 2.5' tall. Also there was a white ring in the pot base. I thought a mold from the water sitting in the catch pan the pot sits in. So I reduced the watering slightly and it seemed to go away. Recently all the leaves are turning a very light yellow color and are falling off. It's always been a healthy tree till the last potting. Every spring when it was re potted I'd apply a few apps of miracle grow and it's flourished. As far as the type of lemon tree it is I have no idea sorry. Our daughter planted it from lemon seeds from store bought lemons. It's also never grown any fruit yet. It about 7 years old from seedling to present. And it does have longish thorns if that's any help. The tree iteself still seems heathly. Just the leaves turning as decribed and falling off. I've asked around the local garden centers but no one seems to have an answer. Please advise anything that might be of help and any other info you might need. Also any info on pruning would be great and when it should be done.

Thanks for your time.

Answer
Hi Glenn...One thing I can say for sure is never let your citrus sit in a basin for longer than 15 minutes or your plant will rot, you must remove the left over water.   Saying that you may have saved it by watering it less, but that caused another problem, not enough water.  Yellow leaves means not enough water, or bugs.  You can spray for bugs just in case, look under the leaves to see if you can see any.  You can use an insecticidal spray or Pure Neem Oil that I recommend.  Remember when a plant is in a pot it dries from the outside in.  It is good to water near the base of the tree, but inbetween you can water around the outer part of the pot, as maybe only that part is in need of water and the inside can still be wet or damp.  As far as it fruiting it may take forever or maybe not at all.