Share
I've noticed the leaves on my lime tree are starting to curl. It's in a spot that gets afternoon sun and its been hot in the past week so that could be it, but its next to a lemon tree which is fine. Anyone got any suggestions for a remedy?
Welcome to the Workshop community @incubator01. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for contributing to the discussion.
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with potted citrus, and I trust our helpful members will have some brilliant advice for you.
What are you using to cover the drainage holes in your pots? I find some screen with coarse gravel or a broken brick layer on top works well for mine. I use a dedicated citrus mix like Scotts Osmocote 25L Citrus & Fruit Premium Potting Mix or a mid-range potting mix. These are an open mix which is free draining, and luckily enough, I haven't experienced ill effects from them compacting. Currently, I have an orange that I deep soak regularly planted in a three-year-old mix which has heavily compacted. The pot appears to drain adequately, and the plant isn't showing signs of leaf curl. I would encourage the use of an open potting mix and adequate drainage on any potted plant which receives regular deep soakings.
You might also like to take advantage of our perfect plant promise. All our plants are guaranteed for 12 months, so if you’re not 100% happy, return your plant (with receipt), and we’ll refund it.
We look forward to hearing about the projects around your house and garden and would encourage you to let us know if you ever need help or would like to share them with us. I trust you'll find loads of inspiration within the community as our creative members are sharing their projects here every day.
Mitchell
On the bottom of my terracota pots I put coarse rocks, medium sized, not gravel, because I had those laying around. This is because the hole in the center is quite large for gravel and I cannot drill extra holes in the bottom because the pot would crack.
In plastic containers I also put rocks but the moist was really sticking in there, not good.
The current plants I have left are a grafted kaffir lime and persian lime cutting, still young and awaiting to be repotted in a bigger container but they're also not doing great either (droopy leaves, from watering once every 10 days just like the grower ordered me to, as well as watering only little bits as he's concerned I'm watering too much)
As for soil I literally used a ton of different types, hence I killed so many plants 
I started with regular universal potting soil, then bought citrus potting soil, then was told by others that store bough citrus soil was not a good choice and retains moisture too much, then I made a mix of equal parts of compost and white sand, (mind you I was following a guide, I didn't make this up!) and that retained moisture forever even in the blistering sun :s
Then I tried out equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and coco peat mixed with some bacteria to promote life, this type of soil only works well on my yucca plant, it killed everything else, even lemongrass.
Then I tried the 5-1-1 mix of pine bark, perlite and potting soil, drained well but it also killed the limes with the alemow graft.
The last 2 plants that still need to be repotted are in a Mediterranean mix, with some expanded clay in it, at least they're not dead yet but lost some leaves. Grower specifically instructed to use this mix instead of everything else i tried before.
I also "had" 8 lemon seedlings, 6 kaffir lime seedlings, 3 limequat seedlings, I was unfortunate to have planted them before autumn and they ...stopped growing, rendering most too weak and they turned brown and died. only a handfull are left, should resume growing soon.
Attached is an image of the 2 plants , though this picture is not up to date but still shows enough. The kaffir lime is lucky to still look healthy except it lost a few leaves now and the persian lime's leaves have been hanging like that for 2 months, a few have dropped too.
Yes I put it on a heating mat to make sure the soil in the bottom on the platic container doesn't stay too moist too long and the grow light was ordered from a gardening shop, so not aliexpress 
I'd be interested to know what those squiggly lines are on the leaves and perhaps @Noelle could tell us as she's a qualified horticulturist. My first thought is Leaf Miner but only because of the tracking. However, I would have thought that is unlikely indoors.
Although it is not a budget grow light, do you think you could place shiny aluminium foil around the base of the plants? This would help collect the lost light and redirecting it back to the plants.
I'm interested in following along with your progress, and you might light to start your own discussion at some stage so others can learn from your experience.
Many thanks for sharing, and I look forward to what you will contribute to the community.
Mitchell
Is the Kaffir lime still in a tiny starter pot similar to the ones pictured? The smaller the pot, the harder it is to regulate moisture. It would be almost a constant battle of watering and checking to see when it needs hydration again. I'd recommend potting up into at least a 25cm pot.
I suspect that the drafts aren't the issue, and this is a case of having to micro-manage a plant in a small pot under artificial lights. I'd be fairly confident that if you placed it outside in sunlight in a larger pot with a quality mix and some citrus fertiliser, it would do much better. This might not be an option for you, but as you have experienced, it can be quite challenging to grow citrus indoors.
Mitchell
You might also like
