red leaves on my lemon tree

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by sleeperagent, Jun 30, 2008.

  1. sleeperagent

    sleeperagent Member

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    I have a ornamental lemon tree in a pot. It is about two foot tall. I kept it in all winter as I live in a cold winter climate. Throughout the winter it grew quite well, producing healthy looking green leaves and flowering a couple of times. Once the summer arrived I moved the tree outside. Now it has quite a bit of new growth on it. However all the new leaves are a deep red/pink colour. They look healthy enough but the colour seems unusual and out of place. The new flower buds forming are also a red colour. Is it normal for a lemon tree to have red foliage? or is this a sign of something more sinister? I am afraid that I am not an experienced gardener at all and so I dont know quite what to expect. The name of the lemon tree, according to the plant info card I got with it, is a "Pero limon"
     
  2. StarLoc

    StarLoc Active Member

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    Mine do as well, they are purple/dark red, slowly turning green when they get about 2 inch or so long, only 2 of my lemon trees do this, the one i was sold as eureka lemon doesnt do this it grows green leaves
    im not sure what the other 2 are but they have larger flowers to the eureka, the eureka grows bright green shoots that darken over a month
    Not sure why but they do, my calamondin, lime, grapefruit, orange, buddahs hand, bitter orange all grow green ones, just the 2 lemons have dark purple/red
     
  3. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    Bronze color on young lemon leaves is a characteristic of lemons and one way of identifying a lemon from other citrus plants.
     
  4. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    sleeperagent, bronzish red NEW leaves,and redish colored blooms are normal for lemons. - Millet
     
  5. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Re: O.T. Questioning the name.

    Are you sure this tree is not a Pear Lemon?
    Also, known by some people as French Lime
    and yes, they have been grown and offered
    to consumers before as an ornamental due
    to their bitter tasting fruit. Are cultivated
    and sought after for their aromatic and
    sweet scented flowers.

    Jim
     
  6. mkk

    mkk Active Member

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    I have been told that lemon trees have thorns but when I had one I don't remember any thorns. Can someone break this myth or tell me something about this please?
     
  7. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    My lemon has small thorns and not all that many. Most are only about 1/4 inch but some are near 1 inch.

    Thorns are generally bigger on younger trees, when trees are budded onto a rootstock the resulting growth often behaves as a continuation of the limbs on the tree it came from (in respect to the thorns), but sometimes there can be a limb that reverts to it's juvenile state and put out a wicked thorny branch.
     
  8. mkk

    mkk Active Member

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    Thanks skeeterbug!
     
  9. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    By far the two most popular, and commonly grown true lemons are the Eureka lemon, and the Lisbon lemon. These are the two lemon varieties that are commonly sold in commercial grocery stores. Of the two the Eureka lemon is certainly the most wide distributed for sale. The Eureka lemon is a medium sized tree with a spreading, open, almost wholly thornless growth pattern. - Millet
     

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