Leaf drop on Meyer Lemon bush

I have a Meyer Lemon bush and a Meyer Lemon tree. Both have been brought in for the winter. I have a sunny office window and the plants were doing very well. The bush had about 7 lemons ripening on it. Then I went on vacation. A co-worker was assigned to water my plants. When I returned I found some very thirsty, parched plants. My Lemon bush faired the worst of all the plants. Every leaf (with the execption of 5) was dry and crumpled. Merely brushing up against them caused them to fall off. My tree was very dry but the leaves have remained healthy. Is there possibly another cause for the radical leaf drop on the bush? Attached is a picture of the poor bush ... do you think it will survive??

It looks very green and healthy. Once it get accustomed to being well hydrated, I think it should leaf out normally. This episode might delay blooming some though. I wouldn't let it set more than 1 or 2 fruit until it looks 100% restored.

Thank you. There are some blossoms budding, should I pinch them off? Will it set fruit with out bugs?

If you want lemons you will need to buy a very small paint brush and pollinate yourself.

Something else to remember about Meyer Lemons. The nursery where I bought mine told me they really like a lot of nitrogen and need to be fed once a month. I actually never needed to pollinate mine. I guess just the drafts in the room took care of it. It did finally die because one of those times I let it dry out and it dried out too much. You will have to really keep an eye on the watering.

I had that happen to a couple of citrus trees i have planted outside.Problem was drought then about 8 inches of rain over a few days. Everything turned out fine but all the water seem to have been to much of shock to the trees. The funny part is where I have them planted its sandy soil and they have gone through weeks with large amounts of rain no problem. It just seems it was to much going from no water to heavy rain in a short period of time.

There's no difference between a ML bush and a ML tree, except how you prune them. People have different theories on that.

All I know is that my first one was labled 'Meyer Lemon Tree' and the second one (purchased 3 years later) was labled 'Meyer Lemon Improved Bush'. FWIW.

Think they will all grow as a bush unless pruned into a tree.

Well, there is a difference between a ML and an Improved ML. But it refers to disease resistance. I don't know if the new hybrids have different growth patterns. Here in citrus country we debate whether to prune or not.

To prune or not to prune .. at this point all I want to do is keep them alive ...whatever they are.

As much natural light as possible.