Plant guide:🍋 Lemon Tree
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⚠ Minor🩺
Nutrients
Yellowing Leaves on Lemon Tree From Nutrient Deficiency
Commonly affects: Citrus limon (Lemon Tree)
Leaves yellow in various patterns — overall pale colour, yellowing between green veins, or yellow blotching — depending on the specific nutrient involved.
Potential Causes
- 1Nitrogen deficiency causing overall pale yellowing, particularly on older leaves
- 2Iron deficiency causing interveinal yellowing (green veins, yellow tissue between them), often linked to alkaline soil or container mix pH
- 3Magnesium deficiency causing yellow blotching often starting at leaf margins
- 4Citrus being naturally heavy feeders that deplete container soil relatively quickly
Solution Steps
- 1Feed regularly with a citrus-specific fertiliser formulated with the micronutrients citrus commonly needs
- 2Apply a chelated iron supplement if interveinal yellowing specifically is present, and check soil pH if it persists
- 3Apply Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) as a supplement if magnesium deficiency's characteristic pattern is present
- 4Refresh container potting mix periodically, since citrus depletes nutrients faster than many houseplants
Prevention Tip
Citrus-specific fertiliser, formulated with the micronutrients this plant family commonly lacks, resolves far more yellowing than a generic all-purpose feed.
