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Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree

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On 5/16/2024 6:47 PM, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> songbird <songbird@anthive.com> wrote:
>>
>>   i'm wondering if providing a source of water a bit away
>> from and perhaps even on the complete opposite side of the
>> yard may decoy some animals from that tree or area, but
>> that is an aside.
>>
> 
> There is in fact a "squirrel bath" not far away in the front
> yard. I added it after finding chew damage on driplines in the
> front yard. Never saw the culprit and assumed it was a squirrel
> seeking water. After the bath went in (filled by a drip emitter
> supplied by the shrub irrigation valve) the problem largely went
> away. The attack on the lemon tree came "out of left field" several
> years later. It's clearly a rat, so maybe I was mistaken in blaming
> squirrels for the initial problem. 
> 
> 
> Now that I've painted the lemon bark white it's very easy to 
> see new damage. So far, only one small (half-inch) divot has
> been chewed. Rather as if a sample was taken, and not liked.
> 
> The lemon tree is showing baffling resistance to damage. New buds
> and leaves are appearing in a few cases where I'm fairly sure there's
> a complete break in the bark between growth and roots. The last couple
> of days touched 90F, I'd expect what's going to live vs die to become
> clear fairly soon.  
> 
> Earlier in the spring some adventitious growth appeared on the lower
> trunk, which I didn't want and removed. Now more would be good, and none
> has appeared. That's worrisome.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> bob prohaska
> 

Yes, sometimes citrus can recover from serious damage.

I have a dwarf lemon and a dwarf kumquat in very large flower pots.
They are irrigated by drip emitters tied into my automatic (clock
driven) garden sprinklers.  Several years ago, we had a very wet winter;
so I shut off the sprinkler system.  Then we had a short period of
frost.  While the garden soil remained quite moist, the potting mix for
my citrus apparently got dry, which resulted in frost damage to both
trees (but strangely not to the potted orange).  The lemon and kumquat
both lost ALL of their leaves.  I thought they were dead.

When the owner of the tree service I use came to determine the cost of
pruning my ash, oak, and zelkova, I showed him the lemon and kumquat.
He showed me that a little scratch on the bark indicated the branches
were still green and alive.

The kumquat recovered completely and continued to give me good crops of
fruit.  The lemon recovered, but some major limbs have long stretches of
dead bark with the live bark only halfway around.  I recently picked
over a dozen lemons, from which I got over a quart of lemon juice.

-- 
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean, see
<http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html>
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

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Thread

Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-04-30 02:42 +0000
  Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree "David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2024-04-29 21:05 -0700
    Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-15 02:14 +0000
      Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2024-05-15 06:56 -0400
        Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-17 01:47 +0000
          Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree "David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2024-05-16 21:52 -0700
          Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree "cshenk" <cshenk@virginia-beach.net> - 2024-05-18 14:38 +0000
            Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-18 20:24 +0000
  Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2024-04-30 15:51 -0400
    Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-27 16:21 +0000
      Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> - 2024-05-27 14:53 -0400
        Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-27 20:15 +0000
          Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> - 2024-05-27 16:51 -0400
            Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-27 22:00 +0000
              Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> - 2024-05-28 08:43 -0400
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> - 2024-05-28 09:01 -0400
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-28 18:08 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> - 2024-05-28 14:53 -0400
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-28 23:56 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-05-30 17:10 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-06-15 18:38 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2024-06-15 17:01 -0400
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree "cshenk" <cshenk@virginia-beach.net> - 2024-06-16 16:18 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-06-17 01:36 +0000
                Re: Recovering a bark-damaged lemon tree "cshenk" <cshenk@virginia-beach.net> - 2024-06-17 17:41 +0000

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