Couldn’t find an existing topic that seemed to fit this post. Anyway, I wanted to show my Meyer Lemon tree and its production. I bought this 3 years ago at Tractor Supply and it was about 8 inches tall! It struggles in the winter but thanks to some help from my friend @mrsg47 and a couple others, its come a long way. One thing that really helps in winter is sitting it on a heat pad to keep roots warm. I live in north TN so obviously I have to bring it inside from around mid-October to April. I don’t have a south facing window or really any window that gets direct sun, so its really hard on it in winter. It bloomed around February and didn’t start to ripen until late November. I let them hang until! February to get dead ripe. I even left 3 on until April. It gets full sun outside in warmer weather. I fertilize it with 10-10-10 which some say isn’t ideal but it works great…everytime I fertilize I get new growth. Aphids show up once in a great while but I just use soapy water and it fixes them for several months.
This tree had 21 lemons, which was mind blowing to me. I used a little feather brush to hand polinate blooms and there is no question that it helped.
The fruits were mostly very larger- larger than most supermarket lemons. Very juicy and not as sour as many lemons…but PERFECT for lemonade.
THank-you! People here helped a lot, and it took me 3 years to get it right. But I am kinda proud of it. I actually ended up giving it to my mom after she had open heart surgery and while it was loaded with ripe fruit and it was her all-time favorite gift I ever gave her. Everyone who came in my parents house she would take them and show her the lemon tree and big, yellow lemons. It made all the work very much worth it. I bought my own new one last week to start over.
Kevin
Now you have inspired me to grow citrus indoor.
My concern is scales. They killed two Ma-grood plants (aka kaffir lime). I did not know where they came from. They must have laid low in the soil when the potted Ma-grood plants were outside on the summer.
Soon after I brought them in, scales showed up. I don’t worry about fungus gnats or aphids.
Any mom would be happy to receive such a beautiful gift. Your mom is probably also proud by the fact that her son has grown this tree himself. Good job.
I was really hoping you would see this, because I remember soon after I planted it you expressed a lot of interest and said you’d often considered trying it. I honestly don’t see how it could have gone better! It wasn’t just a novelty where I got 2-3 lemons to show for my work. 21 huge lemons really was a LOT.
Yep…mom told everyone who saw it that I grew it for her. My mom is sort of stingy with compliments and praise, so it was really nice having her be so pleased with this. It was also perfect for another reason…after surgery my mom just couldn’t or wouldn’t drink enough liquids. Doctors said that is a common problem after open heart surgery for some strange reason. The only thing we could dependably get her to drink was water with these lemons and/or lemonade!
You definately should try this. I just started another one for myself AND also got a baby tangerine that they sold alongside the lemon tree at tractor supply this week. We’ll see how that goes!
I had scale on my meyer the year I took it inside. But it didn’t kill it, and the infection was really bad. Basically I wasn’t checking for such a thing so it was endemic tip to stern by the time I noticed (mostly due to defoliation). I simply scratched them all off (hard and soft scale idk the species names) moved the lemon outside, hit it with some neem and it recovered quick. My point for all this is, dont let scale discourage you, because if you just check for it, I don’t think it can kill your plant. Now that you’re aware of it, you can simply kill them one by one (with one keffir lime it’s not much work) and keep any possible infestation under wraps. I hate scale though, what an alien little organism it is, and when you squish them it looks like blood even. Nothing got it bad in the greenhouse but the guava and key lime had some, basically once I see a few yellowing leaves I know to check for scale. It’s just odd because I’ve never gotten even one scale on a single plant in the ground. Only potted plants. Try it again, I’m sure you won’t be beaten twice now that you know to look out for it.
Here’s a potted patio Meyer lemon in bloom that I got for my mom in New Hampshire! It usually holds 1-3 lemons a year. I just moved it outside. cc @mamuang
They can be temperamental; I had one for years that suddenly died and everyone I’ve had since has been sickly. Not sure if it’s been rootstock issues but they are very easy to drown.
It looks like your tree is under a lot of stress.lanky branches is a sign of stress, no healthy leaves. Citrus need a ph of 5.5 to 6.(rainwater).Meyer lemon tree needs more fertilizer. Do not fertilize the tree when in bloom, it will drop them.
Once they are outside you have to start feeding the tree only after bloom, shorten the long branches, shaping the tree a bit. you will see a lot of new growth. You need a lot of new growth to support that many flowers.Good luck!
If you want them to be more sour for any reason, just pick them sooner. They are so productive at a small size it’s amazing. One of my favorites in my greenhouse.
Oh this one is definitely under stress — it probably only got 1-2 hours of sunlight through a window in NH for most of the last few months. Will be giving it more sun, rainwater, and probably a higher-acid fertilizer soon. Thanks for the pruning tips.
Why not buy a proper LED grow light to hang above it? Thanks to legal weed the prices are crazy good for a modest sized light, and the light is so much better than just a few years ago. They are also inexpensive to run and last a long time. Your lemon would love that.
Because my mom likes what she likes, which is the lemon in front of a window. However, I probably want to get some of these for my own setup, which is increasingly “drug kingpin without the drugs.”
I’m just south of you and doing many of the same things you’re doing to care for a variety of citrus cultivars. I take mine into my basement/garage in October with fruit hanging. I put them under an array of LED lights (just the regular 3,000 daylight types) for the winter. I found out some time ago that light is not the only thing. Relative humidity counts. So I put a room size humidifier in there too. Keeps the humidity around 45-55%. Keeps the leaves from falling off. Water sparingly to help the plants into dormancy while they can still ripen their loads (I start that tactic around the first week of December when most of the fruits have ripened). I stop all fertilizing in October but now considering stopping in September. I fertilize with CitrusTone from Espoma in the early spring just before taking them outside then I go to Jacks Classic Acid Special which is what I use on my blueberries. Citrus tone is a slow time release but the Jack’s is almost immediately available to the trees. I use it until August or early September. Hope that helps.
