Overwintering potted Meyer Lemon

[BG1977]

This past spring, I picked up a small Meyer Lemon from a local nursery. It grew happily all summer (doubled in size) in its pot on my deck, is loaded with blooms, and even has two small, green lemons about 1.5" in diameter.

I’ve been moving it in on the frosty nights, but I think it’s time to bring it inside more or less permanently until spring, but I’m concerned about the best environment for it inside.

We have a sunroom that is mostly unheated (stays in the 50s to maybe 70 depending on outside temp and sunshine) and I could probably squeeze it by the window where it will get about 2-5 hours of anemic winter sunshine.

The rest of the house is warmer (70-72 thermostat setting) but drier and less sunny. I presume it will survive either way, but I don’t want to have it drop it’s fruit or too many leaves over winter.

The spousal unit would also not be too keen on me buying a dedicated grow light for it, although in the back of my head for the size plant it is (about 24" high and 24" wide) a 250 or 400W metal halide lamp would probably do the trick especially if it is getting at least some natural light.

Thoughts?

[Bradybb]

They are kind of sensitive to temperature.If the plant gets too much heat in the top part and the soil stays cooler,the leaves can drop.So maybe your Winter sunshine area might be okay.
A heat mat could be put under the container,also. Brady

[mrsg47]

A southern exposure indoors is ideal with a mean temp of 65 degrees. 70 degrees is best. Your tree will lose some of its leaves simply because you are moving it ondoors. Until it acclimates, feed it water it and make sure you keep it scale, ants and mealy bug free. If left in your warmest room with 6 hours of sunlight it should be in bloom by New Years. You will not believe the fragrance! If you brought it in with fruit, the large fruit will probably hold but you might lose your tiny fruit with a number of leaves. Make sure to spray the tree and its soil with triazicide and a sticker and let it dry before you bring in the tree. Hope this helps.

[BG1977]

I don’t have six hours of sun anywhere in my house.

[growjimgrow]

I brought in my Meyer’s Lemon and Clementine last night. I, too, had been moving them in and out of the garage based on the temps, but that gets tedious real quick. I use a shop light in my laundry room, which runs for 12 hours on a timer. Temperature down there is about 70 degrees. They seem to like it down there and have put on flowers and, if I pollinate with a paintbrush, will start to grow fruit that will ripen by the next fall. I also use a mister to keep the humidity up.

[mrsg47]

Semi light might work. They need sun indoor, buy thr lamp.

[mrsg47]

They are self pollinating. But a paint brush never hurt.

[ltilton]

I keep mine on the sun porch, with a space heater set to keep it above 40

Leaves do drop, it’s inevitable. Worse problem is spider mites and scale - spray them well outside with neem before bringing them in

[Calron]

You may want to pinch off the fruit for the health of the tree anyway. It’lll help it through a challenging environment. The lack of sunlight will probably cause it to lose all the leaves.

[Steve333]

Citrus roots supposedly cannot function below 50-60F or so. The typical problem indoors is the tree is in front of a S facing window, top of the tree gets lots of light and wants to do its thing, but the window does not extend to the floor so the pot and soil are a bunch colder, roots cannot supply the needed water. Plant reacts by shedding leaves. This is the most common (but not only) cause of leaf drop on citrus which are being moved from outside to inside for the winter.

When I first started with citrus, I used to get significant leaf drop every fall as I moved the trees inside. Once I learned about the need to keep the roots warm, the problem largely went away. It does work.

[zeppley]

I would go with the sunroom and not worry about additional light. I second @ltilton - watch out for scale and spider mites.

I have a Meyer lemon tree that I have been dragging inside for the winter (Zone 7) for the last 20 years (and a Satsuma Orange for the last 8 years). It blooms and sets fruit no matter where I put it. However, I’ve never found a way to avoid massive leaf drop (due to lower light). I would spend all winter fighting* spider mites and scale despite washing and spraying the tree before bringing inside. In my experience, cool is better than warm (slows down the insect pests), and is more important than the amount of light. Also keep the tree far from air vents - the spider mites flourish in the dry conditions.

Currently I leave the tree in a small plastic-covered greenhouse with a heater that kicks on at 40F. It loves it there and it is warm enough during the day to produce lots of flowers and beautiful leaves. I doesn’t seem to set/ripen as much fruit as inside.

*pest fighting - (none very effective) - Wilt-pruf coating on leaves, insecticidal soap, all season horticultural oil, washing leaves by hand, neem oil, organophosphate insecticide sprays, all done at 1-2 week intervals. I was considering using a systemic or scale predators before I decided to keep the tree in the greenhouse. There the low overnight temps (40s) prevent the scale and spider mite populations from exploding.

Good luck! You will enjoy the lemons. They are the best!

[CA_Poppy]

I live where Meyer lemons grow outside all over the place. It regularly gets below 50 degrees here in the winter, and periodically drops below freezing. I don’t think your lemon tree would like being in the 70’s all winter. They aren’t really a tropical plant. I vote for the sunroom. If you have days that are in the 40’s or higher, I would even suggest moving it outside for the day to get some better light.

[mrsg47]

However in the NE the ground freezes.

[Courtney]

I put mine near the south window (in MA)for the winter. They seem fine.

[Katie_didnt_Z4b]

Will a lemon tree survive if all of it’s leaves fall off?

I ordered a Meyer lemon from FourWinds, thinking they’d ship it in spring, like other tree nurseries I’ve ordered from have done. Nope, they shipped me citrus trees FedEx through the Minnesota winter. FedEx took forever, over a week, they kept adding days till delivery. The tree’s leaves have all curled up, and I’m thinking all will drop. Will it live? I have it nice and toasty warm, humidifier on, grow light on… I plan to baby it, if it survives.

[Calron]

Probably not. Don’t forget citrus are evergreen so shipping trees year round is typical for 4 winds.
But, they should be held accountable for the delays. Being in a freezing truck I’m sure didn’t help.

[QuinnfromChicago]

I get a lot of trees shipped to me so this I have a bit of experience that I can help you with.

Meyer lemon has excellent cold tolerance that can handle down to 20ish F (with some leaf freeze). However a young grafted tree from four winds is only about 1-2 years so right now they wont handle under 35F. The older the tree gets the colder it can handle.

It should be fine that the leaves on your lemon tree has curled up. It was likely due to shipping stress and cold weather causing it to go into plant shock.

After an tree is unboxed, it should not be placed in any direct lights or sunlight for at least 4-7 days for it to acclimate to new environment, similarly to how our eyes adjust from darkness to light and vice versa.

First off, check to see if the bark and branches are still firm, not wrinkled and still dark green. If yes follow my tips below. If not, take photos and send to four winds, they might be able to send you a replacement or help you file a complaint with fedex.

I would keep the tree near a humidifier, place a drip tray underneath the pot, add an inch of pebbles and fill with water halfway up the pebbles. Make sure the tree is not under any direct light source for at least a week. Lemon trees are hardy and will survive even if it loss all its leaves. The tree will still acclimate to your growing conditions and releaf within 1-2 months. (Keeping it somewhere like on a living room table near a window is a great option, since the meyer lemon is going to lose its leaves, it will not need a grow light. When it does releaf, it will adapt to the light conditions in your home).

Right now it is important for the tree not to dry up and mildly watered. I would check to see if the tree is in well drained soil, and if so, only water 1x a week, and keep the humidifier on and place it near any filtered sunlight window like a kitchen or living room window. It is also extremely important to keep the tree at least 10ft from a heater or other heat sources.

If you can provide photo of the tree will be extremely helpful, and I can provide more tips for you based on what I see.

Here’s a photo of my meyer lemon that has grown out of control. Don’t give up on your tree and someday yours can be as huge as mine.

[mrsg47]

Ask them for a New tree! They should never ship till spring in your area. It will most likely die. They are a good company and I have two trees from them, for indoors and out (in pots) and they are great. A friend sent me for an Xmas present one year two of their Meyer lemon trees. The shipping took forever, and when I saw the curled leaves and really brown stems I knew the tree was a goner. Overnight shipp is ok.

[Katie_didnt_Z4b]

I’ve been in contact with 4 winds and they requested pics, which I just sent them. They said FedEx has not been reliable for them this year.

The first picture is of the Meyer lemon’s stem, still green
The second pic is the meyer in the foreground, satsuma mandarin in the back. Mandarin is holding it’s leaves but they are curled and sad.
The third pic is the only leaves that remain on the lemon.

[BG1977]

Four Winds ships everywhere- a large percentage of at least their online orders are in non-citrus areas for people growing indoors/greenhouses.

In other words, they should know better.