Hello...

Last Sep, I posted about my skinny and tall lemon tree. I repotted it, trimmed the top off, and stuck the top (cutting) in soil, covered it, and misted it a couple times a week.

I left the cutting covered until last month (May). The lone 2 leaves started to turn VERY dark green and they got really large, and there was no new growth during the 7 months it sat "dormant". I didn't touch the root system. Early last month, I took it out of the clear plastic and starting exposing it to sun. Well... it's got a new branch now!

As for the original plant, three new branches have sprouted. Originally, six branches came out last Oct, but 3 dropped off during the winter months. The remaining 3 just stayed small, until I began taking the tree outdoors last month. Now the branches are growing quickly. And I've been keeping it outdoors without staking so that the trunk can sway in hopes that it will thicken out.

Here's a recent picture. Please let me know if the trees look "healthy"!

Thanks,
-Tom in Scranton, PA

Tom, your trees look good. The curling leaves may mean low humidity or they need a drink. Otherwise they are growing quite well. What are their growing conditions? Do they get summered outdoors? How much light do they receive? What kind of lemon is it?

Congratulations on starting a new cutting. That's darn good work!

Tom, if it's a store bought lemon it's most likely a lisbon or eureka lemon, but it is possible that it may be a meyer (but it would usually be advertised as such). Do you want the tree to flower and produce fruit or do you just want it to grow as is?

My house is quite dry in the winter also; sometimes when I water I take the plant to the sink and give it a good misting. The plant enjoys it and it keeps the dust off. Just remember, they grow citrus in the desert so they can take dry weather.

You don't need to bring your plants in at night this time of year. Your lemon trees can take temperatures into the the mid 30's without any problems as long as this occurs gradually. Some lemons can even take a slight freeze although I myself do not like to expose my plants to temps below 40 degrees.

If you remember the appearance of the lemon, you can probably exclude Meyer--it does not have a nipple-- it is round like an orange.

You should definitely be able to get your tree to flower and fruit. How soon, depends on how much it grows. It would normally take about 7-10 years in a normal citrus growing area, in a container in your area it could take longer, unless you want to try your hand at grafting.

If you graft it, you could have fruit in 3-4 years. I can't send you budwood as FL in under quarentine, but I am sure there are others on the forum that would be willing.

BTW--If your tree came from a Meyer, it will not grow true to type.

I have done the same thing, planted the only three seeds I got from a store bought lemon. I live in Bangkok Thailand, the seeds have sprouted in 3 weeks and are already about an inch tall. I do want fruit from them, so I was wondering at what size should I try and graft them? I looked at the tutorials on bark grafting etc. ad even a novice like me may be able to tackle that, if I can find the grafts here that is... None of the oranges or Thai Limes have come up yet. Also planted a mulberry tree from cuttings, they seem to be going great guns, they will be my next problem perhaps, since I only have a 5m2 balcony...

Any advise on the lemons??

Cheers

Oz

Most people wait until the rootstock is about pencil size for T-budding. That should take about a year in a warm climate if they are fertilized properly. If you can get mature buds (from a tree that is producing fruit), you should get fruit in about 3 years. Lemon as a rootstock has a negative effect on the quality of the fruitbut will increase the juice content (like oranges, it will not effect lemons).

Budwood is any piece of a branch taken from a mature fruit bearing citrus tree. From this stick "Budwood", a live bud is taken and then T-budded onto another citrus rootstock, or onto another citrus seedling tree, or onto any variety of citrus. You can use the search function on this forum to look up information concerning "T-Budding". - Millet