is my orange tree going to die?

Question

I have a potted orange tree that’s almost three years old and it’s about a foot and a half high. I started this tree from seed and planted it in miracle grow soil. I repotted it only once. I live in northern Vermont and the tree lives indoors. I water it weekly and right now it’s living next to spider plants. It was doing fine until now. The problem with this tree is that it is starting to discard the new leaves that grow at its ends. Then I also noticed orange crystals growing on the branches of my orange tree where the new leaves fall off. Does this orange tree have a disease?

Answer 1

Congratulations on growing an orange tree in such difficult circumstances! If I were you I would visit a good nursery and ask for advice. Orange trees generally need full sun and infrequent but deep watering; of course pot culture is a little different. By the way, most commercially grown oranges are grown from grafted stock; a tree that produces good fruit grafted onto a rootstock from a variety with better roots. If you got your seed from a fruit, it may not have the best roots... I am impressed with your success this far.

Answer 2

Sad. I hate when that happens.

Get it away from the spider plants. Clean the roots, keep them wet. Repot it in sterile soil, keep moist, but not drenched. Make sure it gets your best sun!

I give it a 25% chance to survive.