Lemon Tree

Need to know the best time to plant?

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Westi
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Not sure correct post but my new lemon tree, which I bought with mature fruit on it last year, is confusing me. It went out when the weather improved, has the summer fertiliser feed drips, had bee activity & loads of flowers. Question is from pic below is this all I can expect at this time to develop into fruit! Some of earlier flowers have fallen & just left bigger but hardened off things of a similar shape.

Bottom line - any chance of fruit from what left?
Westi

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Westi
robo
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We bought a lemon tree last year it had one big lemon on it just turning yellow we where told on no account to eat it as it had been sprayed, this year we have around four small ones just starting to grow we have had flowers on it since spring but usually intermittently most fall off
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Pawty
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Hi,

Unfortunately my lemon tree died before it was able to fruit, so no experience, sorry. My only help/advice to anyone who has one is make sure you bring it in before winter. I learnt the hard way.

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It doesn't look very promising Westi. They show tiny little green lemons when the flowers drop if fruits are going to form.

I'd give it a summer feed, and if it is indoors stand it in a saucer of pebbles to raise the humidity, they don't like dry heat indoors.
Westi
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That's a shame, had loads of flowers in two flushes & there was bee activity! It has the summer feed drips in situ. It's out on the patio for the Summer before coming indoors again in a few weeks. You don't think it could be overwatered, where it is it catches the spray from the sprinkler, but drains really well?

The don't need another one for a pollinator do they or is it paint brush activity needed? While I'm on a roll with questions, do they like a close fit in the pot or some room for the roots? It's still in the pot I got it in and has grown about a foot or more and you can see some roots around the top, if re-pot what compost?

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Westi
Westi
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I'm probably not the best person to give advice on citrus. I like trying to grow them and have had about 23 lemons from a Eureka variety I bought from Lidl but I usually lose the plant after about five years. Mine have always been susceptible to scale insects which are extremely difficult to eradicate and severely weaken the plant.

I repot them in a special citrus compost from the garden centre when their roots fill the pot. This usually is quite gritty for good drainage.

Most varieties are self fertile so the bees should pollinate your plant for you but it might be worth using a soft paint brush as well.

If it has had plenty of flowers it must be something it doesn't like then. It could be the weather, or as you say that it has been a bit too wet.
Perhaps if you moved it it might be happier.
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Tony Hague
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My wife has a lemon and a lime (from Dobies, I think) which are supposed to be tolerant down to -5C. One year we had a few lemons and 15 limes, but they gradually get smaller each year as we trim off the die-back. Keeping them in a greenhouse overwinter does not seem to be enough to make them happy. They've been re-potted with the proper compost, get the proper feed, have no scale, etc, etc. Just don't seem to like our climate, I reckon.
Eve Russell
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Tony Hague wrote:My wife has a lemon and a lime (from Dobies, I think) which are supposed to be tolerant down to -5C. One year we had a few lemons and 15 limes, but they gradually get smaller each year as we trim off the die-back. Keeping them in a greenhouse overwinter does not seem to be enough to make them happy. They've been re-potted with the proper compost, get the proper feed, have no scale, etc, etc. Just don't seem to like our climate, I reckon.


Lemon tree is my dream! Thanks for tips, I want to try to grow it.
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Westi
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Hi Eve,

Welcome to the forum. This is my 2nd lemon tree, the first one I read the blurb about hardy down to -5C & believed it, turns out it was't happy & it died. I'm not sure whether it is the temperature bit, but our winter is wetter & they prefer it dry over winter with watering only when completely dry. This one comes in the house over winter, although I'm sure greenhouse would be fine, but it does need a bit of a drink & I don't visit the greenhouse as much during the winter.

I'm going to pollinate it with a paint brush next year & change it's location on the patio in summer to avoid over watering!

Westi
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My wife planted a lemon pip it would have been around twenty five years ago it grew into a tree about four feet high but never flowered it also had Sharpe spikes on it but it did give a strong lemony odour sadly it died after about six years, the one we have at present I bought from aldi last year it has flowered all summer and still has some on it as well as about six lemons it has spent the summer outside until last week but we are going away on Sunday so now it is in the conservatory
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Despite them saying they are able to withstand sub zero temperatures citrus trees are happier if you keep them at 10° or over in winter, especially limes which tend to be a bit more tender. If the unheated greenhouse gets close to freezing I put fleece over the one in there but the one in the conservatory seems to manage ok.
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In Spain they grow them in the fields (as we all know) but they normally grow them at low altitude we can't grow them on our finca but a hundred meters down the track they grow no problem we also get cold nights in winter with occasional snow about one night every twenty five years but not a lot of frost they don't like long spells of cold weather that's why we can't grow them on our finca we get very cold winds with no protection they need shelter
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