September Questions and Answers

Q. I have a Meyer’s lemon tree that recently lost all of its leaves. I planted it a year ago and it seemed to do really well. I had just fed it with citrus food and put redwood compost around. Not soon after, all the leaves turned yellow and dropped off. There are a multitude of buds and small lemons forming, but only a few leaves left. Help! Please save my beautiful lemon tree.

A. Unfortunately, you’ve damaged your lemon tree with too much kindness – specifically in the form of over-fertilizing. The good news is that you haven’t killed your Meyer lemon, evidenced by the fact your tree still has buds and small lemons forming. It’s my guess that your tree will soon have new leaves sprouting, too. There’s really nothing you can do at this point, but wait and see. This brings up a good point about fertilizing. Be especially careful that you don’t overfertilize. I often use half the amount that the package calls for just in case. I also fertilize more often than most, but do so at half the recommended rate to prevent the chance of overfertilizing. One must also be especially careful when fertilizing during hot weather.

Q. My husband and I have had two kiwi plants in our backyard for the past 10 years. The plants are doing fantastic and are providing much shade, but have never yielded any fruit. How can one identify the gender of these plants? We assume that we either have two females or two males.

A. Congratulations! I’ve never had a question about kiwi (Actinidia) before. Your are definitely on the right track as usually kiwi plants need both a male and female plant in order to bear fruit. You probably have two female plants, which is why you’re not getting any fruit. The only information my research has found is that male plants have more colorful variegation in their leaves. I’m assuming that if your kiwi plants do not have variegated colored leaves, they both must be female plants. You need to buy a male kiwi plant. One male plant will pollinate at least eight female plants. There is one type of self-fertile kiwi variety called Issai. The only other thing I know about kiwi vines is that they are very vigorous and need very sturdy supports (like 4 by 4’s), and special pruning to train them on those supports. Since your plants are providing a lot of shade, it sounds like you’ve done a good job of supporting them. Good luck.

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