I have a meyer lemon that I purchased Spring 2008. It flowered like crazy, I ended up with 13 large, healthy, fabulous lemons in Sept 08. I wintered it indoors and put it out in late March 09, it has tons of newgrowth but I do not have the flowering that I had last spring. Should I be concerned at this point? Do I need to polinate(sp?) it or something to cause it to keep producing fruit? I just bought a lime tree that has a few flowers on it. Please give any care advise on that type of tree as well. ps I'm in central Arkansas region Thanks in advance citrusgirl
First, citrus are self fertile, and do not require hand pollination to set fruit. At what temperature was your Meyer kept at while spending the winter indoors? -Millet (1,330-)
Thank you. As you can tell I'm a novice. I keeped it at around 78 degrees. That was probably too hot? What should I do?
If you kept your tree at 78F all winter, then that was the problem of why your tree did not flower. Citrus trees, including your Meyer lemon, never produce flower buds, they only produce vegetation buds, which will only produce new foliage. However, citrus are able to change their vegetation buds into flower buds, by a process called differentiation, which is a process not fully understood. This change is brought about by two methods, either through the stress of chilly temperatures, or by drought stress. As you are located in Little Rock, you will use the "chill" stress. For your citrus tree to complete the process of differentiation, your tree needs to be kept in an area with the temperature below 68F during the winter months (60F would be better). Over the winter, your Meyer lemon will need to accumulate 600 hours of chill temperatures below 68F to be able to change its vegetation buds into floral buds. Then your tree should bloom and produce a nice crop of fruit. Further, as you are new to citrus growing, use the search function on this forum and look up "WLD" or "winter leaf drop" to keep your tree from loosing leaves during the winter months. Good luck, to you and your tree. Take care. - Millet (1,327-)
I am curious - could one grow a lemon tree from seeds contained within a grocery store lemon, and would the tree produce fruit? How big of a tree would it be? Can they be grown in containers? : )
I really am a novice myself. However, if you go to the citrus forum there is information that will answer your question. Best of luck Citrusgirl
Holly, the answer to your question is ...Yes... on all three questions. A lemon, from the planting of seed to the picking of fruit will take between 9-12 years. Lemons do well in containers. The tree could reach 10+ feet. - Millet (1,321-)
Ok, thanks Millet. Wow, 9-12 years, and 10 feet!!! I am going to save some seeds from my next lemon, and germinate one. If someone wanted to get fruit earlier, would they buy a plant from the nursery. What about dwarf varieties? Thanks for all the info. : )
If you purchase a grafted lemon tree, it might even come with fruit already on it, if not, the tree should fruit within the year. If you want a dwarf lemon, then just purchase a lemon that is grafted upon a Flying Dragon Trifoliate root stock. I do not know if Four Winds Growers ship to Canada or not, but they are a very high quality supplier of true dwarf citrus trees of all varieties. Their dwarf citrus trees produce full size fruit. - Millet (1,321-) http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/
I have some lemon seeds, upon checking my supplies! Thanks for that supplier though, and the info. I am trying to learn how to graft plants myself - something I've always had an interest in. Who knows, maybe someday, if I get good enough, I can graft one on my own! : )
yes i have grown four lemon trees from grocery store lemon seeds and three clementine seeds, and they look great, but they are not old enough to flower yet
Wow! If you're ever able to show a pic of them, I'd sure love to see. They sound lovely. Clementines? Now that's cool. I bet you can't wait to get some fruits from them. : )
Note that the vast majority of citrus seed, when planted, will produce true to type. That is, the seed will produce a tree just like the tree it came from. However, there are a few citrus varieties that do not produce true from seed. Unfortunately, Clementine does not produce true. When you plant a Clementine seed, you will not get a Clementine tree. You will get a hybrid tree, a cross between the mother Clementine tree, and what ever variety of citrus that pollinated the original flower. There is a chance that the tree could turn out to be a super variety, but almost always the cross will be inferior to the mother tree. However, planting citrus seeds from varieties that do not produce true from seed provides the unexpected excitement. I never plant seed that produce true, because I can alway purchase such a tree. Good luck - Millet (1,321-)
Wow - that is so interesting! Thanks Millet, for taking the time to explain this. Sounds like you know your citrus. That would be so exciting to see what you could end up with. I love experiments, and surprises. I have never grown a citrus tree before, but I did grow a dwarf pomegranate inside, and I had to hand-pollinate the blooms myself! It worked out terrific. I am so looking forward to growing a citrus plant. I have seeds for a dwarf lime variety too, from Ecuador! : )