Hello! I have a new young lemon tree in a large pot. It gets hot sun most of the day (we live in So. CA)..

we went out of town and it seemed to suffer from not being watered, when we came back all the little buds were gone. But after a week or so, with* a little watering new buds & leaves were growing.

But shortly thereafter, the buds are gone... could bugs be eating them? I don't see any bugs, and the leaves are green..

Also, the part of the tree that grows straight up, and is staked, as it came from the nursery, is very bare of leaves, and is where most of the buds were..

There is one healthy looking branch growing new leaves with a few buds,,,

but no buds have opened yet...

thanks so much for any tips/ thoughts,, we need some lemons!

Best, Kim