My Kishu which was doing great got a bit of black sooty mold and was dropping leaves. I tried fertilizer, cleaning the leaves, some Neem oil, but I think I waited too long.
Here is the current state of the tree. Is there any hope of saving it?
There’s hope if the wood is still green. Where it’s brown scrape the bark to see if there’s green underneath.
Citrus seem to be able to drop their leaves and still come back. Don’t give up hope until things a dry and crisp.
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I still see green branches. Maybe prune some of the crispy ones off? What is your watering schedule?
So many hopeful people here!
It’s been a little rainy here in San Diego so I just check every few days and add water that soaks through. Truth be told, I haven’t been great about it (I have a newborn 
) but I’ll keep at it.
As to pruning, it seems safer to not prune and wait until I see leaves, then prune the branches with no leaves. That sound good, @Lids?
I also have a 14 month old baby and the trees definitely don’t get babied the way they used to! With citrus if you cut a little at the tip and it’s dry brown and crispy you can safely cut more but definitely wait if you feel more comfortable. You may also want to stick your finger or a chopstick down a few inches to make sure it’s moist enough down further, with pots they can dry out quickly but they can also stay too wet, have to walk the middle!
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my friend kishu was thriving with fruits but she put in greenhouse and i dont know why but it got a insect disease. Half tree is dead. It is still dying back. So i suggested her to trim all the dead black dry branches. And less watering and spraying the tree. Now just wait.
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i agree, for as long as the branches you’re keeping are green and firm, not mushy. That is if the leaflessness was wrought by winter cold. Where am at, leaflessness of citrus in winter is the first symptom of cold-stress, followed by actual stem die-back if frigid temps persist. Most citrus here shrink that way so you wouldn’t want to prune the stems in the hopes they may still leaf out. As mentioned by others, probably best to wait until actually mushy or crackling and browned…
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