Planted this one in fall of 2010, sustained moderate damage (lost all leaves, some outer branches damaged) during our 100 year freeze event of last spring. Currently in the pink of health, a very robust shrubby 3' tall x 4.5' wide. It did have mild chlorosis coming out of winter, and was a bit pale even after fertilizing, so I applied some chlelated iron to the soil recently.

This spring it put out about a dozen blooms and it has about 3-4 fruitlets hanging on.







Here is my Bearss lime, a year in the ground, about 15 feet away from the Meyer - can't get it to stop blooming. This one is still pretty twiggy at 4' tall x 2' wide, so I am not letting it set more than 4-5 fruit this year.



Adding insult to injury, the Valencia orange I planted Easter weekend is already blooming heavily....

Could this Meyer be a dud or are they just late to come on as bloomers? Ideas?

Eric "not always patient" L.

They all look good. Is the Meyer a rooted cutting or grafted ?

Laaz-

It is a grafted tree on Volk rootstock from my local nursery.

Thanks,
Eric

Give it time & it should produce more lemons than you can use. Mine is a rooted cutting, I chose this option because I figured if I ever lost it to a freeze it would come back true from the roots. Well, that was back in 2004... Today it is about 12 ft tall & has never had any freeze damage, it produces hundreds of lemons every year... Meyer is not a true lemon as you probably know & does get a bad off flavor if left on the tree to turn orange. They are best used when they are not fully yellow.

Looking at your soil, I don't know how you keep things hydrated.

heh - it is poor for sure - calcareous and alkaline, either chunky with caliche or so sandy it's like a sieve. Anyway, my answer is wood chips as mulch top dressing (held away from the trunk with a brick moat) and TLC.

See pics below of my newly planted Valencia, mulched within an inch of its life and shielded from the wicked west winds and afternoon sun for its first summer:



When it comes to new plantings out here in this sometimes hostile environment, I go with the Doctrine of Overwhelming Force...



Eric "who needs to get outside and put fresh mulch on his other trees" L.

Bob, Laaz is correct - Patience Grasshopper. Your Meyer will come around and you'll end up with more fruit that you know what to do with. They are PROLIFIC producers. I have a 5 or 6 yo Meyer that I just picked about 60 to 70 lbs. of fruit off of, and there is at least that much still on the tree. This is a semi-dwarf about maybe 7 or 8 feet tall. Yes, the fruit can be a little off-tasting (it kind of tastes "piney" to me, but I would't say it's bad perse), but if you let the fruit sit in the house for a couple of weeks (they keep very, very well), that taste goes away, and they get even sweeter. They make the best ever lemonade. Love my Meyer!

Patty S.

I planted my two Meyers spring of 2011 under optimal conditions. They were pampered and babied but I did not see any blooms last year. Mine were rooted cuttings bought from a reputable nursery. I went with the rooted cutting for the same reason as Laaz. I had some leaf yellowing but it was only older leaves and I was told not to worry. I was good advice as this spring it was loaded with blooms and now fruit. I had a perfect winter and healthy well taken care of trees. I expect with your rather non-optimal conditions and the bad winter that defoiliated your tree you should have some heavy bloom set next year.

My Meyer Lemon now has a second set of blooms coming on and fruit from the first bloom is the size of a fifty cent piece with some larger.

mine was 10 feet tall and no flowers either, kinda a bummer as I had to prune it down to cover it.............it has 4-5 fruit last year, it grew like a weed fwiw
this year

Dozens and dozens of blooms this year, finally (over a hundred, I'm sure).
Got a little crispy on the edges from our five straight nights of hard freezes this winter, despite being covered with a light bulb for heat.
Hoping for a few dozen fruit, instead of two or three.

Good things come to those who wait. -Millet

Update: consarn 60 mph wind storm a few weeks ago toasted most of the blooms. Welcome to Arid-Zone-Uh

B "hoping for a second bloom" C

You might get lucky, but Meyer usually only bloom once a year.

Oh well. The tree itself is robust and the foilage looks nice. I know it will be a winner...eventually.

P.S. 5 US gallon bucket is for scale. (My plant pics may not win any awards, but I always try to include a common object for scale on non-close-ups: mostly for my own reference in the future, to appreciate growth rates.)
BC