Indoor lemon tree dropped leaves

My lemon tree is 3-4 years old.  We grew him from a seed.  During the summer he goes outside, fall he comes in to an easy facing window.  He tends to dry out quickly and many  times he's been very droopy and sad but has always come back when watered.  
Last night I walked over and touched him and more than half his leaves were dead and fell off.  The ones that are left are still alive and not droopy so I don't think it was lack of water this time.
 Is he beyond saving?  If not what can I do to help him?
Thanks

I have a Thai lime tree in a container.  Just like yours it migrates from porch to indoor window.  The only difference is every year mine loses 97% of its leaves and looks like the christmas tree from Charlie Brown. It stays that way for about 2-3 months then little leaves come out.  Seven years this has been going on.  

I also get spider mites every year.  That is dangerous and needs to be addressed.    I use neem oil.  

Rob Lineberger wrote:I also get spider mites every year.  That is dangerous and needs to be addressed.    I use neem oil.  

It did have little spider webs on it.  Is that spider mites?  Do you just spray the neem oil on the leaves?

i’ve reduced the amount of winter leaf loss of my indoor/outdoor kaffir lime tree (and a few other plants) with supplemental lighting. none of our windows get much light at the best of times, and clip lights with sun-spectrum bulbs definitely has helped.

i’m in a place where there’s usually some warmer times interspersed during the winter. spider mites like it dry, so i frequently will take plants that’re starting to get bad outside during winter rain events.

yeah, it sounds like spider mites might be part of your problem.

Dawn Olivo wrote:

Rob Lineberger wrote:I also get spider mites every year.  That is dangerous and needs to be addressed.    I use neem oil.  

It did have little spider webs on it.  Is that spider mites?  Do you just spray the neem oil on the leaves?

If you see little webs it is time to load up neem oil/water and spray the living hell out of every crook, crevasse, leaf, and stem. Do not do this in sunlight, its like thousands of little magnifying glasses that will sear the leaves.

Also if you start to see mottled lighter spots on the leaves that means spider mites are feeding on the underside of the leaves.

Also if you see anything the size of a speck of pepper that's probably a spider mite with spider mite friends.

Some people pre-emptively spray neem oil.  I think I'll be one of those people this year.

greg mosser wrote:i’ve reduced the amount of winter leaf loss of my indoor/outdoor kaffir lime tree (and a few other plants) with supplemental lighting. none of our windows get much light at the best of times, and clip lights with sun-spectrum bulbs definitely has helped.

i’m in a place where there’s usually some warmer times interspersed during the winter. spider mites like it dry, so i frequently will take plants that’re starting to get bad outside during winter rain events.

yeah, it sounds like spider mites might be part of your problem.

Those are good ideas.  I just last night set up a clip light with a high CRI flood bulb in it.  I also keep my plant in the bathroom because it has more humidity, but that hasn't really helped.  Maybe I'll give it a shower sometimes.  

I "preemptively" sprayed neem oil after my lime tree had been inside for less than 48 hrs. Guess what?  It has little white crawly specs, webs, and vampire yellow spots on the leaves.  I guess there's no such thing as a spider-mite free citrus tree?