Fruits and Nuts: HAS ANY1 TRIED GROWING tropical fruit TREES IN NY?, 1 by mygardens

mygardens wrote:
I have grown Meyer lemons in New York for many years. I currently have two, four foot trees in large pots, and some seeds that have sprouted. I take them outside in the summer and bring them into a room in my house for the winter. The room stays between 50 and 68 degrees. I have a curved window that gets a lot of light. It is quite a battle, but since keeping a humidifier going all winter, I have had some success.

Even with the humidifier the plant still gets mealy bugs. I don't like to use chemical sprays so I remove the bugs with alcohol on a Q-tip. I also use a Q-tip to pollinate the blossoms that appear in the winter. On warm days near spring I take the tree outside and spray it with a soap mixture similar to Safer Soap. The tree generally looks quite tired by the end of winter, but when it is warm enough to go outside, I gradually acclimate it to the outdoors and then put it in full sun for the summer. It puts out new leaves and plenty of blossoms and looks great by the end of the summer.

It is a lot of work, but the lemons are large and so sweet that they can be used in lemonade with little or no sugar. I have propagated new plants from the seeds.