Hello -3 months ago, I planted a 4' Meyer lemon tree in the northeast part of the yard (get's the most sun) It already had fruit on it, but several of them were on branches laying on the ground. None of the fruit has increased in size or changed in color (green) since it's been planted. We've had extreme heat (upper 90's low 100's) this summer , but it's been watered on a regular basis. (3 times a week with the sprinkler system). New leaves have appeared but the fruit is still the same size & color. I thought I'd trim the branches on the ground to help promote the rest of the tree & fruit - did I make a mistake? Also when do the lemons actually start to turn yellow? (these are about the size of a healthy lime right now). Thank you.
Your lemons will color around Dec--you can use then now if they are large enough to get juice, but they will not have that good strong lemon scent until the peel gets the yellow color. They will continue to get larger on into the spring--I picked my last lemon about the first of June--some of the last lemons were over 4 inches across. As your tree gets established, you may want to cut back on the sprinkler watering--3 times a week is pretty often--mine is about 5 yrs inground and does not get any additional water--it has never shown signs of stress from lack of water
Wow thanks for the quick response! I'll look forward to a nice meyer lemon Christmas present! :-) (I just hope I didn't hurt it by trimming those bottom branches...)
Meyer lemons, enjoy heat and humidity, This tree can be hardened off with age. They grow great in containers. If you fail to grow any lemon in your zone I suggest testing one from a store bought fruit buy planting the pips or seeds. At this time I'm testing Theobroma cacao or chocolate trees the fat side of the seed needs to be planted down with the pointed end looking up. The tap root is alway the first to grow like with many seeds. Citrus seeds are much like onion and tulip bulbs set's planting the fat side down. My posting may not be much help to your posting, But I hope for it to helpful for members that are doing research. Dale
Trimming lower branches is basically a matter of choice, pruning the top is not recommended--it will reduce production. In case you don't know, Meyer lemons are best picked as they are turning from green to yellow--they get an off flavor if you let them go to orange.
Oh I'm sooo glad to hear that Skeeterbug - thank you! (sigh with heavy relief) - Now it's just a fight - me against the aphids - I've used Safer soap a couple of occasions, but saw in this forum that someone thought ladybugs could do the trick - I'll wait til this storm blows through and make that investment next week. Thanks again everyone!
Skeeter is dead on with the Meyers. Use them when they start to turn yellow. Beware of who you buy ladybugs from. There is a place in CA called growquest that goes by several different names as well & is a known scam. Have a look here http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/3143/ Have a read here before you order the ladybugs & I would also search the site you intend to buy from through gardenwatchdog.
My wife bought me a bag of ladybugs at the local garden store---supposedly about 1000 in a mesh bag--most were live, but after I released them I did not see that much difference in the number of ladybugs I see around the yard after a day or so. But, I guess I did my part to help the neighborhood population. I do not use toxic sprays often, so I do have quite a few "good bugs" like assasin bugs, lacewings and lady bugs as well as lizards. I do use oil spray when needed for aphids and scale on fruit trees and soap on a lot of my garden plants for things like stink bugs, leaffooted bugs and worms. For aphids, you may have ants replacing them as fast as you kill them--so you may want to do something about the ants--like tanglefoot or a collar of vaseline over some plastic around the base of the tree.
