Citrus fruit drop: causes, and what to check first

Recognise natural drop

After petal fall and while fruit is pea-sized, many fruitlets drop. This is the tree's own thinning; it keeps what it can feed. Natural drop is even across the orchard and ends within a few weeks.

A fallen fruit that is small, green, dropped with its stalk and free of marks is most likely natural.

Drop caused by water

If soil dried out while fruit was filling and then received a heavy irrigation, fruit can drop or split. Hot wind plus an irrigation gap in summer also raises drop.

The remedy is regularity: irrigate by checking soil moisture while fruit fills, with neither long gaps nor floods. See the irrigation guide for the method.

Drop caused by weather

Several cloudy humid days, or a sudden temperature jump in March or April, raise drop. You cannot control that; what you can do is avoid irrigation gaps and keep the orchard floor clean.

Drop caused by disease or pests

Dark brown or black marks on fallen fruit, rot near the stalk, or soft fruit point to disease. A puncture suggests fruit fly. Do not leave such fruit on the ground; collect and bury it outside the orchard.

Which product, how much, when: not in this guide. Show fallen fruit and photos to the KVK or an agronomist.

What the satellite shows

The satellite does not count fruit. It shows changes in canopy greenness. Drop is often preceded by a fall in greenness (water stress). When that warning arrives, check the soil. It does not stop the drop. It can sometimes warn earlier; how much earlier we have not yet measured.