Hi!

I got another general question that puzzles me.

When we grow a citrus from its seed, the plant should reach maturity before it starts bearing fruits; i.e., it should develop a certain number of nodes. Experts, please, correct me if I am wrong on that... this is what I learned, in particular, from Millet's recent posts.

When rooting a cutting, the tree starts on being "mature" to begin with and may start fruiting right away.

Well, I realize that this is, most likely, over-simplified and, likely, incorrect. Anyway, here is my question: What if the plant established as a rooted cutting has lost its top (say, to a freeze as my Meyer did a year ago) and starts emerging from its roots. What happens to the node count? Will the count start from "node 1"?

Sorry if it is a dumb (or too trivial) question!

You are correct that a seedling must reach a certain node count, depending on the specific species/cultivar.

As to your cutting grown Meyer, the new shoots will be the same age as the original cutting. The tree may go into a vigorous growth stage, and fruiting may be delayed until the root system and top have reached a balance, but the node count would be satisfied, as it was in the original cutting.

Ned

Ned,

Thank you very much for the explanation! I hope my Meyer will fruit... Once it grows new leaves that were lost to a freeze.

A node is any place on a tree where a leaf is growing or has grown at any time in the past. The node count is enumerated for each specific point on a tree and not for the tree as a whole so, as you move toward the branch tips, the node count for each succesive node is one higher than at the previous node. The node count at a given point on a tree is measured from that point back to the original planted seed. If bud wood is removed from a tree at node 50, that bud wood is still at node 50 when grafted to another tree. Any new branch that grows on the original tree where the the bud wood was removed will begin at node 50 again. If a tree branches at node 40 the next node on both branches will be node 41 and the next node after node 41 on both branches will be node 42, etc. The node count required for maturity varies from one cultivar to another. Only nodes numbered higher than the mature node count are capable of fruiting. Lower nodes on a tree always remain immature and incapable of fruiting. My understanding is that maturity has something to do with the number of cell divisions that have occured between the seed and each point on a tree. That is why the node count is remembered when bud wood is transferred from one tree to another.

Meyer lemons are propagated by grafting or by rooted cuttings since they do not grow true to type from seed. All Meyer lemon trees come from a single seed planted many generations ago. The node count of every node on every Meyer lemon tree planted today is probably in the thousands no matter how small or how large the tree is. As a result, every part of the wood on every Meyer lemon tree planted today would be considered mature and capable of fruiting regardless of whether the tree was cut back or frozen.

Jrb,

Thank you very much for your very complete explanation!
Just out of my curiosity, is the info on the mature node counts for different cultivars available somewhere?

Thank you again!