Meyers Lemon won't get new leaves!

I had my little tree--a trunk with two stick branches--inside all winter where it retained its few leaves from summer. It bloomed, formed fruit. After the second blooming, I moved it outside with the azaleas....2 weeks ago....and although the older forming fruit f/indoors (only 2) fell off, there's lots of new baby fruits forming. BUT, no new leaves! Because it's only a stick tree at this point, with yellowish leaves, I'd prefer a healthy flush of leaves over fruit.

Any suggestions/tips??

Thanks! Kathleen in TX

Maybe a different lemon? Only known of 2 Meyer's Lemon trees in my life and both produced plenty of lemons and ALWAYS looked on death's door for lack of leaves - Now 2 is not a large sampling but yours makes 3.
Boy with stick hitting me so I'll get up from this computor.
Blooms here.

Hi Kathleen,
I have 3 citrus trees. An orange, lemon & a lime. The Orange & lemon are about 5 feet tall & bushy, while the Lime is newer & only about 3 feet & scrawny. My mom (the expert on most any plant, lol) told me to remember 4 things about citrus & you will never have any problems.
1. Feed them citrus food often. They are heavy feeders.
2. Give them lots of water. They need it.
3. They need FULL SUN.
4. Never let a young tree fruit. It takes everything it has to produce the fruit & it is too much strain. So no matter how cute those little fruits are, pick them off!

Well, I did what she said. She was right. As usual. LOL

Hope that helps,
Donna

Oh, wow, terrific thread! Thank you, Donna & Blooms--not only do I not feel like a complete loser anymore w/my lemon tree (you can count mine as your 3rd anomaly, Bloom! =) ), but I now have some excellent advice, courtesy of your Mom, Donna! I'm printing it too, to keep in my plant notes!

Everything I've read says that my Meyer's is a good stable variety for growing, but NOTHING gives any insight on just what makes that little citrus tree happy! I WILL return him to full sun (guess that's how I got the few leaves last summer), I'll keep the little dickens watered, and feed citrus food (currently have none, didn't realize it needed its own stuff!). And, alas, I was afraid someone would counsel to remove those energy snaring baby fruits.....but ok, I guess....rats....I DO want the tree itself to look better, seeing how sticks w/fruits isn't so pretty.

THANKS so much, guys!
=) Kathleen

Meyers Lemons get sweeter, yes sweeter the longer they hang on the tree. they can get quite orangey before they're truly ripe. And apparantly don't care if they have few leaves during the process. They do like being warm. Blooms

Glad you found it helpful. I just ran out & looked at the numbers on my Citrus Fertilizer & they are 13-6-6.

I grow my trees in big tree cans, probably 15gal or a bit bigger, and when I planted them I put a big handful of the fertilizer in the soil at the bottom of the can, and after I put in the tree, As I added soil I would also add a bit more fertilizer. I did this all the way up & then finished with some on top. It sounds like alot, but they thrived with it. Mind you, it is specifically for citrus.
Now I throw in a handful every month (exept during the winter) and they are a wonderful dark green & have set many fruits.
Good luck,
Donna

Pudgymudpies, I have a tangerine now and my mother told me that if a tangerine is watered more than once a week, the fruit will be dry. She said the same for the Meyer lemon. Your mother told you to water citrus often.

Since I've never grown citrus before, what is the right thing to do for juicy fruit?

Deedeeb,
I just called my mom since I have never grown tangerines & she told me that citrus is citrus. Juice is made from water.
Low water, low juice.
Kathleen,
Here is what she said about Meyers Lemons:
They are the hardiest lemon & the best producer. She has them with flowers & fruits in varying stages year around.
She thinks the reason yours is leafless is stress. She says to keep those fruits OFF, put it in a shady/lite sun location for now, keep the pot from drying out, and lightly fertilize with citrus food every month. Just let it recuperate. (keep all the blooms & fruits off). Once it starts regrowing leaves & starts looking happy, reintroduce it gradually to full sun, keep watering, and start fertilizing the full amount every month. STILL keep the fruits & blooms off. That way all its energy is going into the tree. Then just let it grow that way all year & when winter gets here, if you get freezes, just move it up to the house under the eaves. Next year if it is lookin good size & healthy, you can decide if you want to let it fruit. She says if you do plant it in the ground to be aware that it has got to be in WELL DRAINING soil, because they do not like their feet in standing water. She says with a Meyers being such a heavy producer, they really need lots of nutrients & that is why people are not getting a healthy looking tree. She says that in addition to fertilizing it once a month, she always puts all her citrus & banana peels back in the soil under the trees. It helps with the acidity that citrus likes & the banana peels add potassium.

If you could see my mamas 5 acre "jungle", you would know that what she does works. Some people might not agree with how she does things, but the proof is in the results. Hope that helps.
Donna

Hey, Donna! Your Mother is my new Lemon Tree Mentor! =) I tried to find citrus food, and around here, there's only huge Miracle Gro spikes for in ground large trees. In it's stead, I've been feeding it a regular diet of fish emulsion & rain water. It has put on some new leaves in one spot....still a sad, stick-y looking sack though. Slowly, slowly....I'm seeing some improvement!

And, I DID pick off all of the fruits...oh, it hurt (smile)....and have picked off persistent buds that it put out last week.

Thanks!!!! Kathleen

I am so proud of you! That is just the hardest thing to do, isn't it? :)
I think your still gonna need that citrus food though. It is blended especially for citrus. Check at Lowes or Home Depot. Even Wal MArt should have it in the fertilizer section. They call it Citrus & Avacado food. Or just try to find the numbers 13-6-6.
Good luck & I am really happy for you!
Donna

Citrus fertilizer has additional iron which citrus trees always need. Another thing that helps is a dose of Epsom salts.

Meyers are bred to be productive early, so expect to pick fruit by the second or third year. This compares to most citrus which don't develop their best-tasting fruit until 5-7 years old.

You should also prune them periodically, they tend to get a lot of crossed branches. We have a mature (10 year old) Meyer lemon bush (yes, they're really bushes, not trees!) which produced about 85 lbs. of fruit between December and March. Many people have Meyers which have been grafted onto tree stock. Once into their second decade, given sufficient water they will produce year-round, but the heaviest production is always in the winter.

I don't have a Meyer Lemon Tree but I have wanted one for years. I have a sunroom (glass roof as well as walls) and wonder if I could grow one in there. I need to know more about growing them in a container forever....it can only go outside in the summer.

Also, our local nurseries haven't carried any Meyer Lemon Trees. Can anyone here give me a good place to order one?

Hi Kathleen,
whats the news on your Meyers? Good, I hope! Sometimes when I am out watering my citrus I wonder about your little tree. :~) Did you ever find Citrus/Avocado fertilizer? Did you check Wal Mart? I recently got a different brand, I usually use BEST brand, but I saw that Lily Miller has it now too, but I think the numbers are lower.
http://www.lillymiller.com/fertilizers.html#11

Hiya, Pudgymudpies! Wonder if your "handle" means you've got little pudgy hands around, making those mudpies? Mine made a batch today, as a matter of fact (the poor baby ate some).

My Meyers is doing MUCH, MUCH better. I finally found some granular citrus food in a nursery that carries all kinds of great organic stuff, and have given him a dose. Also, am continuing to give "booster shots" of the fish emulsion. LOTS of new little leaves & buds, and an all-around healthier look. I'm so pleased.........and it's all thanks to you & your brilliant Mother! =)

I've got to take & post a photo soon.......he's still not spectacular, but does now appear to be an actual tree, versus the pitiful stick scarecrow!

;-) Kathleen in TX

Well that is good news! You have done well. :~)
my "handle" is purely discriptive of me. LOL My kids are college age, so those days of little hands are behind me. :~(
I am really happy for your success. Keep it up & you will be reaping lemons before you know it.
Donna

This really is a hard thing to do...pick off fruit and blossoms from such a cute little tree. I ddi it last year with my citrus and I'm getting paid for it this year in my Lime and Limquat trees. I really should have pruned the Lemon even more than I did and I truly shouldn't have let him fruit this year...but I did and now his branches are growing in a downward slope because the fruit was too heavy for him.Oh well, live and learn. Now I'll have to prune him again when the weather cools to get him back into a pretty shape. My Clemantine tree looks great too ...wonderful shape and lots of fruit despite only growing a bit from last year (I picked off all of the blossoms from that tree too last year). The same goes for my Kumquat (which technically isn't really a Citrus). The only citrus which had a really bad time of it last year was my ruby red grapefruit. It's at the far end of my garden and I realized later that the garden ont aht end had a sligt slope to it....and my grapefruit was getting all the excess water run-off from that end of the garden. He was just a lovely little tree and I had to prune him back to nothing but a bare stick with one little offshoot branch sticking out from the upper end. No leaves, nothing. But this year he has formed a nice roundish crown and I can breathe a sigh of reliefe that he'll survive my nearly drowning him LOL. Obviously he won't be producing any fruit this year or next...and likely not the next either. So I definitely agree with Donna's mother.....don't let citrus go to fruit until they are big enough to handle the strain and WEIGHT of the fruit. And by all means make sure they have plenty of water but good drainage.

-Julie

Hiya, Pudgie--just wanted to post that my Meyer's is putting out SO many new leaves, and even tried to throw out a new branch down midway?! That citrus food IS the stuff!! The tree actually looks like a true tree now, and it's just so lovely.........thank you so much for your direction. My stick days seem to be over for now!

=)'ing lots,
Kathleen

YIPPIEEEE!!! That is wonderful news! Think of all the yummy fruit your happy tree will give you now. :~) I am very happy for you.
Donna

Meyer lemon plants are naturally a very round 7' shrub with many criss-crossing branches (tolerable only because it doesn't have the thorns other citrus does). If your plant is in tree form, it has been grafted. Like roses, don't ever let the graft throw out branches. Trim it off, and don't forget to prune the Meyer when it gets lopsided or uneven.