I bought and potted a Meyer lemon tree a week and half ago. At the time. it was already bearing small green oval-shape fruits of the size of a peanut. However, the fruit is now turning yellow and shrinking as in the pic. I place it outdoor on a sunny balcony. The current wether condition is warm and sunny during the day, and cold and windy at night. This is my first time growing a citrus tree. Is there any problem with the tree, or it is just normal?
it's probably too cold at night. citrus loves heat. i'd keep it inside until it's consistantly no lower than 50 farenheit at night. putting it out during the day and then bringing it in at night would cause too much stress...so, keep inside until you can put it out and leave it.
Carefully moving your tree outside on warm days is certainly not a problem, and infact will do your tree a lot of good. As long as the night time temperature does not fall into the 30s your tree will never be damaged. Most citrus varieties survive temperatures as low a 28F, and a few of the cold hardy varieties easily survive into the 20s. All that said, I would bring your tree in, if a temperature below 40 is to be expected, just so the tree can maintain good seasonal growth for as long as possible. As for the small fruit turning yellow, and dropping from the tree, it is completely normal, and is not caused by any type of stress. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. Citrus produce many times more flowers then will ever set fruit. Only about 2-3 percent of the flowers actually set a fruit. Of the original small fruitlets that are set at bloom, only 3 - 5 percent of them will remain on the tree until maturity. The other 95 percent are discarded. If every blossom set a fruit, and the tree kept those fruits until maturity, the tree would be crushed under it own weight. Your tree, in fact all citrus trees, will keep only the number of fruit that it is capable of maturing. As your tree grows larger, your tree will produce more and more flowers each year, thus produce more and more fruit. However, the ratio of retained fruit will always remain the same. So don't be worried each year, when you see the majority of the small fruitlets being discarded by the tree. Read as many of the postings on this forum as you can, so that you know how to correctly care for your tree. You purchased the tree, and therefore it is your obligation to give it a good, long and healthy life. The best to you and your tree. - (Millet (1,254-)
Sorry to barge in on your post but i was follwing this thread as i have simular problems, i have what they call a Citrus Splitzer here, which is an Orange tree grafted onto a Lemon tree which i bought last year, its only young 2ft tall but both sides are producing fruit, this year 3 oranges have started to grow and one of them has gone a yellow colour but it is still growing (pictured on the left) Anyway the plant is about to flower as its nearly spring here now so should i leave the yellow fruit on or take it off and hope that it will fruit another more healthy orange in its place?? One other question is its too heavy to bring indoors in the winter so could i wrap it in something to protect it from the cold winter weather? thanks.
You don't need to do anything. Your tree will only keep the fruit it is capable of growing through to maturity. The tree will drop the rest on its own with out any assistance from you. Just leave the tree alone and it will do fine. I would not think a 2-ft tree would be to heavy to move indoor during the winter. Leaving the tree outside through the winter and wrapping would be VERY VERY risky, especially since it is on a lemon rootstock. - Millet (1,254-)
Ok thanks Millet, its in a heavy pot so to move it would be quite a hassle but it could be done i guess, ive been reading quite a lot of your post's so got a few tips thanks ;o)
Thanks for all your advise. I have now moved the tree indoor. Hopefully I can see some growth this year.
Hi, I am not sure whether cheeseburger needs to bring his tree in, as I am not sure how cold it gets in Melbourne. However, it is much warmer in the winters in Sydney with the average monthly minimum of 8'C (~46'F) in the coldest month (July) and no frost - so there should be no need to bring it in and it would probably be better out of doors. There is substantial commercial production of lemons in NSW and there is a comprehensive manual on commercial lemon production in Australia available at: http://www.australiancitrusgrowers.com/ (then click on resources and then lemon growing manual) good luck Brian
Note to Cheeseburger: The Cheeseburger was invented 6 miles from my home in Denver, Colorado USA, at a drive-in road side restaurant called the Humpty Dumpty. The drive-in was the first establishment to melt a piece of cheese on a hamburger, and offer it for sale to the public. Unfortunately the restaurant is no longer there, however the city of Denver has put a memorial plaque at the location commemorating the event. - Millet (1,253-)
Thanks for the link i'll take a look, the average monthly minimum here in Melbourne for July is 6.9'C and i don't think we have had any frost this year so its not too bad, so i think i might just leave it out in the winter and move it close to the house so it can get the warmth off the house. Thanks though for the link.
Note to Millet: Everyday i learn something new on this forum....often surprising things! Now I have one more thing to see in Denver if I ever make it to Colorado or the States. I reckon there are only two things I do not know: 1. I do not know what it is I do not know. 2. What it is that I do not know. Obviously, yesterday what I did not know was the exact history of the cheese burger. Now I know that and know what it was I did not know so now I'm back to square one - not knowing... Ciao Brian
Brian, after posting, I was looking on the Internet, and see that there are other locations that also claim to be the place Cheeseburgers were invented. All I know is that the city of Denver (capitol of the state of Colorado) claims the distinction. The best to you. Millet (1,252--