My lemon tree is not bearing lemons this year. What is wrong? It is 3 years old. Can any one help? Georgia
There are many much more knowledgeable posters to this forum than myself. I shall give them the opportunity to step in. Has it fruited in years past?
Citrus need stress to induce flowering. In most cases the stress is in the form of cold, exposure to temperatures below the mid 60's for several hundred hours without a sustained period of a week or more of temperatures above 70 is typically sufficient. Another form of stress can be drought to the point of wilting folloed by a thorough watering and fertilization. Some trees just take a little while to get adjusted, Lisbon lemons often take 2-3 years after planting to settle down and start blooming. My lisbon lemon is in it's 4 growing season since planting and is over 10 ft tall. It had a few blooms in the second and third year, but never set any fruit. This year it bloomed profusely and set over 100 lemons which I have recently started picking. Skeet
Thanks,I guess I am in to big of a hurry. I thought it was going to freeze. We had 5 or 6 days under 32 degrees, so I covered it hoping to save it. Georgia
Is your tree a grafted tree, or was the tree started from a seed? As you live in Austin, Texas, is the Lemon growing in a container, or is it planted in the ground? How many times last year and so far this year have you fertilized the tree? Lastly, has this tree ever produced fruit? - Millet
This is my 3rd year to have it. It is planted in the ground, I bought it from Lowe's.I feed it every 6 months. Last year it had 7 lemons on it. I don't know what I did wrong except cover in it the winter. It was so cold last year and I didn't want to lose it. It gets plenty of sun. Most of the time we have a mild winter, also we had a very wet spring. Like 30 inches in 30 days. Georgia
You may need to increase the frequency of fertilizing your tree, unless you are using a 6 month slow release. Are you using a fertilizer with trace minerals? Does that include Mg? If not you need to add trace minerals and Magnesium (epsom salts). You are a little further north than here, so you probably do not want to fertilize after the middle of August, but you should fertilize once a month during the growing season (Feb to Aug)-- actually LSU recommends one application in Jan then once a month after the tree starts growing. You can use a balanced fertilizer like 8-8-8, but try to find one with trace minerals. Skeet
Georgia, a 2 year old in ground Lemon tree should be fertilized 5 times a year, 4 times a year when the tree is 3 years old, and 3 times a year every year after that. A two and three year old lemon should be fertilized wth a fertilizer having a formula of either 6-6-6 or a 8-8-8. When the tree is four years old or older the tree can be fertilized with either a 6-6-6, 8-8-8 or a 10-10-10 formulation. Due to the large amount of rain your area received (30") I am sure that ALL of the nitrogen and potassium from your single summer fertilizing has been leached far below the root zone and is unavailable to the tree. With out potassium and nitrogen it is no wonder the tree did not fruit this year. Below is the recommended fertilizer rates for a three year old tree. 6-6-6 - 1.8 to 3.75-lbs./application 8-8-8 - 1.5 to 2.8-lbs./application 4-year old tree: 6-6-6 - 4.5 to 5.5-lbs./application 8-8-8 - 3.3 to 4-lbs./application 10-10-10 - 2.6 to 3.3-lbs./application Fertilize from March until First week in August. Divide the application evenly during this time. Millet
Many commercial growers in addition to their regular nutrition program, spray Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) in February as a foliar potassium and nitrogen spray to insure a good bloom followed by fruit enlargement. Trees receiving KNO3 applications generally have over 30% more size 100 and larger fruit during the first spot picks in early November each year. Some groves also additionally spray with KNO3 in April and again in July. - Millet
Millet, thanks for the info. I went to the garden center and they gave me Medina organic fertilizer. They said was real good and said I could use it until first week in Oct. Good for trees,shrubs,and lawn. I used it this morning and then it began to rain,that's good.Will go back and get this spray for Feb. Maybe it will help my jane magnolia also. Thank you so much for the information. Georgia
Georgiad, you have been sold! Organic fertilizer is not good for citrus (certainly not as good as regular chemical fertilizers). In addition, fertilizing inground citrus into October in areas where freezes occur is asking for trouble! Any growth stimulated after that will never have time to cold harden and will certainly be killed by a minimal frost. Millet and I both just posted on a recent thread about why organic fertilizer is not good for citrus. Skeet
Georgia, Skeet is correct. The organic fertilizer will certainly not hurt your tree, and will do it some good, but is not the nutrition program your want for a citrus tree. Lastly, NEVER EVER EVER fertilize a citrus tree as late as the middle of October, especially living in the Austin, Texas area. Unfortunately, your nursery does not know citrus. - Millet
Many people are oversold on the term "organic". It does offer some level of safety from persistient pesticides when it comes to food, however most of the pesticides permitted for use on food crops whether they are organic or chemical are no longer persistient and most of them have very low toxicity to mammals. Ricin, botulism, aflatoxin are among the most toxic compounds know to man-- they are "organic". When it comes to fertilizer, plants take it up in the form supplied by "chemical" fertilizers---many organic fertilizers have to be degraded and turned into the very same "chemicals" to become available. There are plants that like highly organic soil (soil that contains a lot of any type of organic matter)-- compost, bark mulch, peat moss can all supply that need, however, peat moss and bark supply very little in the form of fertilizer. The addition of "chemical" fertilizer with organic materials like peat moss will get much the same response from the plants as adding organic fertilizer. There are some plants that do not like (or at least do not grow well) in organic soils. I can think of several flowers I grow that fit that category (periwinkle for example). I do not know if it is actually the organic content of the soil or the insects that live in highly organic soil. Those plants that do not like the highly organic soil will often survive without fertilizer of any kind, but will do much better if "chemical" fertilizer is added. I use a lot of the principles of organic gardening, I mulch, I use compost on plants that like it, but I do not consider it the "only" or always the best option in any of my gardening choices. Skeet
Organic fertilizer will not damage the tree--- it just cost more and is worth less and it doesn't supply the proper ratio of nutrients. Skeet
