Hi, I am new, and I have read the winter care sticky and some other winter care posts, but still don't feel totally confident about what to do with my tree. I hope this isn't too repetitive!

I'm in Philadelphia, and have had my Meyer lemon tree since late July. It's in the 5 gallon plastic pot it came from the nursery in, and with the pot is about 5 and half feet tall, but I don't know how old it is. It's currently living outside against a wall on the SE side of the house.

My house is an old carriage house, with an unheated, uninsulated and drafty garage on the ground floor and an apartment above. I'm renovating it, so right now the upstairs isn't well insulated or heated, and this is the first winter I've lived here so I don't know how cold the garage will get. I'm hoping to keep it around 60-65 degrees upstairs this winter. It's a rowhouse, so I only have windows facing SE and NW. The garage only has a very shaded window on the NW

Should I keep the tree upstairs or downstairs? And when should I bring it in?

Thanks so much!

keep it it in a location where it will not drop below freezing(around 40F is ideal at minimum), has at least a few hours of direct sunlight and provide decent humidity, go for 50% or above.(Humidifier works). fertilize at 1/2 or 1/4 strength until temps warm up.

Bring it in when the outside temperature is similar to the inside. i.e. 20C during the day and 12-15C during the night.

Needs to be near a window, preferably south facing. But, very important, if it's exposed to the sun, you MUST warm the roots up to 25/30C. Get some Christmas lights or a heat mat.

I have found some of my trees don't like being near to a radiator, it dries the air........

Aim for humidity also, maybe a gravel tray with water in, or mist regularly.

> (around 40F is ideal at minimum), has at least a few hours of direct sunlight
For me it looks like the perfect conditions for WLD.

WLD is about stress from enviromental changes and low humidity as a contributing factor.

WLD is caused by the soil temp being to low & the roots stop sending nutrients to the canopy. When the canopy is in direct sun & the roots can not support the leaves, they will drop.

Every year I bring my 15 trees in for winter storage.(heated windowed shead) I let the minimum temp get to 40f and day time temps get no more then 65f. Meanwhile they get 5-7 hours of direct sun. I keep the humidity at or above 60% I have never experienced WLD. the out to in transition is over 2-4 weeks. My recomendation comes from persional experiences of success that's all!

I see your point however, if you had any persional experience you would know 50-60% humidity would not" wet" the leaves. Additionaly, every few days the humidity will drop when the humidifier empties. Like I said I have never experienced WLD and your agreement or disagreementis only relevent if you can bring somehing to the table other then quoting some website.

Thanks for all the help.

I usually add some humidity to my living space in the winter for my own comfort. Average daytime winter humidity here is between 55 and 60% outdoors, so less of course in the heat inside.

It looks like average lows here are in the 20s (F) I don't think I trust the garage to stay above 40. So it sounds like the tree will be living upstairs, and coming in in the next day or so since it's supposed to be colder Friday night. We don't have any heat in the house at the moment (changing soon I hope!), so today it was warmer where the tree is than my desk.

Should I put it near a window, or farther away? The living space upstairs is a loft, so gets indirect light throughout.

I do also have an abundance of Christmas lights. I'm sure guests will be very perplexed by a lemon tree with Christmas lights on the pot... they'll think I've totally lost it!

If you use Christmas lights make sure they are the standard style not LED. The LED will not heat the pot at all.

I wouldn't fertilize at all during the winter unless growing conditions were next to perfect. Wait till near spring when you're about to put it back outside.