Lime tree is maybe too moist???

daveg

I have a dwarf lime tree in a 25 gal pot using hydroton as media. It is on the same schedule as one of my GBs which is ebb/flow, 15 minutes on every 60 minutes.
The top foliage has brown broken spots on some of the leaves. I have been using a liquid seaweed spray for fertalizing. I know this plant requires infrequent watering in conventional soil.
I am thinking of using another pump and watering it far less frequently. I also have a small moringa oleifera tree which is in soil not an AP system. I might move them both.

Ronmaggi

Perhaps make the drain hole at the bottom of your stand pipe larger to reduce the ammount of time the water is in the GB. My lime and morenga are in the same grow bed with an Affnan siphon, and both are doing great. Then again, I also am using a half blue barrel, so my GB depth is deeper. Lime trees like wet toes, but not wet ankles.

BullwinkleII

How long has it been in the system?

We just bought a lime tree, and it says on the instructions that...

1. The leaves go yellow if there is too much water.

2. The leaves go yellow if there is not enough water.

I realise that's not helpful or anything

But yours looks pretty healthy to me. A lot of instructions for plant growth are for optimum growing conditions, but I grew a stack of capsicum over winter this year in anything but optimum conditions. Probably just 20% less than I might have if things were "just right".

With things like herbs and lemon grass etc, I've always found that there is plenty enough for a domestic kitchen, even when it's grown in less than idea conditions.

For example, I suspect the ideal conditions for rosemary is a K-mart carpark, but mine goes crazy in my aquaponics system.Those are two very different environments, but it does just fine in both. I'm pretty sure the instructions for rosemary say not to over water it. It's a hardy, can-do kind of plant, but mine is in a constant flood growbed.

If it hasn't been there for long, I would leave it and see if it settles down.

I think TCLynx's system has trees, so it might be worth a read.

But keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about. I've never grown a tree in aquaponics. It's just that everything else seems to do just fine.

daveg

Maybe this pic will help...

Ronmaggi

I'm not sure that is anything to worry about. I have bought trees in worse condition than that. It might just be the end of life for those particular leaves. Was the transplant recent? If so, it could just be from the stress of that. Trim off the bad leaves so they aren't draining resources from the tree. Then you will only be looking at pretty green leaves.

daveg

Ronmaggi wrote:

I'm not sure that is anything to worry about. I have bought trees in worse condition than that. It might just be the end of life for those particular leaves. Was the transplant recent? If so, it could just be from the stress of that. Trim off the bad leaves so they aren't draining resources from the tree. Then you will only be looking at pretty green leaves.

Thanks Ron. Yes it ws planted pretty recently. I will take your advice and trim the brown stuff off.

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