I recently bought miniature orange, lime and lemon trees and put them outside in the sun before I brought them to my office to go in the window. When I brought the trees back inside, the leaves of the orange tree were starting to curl up lengthwise. Now all of the tree's leaves are curled and it looks like my little formerly green buddy is in crisis. There are a few brown spots on the leaves, but no signs of fungus, bugs, etc. Any idea of what this can be and what I can do. Remember, an innocent tree's life could be at stake...

If you can't see any bugs on the underside, it might just be sunburn. When you say "miniature" you mean so small it sits in a 6" pot? Or do you mean dwarf that will grow to be 6 feet tall? The teeny plants are essentially houseplants and shouldn't be in direct sun.

Plants in pots are really vulnerable to drying out, because the terracotta is pulling moisture from the soil and the roots are, too. They need water almost every day if it's sunny and hot, especially if you've got a dwarf tree in it.

The pot should have a saucer under it to collect the water the instantly runs out of the bottom, and over the next couple of hours the dirt in the pot will soak that water back up. Otherwise it just runs straight through and doesn't saturate the whole pot.

But oranges shouldn't be really wet all the time, they need lots of air and sand around their roots, so deeply water them, then let them go a little longer than other plants.

I got a couple of potted trees this spring and they seemed to get burned on their leaves really quickly. The commercial growers seem to store these trees under shade cloth and in greenhouses, and when we first expose the trees to real direct sun, they aren't prepared for it. Mine dropped a few leaves, and are now leafing out again.

Don't overly water it, keep it out of direct sunlight, and there should be some new leaves before too long. Give it regular feedings.

Thanks, great idea. Actually I was putting it in LOTS of sun. These are not dwarf fruit trees like you set in your yard, they are in terra cotta pots but usually don't grown more than a couple of feet. Anyway, thanks to your advice I put my pal in the shade and will water. The direct sun doesn't seem to affect the lime or lemon trees, but something really zapped the orange.

How long do you think it will be until it starts to look better?