meyer lemon tree

I purchased a meyer lemon tree this past spring from HD. Some of the leaves were eaten up by a grasshopper, so I've brought it onto the porch. It's got one little green lemon on it, and some new leaves. Now the roots are beginning to grow out from the container. I am not sure whether or not to plant it in the ground or into a larger container. Will it survive in the ground in zone 9a?

It is supposedly hardy to 22-25 degrees. It's been recorded in some areas as surviving lower temps. As an experiment you could try planting it on the south side of your house if you are in doubt.

Southside makes sense. That would be my backyard.

I am growing mine in a large terra cotta pot because I am running out of room in my yard. I read that they do well in a pot (my pot is about 50 gallons). Mine has bloomed, set fruit and is blooming again. I put mine on 2 X 4 with castors. I have several other citrus in large pots as well. When we get that decade bad freeze I plan to roll them against the house and cover all of them. The pot naturally dwarfs the tree and the only trimming I do is clean up (crossed branches, suckers etc.).

I have two Kumquats (Centennial & Marumi), two Lemons (Meyer & Variegated Pink), Limequat (‘Lakeland’), Sunquat & Tangerine (‘Ponkan’) in large pot as well. All seem to be doing well. All have bloomed and set fruit and growing great.

Below is a picture of the Meyers Lemon. It is a bout 4 1/2 feet tall.

Good luck growing

DW

Thanks for the information. Putting the planter on castors would make it more manageable. Your tree looks great. Mine is less than two feet tall and doesn't look as nice since the grasshopper munched it, but there is a lemon on it. I've never owned citrus. What soil do you use, and ow often do you feed them in containers? We get freezes here more frequently than in Bradenton. I don't think lemon trees survive as well as orange and grapefruit trees.

Fireant 13

In all my potted plants I use ‘Jungle Growth – Professional Growers Mix with Fertilizer’ soil. I buy it in 3 yard bags. Everything I have planted in it has done well. I even use it in my large pots.

As far as fertilizer I use capsule controlled release fertilizer. I also use a fruit tree or citrus granular 2 – 3 times per year.

You are well north of me and more inland so I imagine you do get a lot colder than us. The Meyers lemons are listed for zones 8B-10. I came across an article on the web about cold tolerant citrus and it listed Ichang Lemon and Tiwanica Lemon. The article said they can withstand down to 10º F.

DW

Stan McKenzie knows his citrus and sells mostly "hardy" varieties: http://www.mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

The site lists Yuzu, Ten Degree Tangerine, Kimbrough Satsuma, Owari Satsuma, Changsha Mandarin, Nippon Oragnequat, Ichang lemon, Thomasville Citrangequat, and others as hardy from 5-15F.

Thanks for the information. I am going to get a 50 gallon container and Jungle Growth, which I hope is available at HD or Ace Hardware. I do have the granular fertilizer, but will also get capsule control. I think the Meyer might make the outdoors, but we have had some brutal freezes in '83, '85, '88 and some in the '90s that killed a lot of citrus in the area. Our subdivision was a former citrus grove. Who knows when we are due for another freeze. I think the orange trees do better than lemon trees.

Thanks for the link to McKenzie farms. Since he's in South Carolina, we can't order from him, but the information on the varieties is helpful.

Fireant13

I get my Jungle Growth from Lowes. I do not know if HD or Aces handle it.

DW

Thank you. HD and Ace are close by, but I do make trips into Leesburg and Ocoee to shop at Lowes. I got my pond there. So far the tree is doing well in spite of the lubbers I missed, and I hope to keep it that way. I didn't want to spray insecticide on it.

Fireant-
I'm a zone colder than you(8a), and have had mine in the ground for two winters, now.

I was nervous at first, but then found people in houston were growing them with no problem. Plus, when I was removing the lemon out of its container, I realized there were actually two small lemons in there, instead of one regular sized one. With the extra, I felt I could gamble a bit...

Also, I was told that in my zone, they'd do better as a large bush, instead of a tree form. So far, that is the shape it wants to be, anyway. Ü

I have mine (as well as a tangerine, "thornless" lime, and psidium and strawberry guava) all planted on the west side of my house near a hot brick wall.

The first winter I emptied out my lawmower bag (that first time in Fall, when you are basically mowing over leaves, lol) at the base, to help insulate the roots, and then I would put some old white sheets over them, when it was supposed to dip below 22. When it was supposed to stay cold, I'd just leave the sheet on them. I left them on for months, will no ill effect. I kept peeking under there, and they were just fine. In fact, they didn't even lose any leaves, or even get browned edges!) The white sheets still let the rain through, and a filtered amount of sun. (This was in my back yard, so no one ever had to see them. )

Now, I have those wire forms I press into the ground( like a tiny hoop house) and just use clothespins to hold the clear plastic row cover(with air slits) onto the wires. The tangerine has to be bent over, and I guess at the point that it gets too tall, I'll figure something else out, but for now it works really well.

I think I got the small hoop house/row cover thingys, at Lee Valley tools.

It makes sense to use the west side and keep it a bush. I don't think it'll grow very large. Thank you for all the advice on taking care of it.

One of my coworkers has a tangerine tree that is gigantic and beautiful, and the fruit is delicious. She's been growing it for over 20 years.

Does anyone have 2 different branches on their Meyer's? The original tree that I received in the mail from Shepard's had one main branch. Then another grew above it (so it's not coming from the root stock) and the leaves were much larger, it had thorns. Now the majority of my tree is this larger leaf, but the only branch I ever got flowers on was the original one, only got one lemon. This past June, I had lots of flowers finally on all the branches. But the large leaf branches had white flowers, the original branch had a more purplish hue. Only ended up with 3 tiny lemons on the original branch and now those have all dropped off. Here's a picture from back in June as the buds were just forming:

Here's one more picture, better close up of the buds. Of course you can't see the leaves of the original branch, because it had just had a bug problem, and had lost most of it's leaves. But the original branch is the one on the right at the lowest Y. Now it has a lot more leaves. I'm just not sure I'm really growing a Meyers.

My meyers have some pretty fierce thorns...just like yours.

I bought a lime once, that had really nasty thorns, and I ended up taking it back, lol...it was too thorny for me. I ended up finding a "thornless" lime, and like it much better.

I don't see anything that looks like you've gotten something mis-tagged. Maybe someone else can point something else out, differently, but yours sure looks like a meyer lemon to me.

Is it just me??...I sure wish the meyer lemons tasted better...I keep expecting them to taste like a grocery store lemon, and they just don't, lol...
-T

What a cute dog in the background. My tree has grown larger since spring, but I don't see any new branches emerging from it. The leaves are filling out after a lubber had munched on it quite a bit before I brought it on to the porch. Some leaves do seem larger, but not on any particular branch. So far, I have only one lemon that's slowly getting larger on it. It's still in the original Home Depot pot that I had bought it in this past spring, but I plan to plant it into a larger container this fall. I bought it after the flowers developed, so I didn't have flowers very long to have noticed much about them. I don't know what to think of the branch on yours.

Good morning,
I purchased a Myer "improved" Lemon from HD this spring.
It has at least 10 lemons and is in a short, bush shape.
Problem: Some sort of scale look on the fruit and when I moved the pot (12 gallon, decorative) ants went everywhere.
Don't want to use any kind of typical insecticide but would like to bring it into the sun room and would prefer not to bring the ants with it. Anyone know what to do?

The ants are probably "farming" either scale or mealybugs. Get rid of the scale (or mealies) and you'll be rid of the ants. I have achieved good control on my citrus with 1) alcohol on a Q-tip to remove any visible bugs; 2) spray of dormant oil every 60 days or so; 3) spot treatment with Neem or pyrethrin or soap spray as needed.

Also, I find it helpful to move the pots around. Finally, I wrap masking tape around a 2 inch section of trunk and cover this with Tanglefoot. This is a sticky substance that stops the ants from trekking up and down the trunk "farming." This may not be so easy if it is not on a standard, but it helps a lot.

Hope this is helpful. SB

Thank you very much. I will do as you suggest and report the results.

I have a Meyer's Lemon Tree - live in Houston, TX - 9a. Last year it did great. This year all the leaves are shriveled. It looks horrible, absolutely no blossoms. Almost looks like leaf miners got a hold of it. The leaves curl up. Any ideas? It is not in a pot, is in full sun, and gets good water. Thanks!

I don't have any ideas. I don't know what leaf miners are. I am sure someone else will know what to do.

I am going to plant mine on the west side of the house and hope it goes okay. The lubbers got it over summer, so I brought it onto the porch. It looks a lot better now. My SiL says that the meyer will grow outside fine, and he's just planted one in his zone 8 yard. He is an experienced and talented gardener and comes from a line of them, so I am hoping he's right about this one.

I have received shipments of trees from a very reputable citrus nursery in FL where every tree had evidence of leafminers. They cause what many consider to be cosmetic damage. Citrus growers in FL and elsewhere that I have spoken to consider leafminers to be "part of doing business" with citrus.

Got mine from HD early summer. Is now loaded with lemons three of which are turning yellow. Problem:
Have great skylights so decided to bring it in as we are going on vacation. About 1/3 of the leaves have dried and are falling off in only 1 week. Took it back outside today and watered till the water ran out the bottom.

I am in the Dallas area and don't know whether it can survive the winter. Anyone know?

Mine didn't produce loads of lemons, only one. I've already picked and ate it. Good flavor. My DD and SiL bought one for their yard in Pensacola, which is zone 8. They put it in the ground a few weeks ago, along with a kumquat tree, so I guess Meyers may be able to survive outside. They'll find out this winter.

LouC-
I'm in Plano, and mine are in the ground.

Really bad freezes you should cover with a sheet. If heavily damaged, they will at the very least return from the roots.

Mine are several years old, and have been in the ground, the entire time.
-T

I have a potted Meyer lemon which flowers incessantly but unfortunately produces no fruit. Can you tell me what is wrong with it? I fertilize it when I am supposed to and water it when required also. Regards, Nola Smith

Nola-
Do you see pollinators on your flowers? I know that sounds like a dumb question, but sometimes all it takes is the right pollinator.

This year a vine I usually get lots of pods on, is barren. All the bees paid their attention to something new in the garden, and this vine was pretty much ignored!, lol...

I have been using MiraGrow 30-10-10 since I brought the bush in June. I fertilize once a month at the rate for a 24" container and the results are amazing. I have a dozen healthy lemons and the bush is flowering again. Can't wait for them to get yellow. A light dose of Ivory liquid mixed in water will take care of the mold.
Our location (Hilton Head, SC) scares me a little, we have already had a light frost.

I live in the San Francisco bay area. Zone 9a to 10b. I have a meyer lemon that is 12 years old now. It is in the ground right next to the house, so it stays a bit warmer. I cover it on really cold nights. It is best if you can drape it in clear plastic but keep the plastic above it--it will get the light so you don't have to take the cover off every day during a cold spell, but the leaves will get more protection if the plastic doesn't actually touch them (imagine touching a single-pane glass window on a cold day--the glass is cold, although the air right next to it is not as cold). Or use something more insulating, like bubble-wrap.

My tree has survived temperatures as low as 26 with no problem with a cover. However, when it was that cold (26F), the fruit froze, making it useless. The fruit seems fine if the nighttime temps are 29-30F, probably not below freezing long enough to freeze the fruit. But if you think it will get much colder, I advise picking all the ripe fruit just before a suspected cold snap.

If I can't use all the fruit, I zest/grate the peel, and juice them, mixing together with the zest. Put in ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, remove from ice cube trays and put in freezer bags to store. Don't leave in the trays--it will evaporate in the freezer and get gummy.

My meyer lemon is nowspouting clusters of tiny bulb-like sprouts. There are about a dozen green bulbs with red tops at each growth. There must be 40 or 50 of them around the plant. Any idea what this is??

Hi all,
We just moved to Jacksonville FL a couple of months ago from Baltimore. We inherited this tree which we have been told is a Meyer's Lemon tree. If these are lemons they are the largest lemons I've ever seen. The tree is about 12 feet tall. Sorry about the pic but I took it when I got home from work. I'll take better ones this weekend. The fruit is as large as a softball and still hard as a rock. Could this possibly be a lemon tree?
Jim

I'm in Thomasville, Ga and I have mine in the ground. It gets in the 30s and it has done well. Jim, mine looks just like yours and the lemons are very big. They have a great taste and yes they are hard. Elaine

You are picking yours now? I cut one in half a couple of weeks ago and the rind, if that's what you call it, was over a !/4" thick. I was told to wait another month or so until they are ripe. Are they ready now?
Jim

The fruit on my Meyer has been green all summer til now...still none ripe! I'd love a whole field of them because the scent en mass is WONDERFUL!

Leaf miners and a long hot summer have taken its toll on my citrus. The trees in the ground have been on the ground for three years so I hope to start seeing fruit on them next year. The only one to bear is my Persian Lime.

Now the citrus in the large pots has been bearing for a couple years but they look kind of ragged this time of year. Leaf miners really like my Lakeland Limequat as well as the others. Below is a picture of my lemon tree. Next year I will be more aggressive about spraying my trees after fertilizing.

Has anybody had any luck in dealing with leaf miners?

DW

Below is a picture of the Lakeland Limequat.

Temperature is dropping to low 40's at night here in Hilton Heaf, SC. I will cover the soil with pine straw rather than peat moss. Is this a good idea for container meyer lemon. I have perhaps 50 clusters of seed (blooms) that just started to grow. Will they become dormant and revive in the spring??

I have a Meyer in a clay pot that stands about 3' above the soil line. In winter I wrap the trunk and mulch the soil with pine straw. It's against a brick wall on the south side of the house. 3 years old and been through many freezes. I generally neglect it.
JesseJean, I'm no expert but in past mine has always recoverd nicely in spring, regardless. You might want to lightly cover it if there's a true freeze maybe. Here are this years lemons from mine (minus one we used for pot pourri):

There are about 12 lemons of various sizes thata re almost ripe. The rest of the buds and blooms are the things I am concerned about. Will they last over the winter?? By the way I have been fertilizing once a month with 30-10-10. Three tablespoons once a month ending in November and starting again in March.
Any suggestions??

JJ-Your plant looks really good for this time of year! Mine's a bit straggly. Maybe if I fertilized...
Anyway, hopefully someone with more expertise than I will be able to definitively answer your question.
Deb