Hello,

I've had my Bearss lime tree for about three years. Since I live in Pittsburgh, PA, I bring it into the house around October and put it back outside in April. The last few years it has fared really well in my office, which gets a decent amount of indirect light, but no direct light.

This summer was the first year it started producing fruit. The limes looked a nice green color up until a couple weeks ago, when they started to get black spotting on them. A few days ago one of the limes split open and it looked slightly rotten. Upon my research, it seemed like aphids may have contributed to this problem. I decided to clean each of the leaves off with a Dawn soap solution last about a week ago (I didn't notice any pests).

Over the past week I've noticed the plant has lost more leaves than it has in years past, probably about 20 or so - in the past, it only lost a few each week. Between the blackness on the fruit and the loss of leaves, I'm a little concerned about my tree.

I'd appreciate any feedback you may have!

You have found aphids and they will cause sooty mold on the fruit so maybe that was the problem.

But by attempting to fix one problem, you have caused another. Dawn detergent is great for oily baby ducks because it is a degreaser - it emulsifies the grease without harming tender ducklings. Plants have a waxy coating on their leaves to protect against desiccation, sunburn and insect and disease. Unfortunately, Dawn detergent removes it. I'm sure you will lose more leaves before things get better but the tree should survive.

Next time, use some Insecticidal Soap - its made from the fatty acids of plants so is organic and won't harm the leaves.

I doubt you will be able to convince your tree to hold fruit over winter without direct fun or grow lights. Plants photosynthesize to feed themselves. Photosynthesis relies on sun and water (and soil nutrients, but mostly sun and water). Without one of the ingredients (sun or water), photosynthesis ceases, the tree goes into self preservation mode and aborts whatever it can no longer support.

Oh no, I can't believe I did that to my poor tree. Is there anything I can do to help it? Thank you so much for the explanation.

Wait until spring, new leaves will grow. The tree is alive as long as the stems are green, even without leaves. Dead stems are brown.