Meyer lemon

Anyone have this tree growing in a pot? What's the best source you've found? I'd like to give it a try.

I have it in a large pot. It gave me 22 lemons this year. I bought it at a local garden center where one of the owners is a professor emeritus from Auburn, specializing in citrus fruits. I have it in a large pot to move into a covered area in case of very low temperatures. It's just an experiment for me - I don't know how long it will last. I'm not an expert. Good luck - they're interesting to observe.

Peony: At the price of lemons, 22 lemons would make several nice pies and save a few bucks. And I understand they're so fragrant in blossom. My plan is to use a large pot on wheels so that it can be brought in for the winter. Thanks for your info.

My friend has one of these which is frankly not in a good indoor spot. Very low light. Despite that, and with Miracle Gro, it's survived and fruited for about five years so far. Seems to be a tough plant.

Sally: Thank you. I'm going to buy a Meyer lemon at Earth Fare or Fresh Market and try planting the seeds before investing the money in a plant. I know it will be a slow process, but I'd like to try this first.

Thanks again for your response.

Angie

Wait a sec-- Yes you can buy a Meyer and grow the seeds. I have about twenty babies to prove that. Very good germination. But at this point I believe that it will be probably four years minimum from seed for them to flower AND I haven't yet found a source to say they will grow true from seed. Many citrus do not. I've been poking around DG trying to find this out. I have a thread in Tropicals about mine.

I've read somewhere (in a hurry now...will have to dig up the reference later, but it was a citrus grower nursery so I think they knew what they were talking about) that Meyer lemon does come very close to true from seed--technically it won't be genetically identical but in terms of the flavor of the fruit, etc it's close enough that you probably wouldn't notice a difference.

I'm in zone 10a and have 2 Meyer lemons planted in the ground. This year one of them has been extremely prolific, and it has kept us in fresh squeezed lemonade constantly. I also use a lot of lemons for iced tea and to squeeze on fish and salad greens. Last winter I bought what was supposed to be a dwarf patio Meyer lemon from a local rare plants group. I planted it beside our breakfast patio and I pinched off all the fruit it had on it (painfully!) so that it would establish good roots. When we got back here at the end of October, it had grown to the size of a regular Meyer. It has no fruit on it yet, but that doesn't surprise me, as it is still getting settled in. I do not think it is really a rare patio dwarf, and it was therefore NOT worth as much as I paid for it. LOL

ecrane3- I think you gave this site on my previous question
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/meyer_lemon.htm
which says 'usually comes true from seed' and four years or more to bloom.
I just registered on Citrus Grower's Forum, so I hope I can see links there and read more.

Hemophobic- I had very good results germinating the seed. They took three weeks for me, but about 90 plus percent sprouted.

Yep--that's the one I was thinking of. Thanks for finding it for me! I really should bookmark these things but I never think of it at the time.

Sally and ecrane: Thank you both for the info. Your input was most welcome and confirmed what I had read about growing them from seeds. Now I just have to hie me to the Earth Fare and buy one of those lemons!

I have a Meyers and this year I got at least 150 lemons from it. It is planted on the south side of my house in a flower bed. There are still some lemons on it and I need to cut it back a little bit. Does anyone have advise on how to do that. There are still lemons on it that I am going to pick today. Elaine

The sources I have read said that pruning of citrus is not necessary or even really justified but for the life of me I can't find that source (it might have been in my local paper - The Houston Chronicle). That same article said that fertilizing is not necessary, either, and that leaving Meyers out in the cold but not fiercely cold is good for the fruit and makes it sweeter.
Just my 2¢ worth.

Ann

Thanks. I think I will just trim the very long limbs and leave the others. It also has sprouted an off shots which I think I will take out. I don't know if it will grow but I certainly do not need two. Maybe the gardner will want it. Elaine

If the offshoots that you mention are sprouts coming up from near the base, I would definitely prune them out unless this is a tree that you know for a fact was not grafted--many citrus trees that you get at nurseries are grafted onto another rootstock, so shoots coming up from the base may be from that rootstock. Often the rootstock plant is more vigorous than the thing grafted on top of it, so if you let the sprouts go they can sometimes take over and then you wind up with some icky thorny thing with sour fruits instead of your Meyer lemon.

ecrane I'm glad you mentioned that as the rootstock can certainly take over and you are left w/very little.

Ann

K, don't hit me, lol. I have both "Meyers" and "Improved Meyers" which were found at the local Home Depot. Both have been fruiting and flowering for years in pots. I recommend the "Improved" which has outgrown my regular by far! More blooms, more fruit, more growth and a sweeter lemon. Please forgive the photo--it thrives on my sunroom all winter and loves the morning sun--she is over 6' and blooming again.
Edited to add that there is a huge Impatient at the foot of my tree.
Vi


This message was edited Jan 20, 2009 2:20 PM

Kami - You can prune a Meyer Lemon, or most any citrus to control size and/or shape. I am training one I bought last spring into a standard (single trunk), and plan on putting it in the ground this spring in a protected spot. I know I will have to prune it for size before too many years pass. I just wait until after any fruit ripens on the branch I want to cut. Pruning is not necessary, but wont hurt anything (unless you were to cut off all the leaves at one time - even then, I don't know that it would die) Good luck! Samantha

THank you for all of your replies. I am going to lightly trim it in a couple of weeks. The coldest freeze we've had just past. I have to keep it trimed some or it will take over the area I planted it in. Elaine