I was just given this Lemon Tree grown from a store lemon seed by my Ex Mother-in-Law, Can anyone help with an ID as to what it is?







Thanks for any help, it is greatly apprecieated.

It would be difficult to ID the lemon variety without fruit, but the two most common varieties found in stores are Eureka and Lisbon. Lemons grow true from seed.

However, this tree needs help-- the repeated pruning will prevent it from ever having fruit. The burned leaf tips indicate salt buildup in the soil and the tree needs a flushing if not repotting.

Thanks Skeeter for the quick response, My daughter brought this tree
to me yesterday, said her Grandmother has been growing it for about 6 or 7 years and was going to throw it away, my daughter called and asked if I would like to have it and of course my response was yes, When I got home from work this is what was in my garage, It is quite leggy and the soil is rather damp, it is 55-65 for day time highs with lows in the 40-50 degree F. range here in northern Illinois, I'm new to growing Citrus and Bananas this year, not sure if it is ok to flush the pot this late in the season. I also have two Meyer improved Lemons (1 tree 1 bush type that have ping pong ball size fruit at the moment and a Washington Navel Orange that are doing great since I found this forum and learned alot about Citrus and watering practices, appreciate it very much , Thanks

The general form of the Lemon is quite different. Your Mother In Law must have been pruning the tree, because seedling lemons tend to grow narrow and tall. I doubt that the tree has a salt build up, at least no where near a toxic level, as the leaf margins are green and very healthy, and the basic coloration of the tree is a nice dark green color. The few leaves with a very minor tip burn, can be from a number of reasons, probably from watering. Salt problems occur when high levels of fertilizers are used in soils that have poor drainage. It can also result from having a water source that contains a high level of salt compounds. The symptoms of salt damage are:
1. Leaf tips and margins brown and dead.
2. Leaves drop.
3. Soil surface gets a buildup of white powder stuff (resembles ground
table salt).
4. Slow growth.
5. Roots are damaged.
6. Poor leaf coloration.

Although you lemons has a couple leaves with minor tip burn, the tree in general looks to be fine, although quite small for the age of the tree. Just to be sure, the next couple times your lemon needs to be watered, water the container well so that approximately 10-20 percent of the irrigation water applied drains out of the holes at the bottom of the container. Container citrus trees should always be water well when watered so that 10 percent of the irrigation water drains out of the bottom of the container, than do not water again until 50 percent of the water remaining in the container is use by the tree. - Millet

Thanks Millet for the input. The tree does appear to be very healthy and really poorly pruned as the trunk is about 1 inch diameter but little or no upper growth, but lots of green lower branches, the media potted in seems to be miricale grow potting soil or something like it. I would like to repot into the chc mix that I keep reading about and prune this plant to get rid of some of the leggy effect it has and get it to look like a Tree, I'm new to all this and have a lot to learn but ( Boy talk about your learning curve ) in just the last 5 months, My three current Citrus are all potted with Miricale Grow Citrus and Cactus soil, but planning on changing the media asap, so this would be a perfect time to order the chc and give it a try, with two lemons with small fruit, would this be a bad time to repot to a different media as I'm going to try and overwinter all my plants inside with artificial lighting, I have no south or clear west windows in my house. Here's a few more pics.



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The best time to re-pot a tree (if there is a best time) would be spring or early summer. However, I have transplanted trees in every month of the year. I do not think when you transplant a tree really makes all that much difference. What makes a difference is how much or how little the root system is damaged or disturbed. Citrus grown indoors often become leggy. What firms up the trunk and limbs of trees (all kinds of trees) is the resistance of the branches and trunks against the wind. The flicking back and forth of the tree gives the trunk and branches their strength. Indoors this is accomplished by a fan. - Millet

Thanks again Millet for your input, I plan on repotting his coming weekend, after lifting this bad boy to move from garage to three season room, it is very heavy compared to the containers mine are in with the citrus and cactus soil, so I will be repotting into different media and pruning , again Thank You very much