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I got different responses, often conflicting ones: It could have been from excess water as well as lack of water. While June drop may be associated with heat, even fruits which formed later in the fall dropped down in large numbers. Here are all the suggestions I was given, none has worked:

1- Lack of water

2- Excess water: I have tried a wide range of water supply.

3- Excess fruits - natural culling, so-to-speak. It should never end with five or six fruits remaining on the tree till maturity.

4- Hot weather: Even late fruits have fallen in large numbers.

5- Lack of nutrients - I have added humus & compost and supplemented with fruit trees fertilizer. I used slow-release pellets to avoid over-fertilizing.

6- Fruit fly: No maggots were observed inside the fruit.

The drop process is quite fast. The fruits are still green and may suddenly turn soft and partly yellow and drop overnight. I followed-up the process by keeping only the green fruits and watched how the ground is covered with fruit the next morning.

My climate is Mediterranen. It is zone 11, so I have no frost. Summers are hot. Main heat waves occur between July and August.

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  • I am assuming these are fortunella margarita? Can we get some pictures please. – Rob Dec 2 at 18:42
  • Yes, these are the Fortunellas. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the fruits. The foliage looks fine and without yellowing. I will remember to add photos at the next season. – Christmas Snow Dec 3 at 16:58
  • I'm not sure of the problem, but I can recommend a better solution for fertiliser rather than fruit tree use Palm Tree fertliser, sometimes called Palm Tree & Citrus Fertiliser. This fertiliser has extra micro-nutrients they both require, like higher amount of Magnesium, Iron and Boron. – GardenGems Dec 3 at 22:57
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Right so I hate to sound like an echo but the reasons you listed are the only reasons I can think of for why your tree is dropping it's fruit. The best I can do is prioritize them by likelihood:

  1. Lack of water
  2. Lack of nutrients
  3. Bugs
  4. Natural (tree has too much fruit)

The others are either under the umbrella of those first four or are not relevant. So, next season, I would plan on doing some testing. It sounds to me like you have multiple tree's. So I would plan on setting one of them up with a regulated (automated) supply of water and fertilizer. Prune it before next spring (fairly heavily) and give it some special tlc. Try your best to keep bugs off, since it's only one tree, this just means tending to it daily the old fashion way: manually. If this tree still ends up dropping fruit just like the others then I would be shocked tbh... and can't help you. Good luck!

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  • I will try this. Does it like sandy or heavy clay? What about other climatic nuances, like humidity and the need (or no need) of winter chill or frost? I have seen one at higher elevation (with frequent frost in winter) which holds an abundance of fruit without dropping. – Christmas Snow Dec 6 at 18:30
  • You are in the right zone. The margarita likes well draining soil. The tree is apparently known to be able to survive down to 17°F (-8°C) but it would rather live in a warmer climate like yours. It needs full sun and usually doesn't need to be pruned but in your case I think you should make an exception for testing purposes. – Rob Dec 6 at 20:24

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