Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi

A friend has given me a lemon tree but i have no idea where to put it or how to look after it! Can i put it in a pot in my polytunnel?
ANy tips please?

Geacher, some idea of where in the world you are will "steer" the advice a bit.
edit your profile to show it permanently.

Hi Geacher,
I have had two citrus trees for some time now and they do bear fruit! They are relatively easy to look after as long as you remember to get some Citrus food for summer and some for winter (two different types). I usually find Chempak in the garden centre though expensive lasts for ages.
I bring mine into the conservatory for winter and outside for the summer. If indoors watch out for red spider mite, scale and mealy bugs.
Water with rain water and do not over water in the winter. Once a year I remove the top few inches of soil in the pot and replace with fresh compost and they also get a spray with liquid seaweed in the summer.
We had a good crop of tangerines this autumn!
Hilary

Hi Geacher, thanks for posting this question.

I have been considering growing a lemon and a lime but wasn't sure just how much protection they would need in winter. I have a polytunnel and an unheated greenhouse but I don't know if the trees would have survived the last two winters in there (-18C).
I do have a conservatory which has underfloor heating which has proved to be a problem for my plants in general as they don't seem to like their roots being hot and the pots dry out very quickly. The temperature of the floor gets to about 27C although the room temp is only set to 17C (day) and 10C (night). Anyone have any thoughts about how the citrus would cope in these conditions?

Diane

Hi Diane,
Although I do not grow any Citrus myself I would think that just so long as there is a descent air gap twixt base of pot and the floor the temperatures themselves sound ideal.
JB.

hilary wrote:Water with rain water and do not over water in the winter.

Watering and pH are key to success with any citrus trees. Water copiously through the summer while growth is active, but keep your plants just moist to encourage dormancy in winter. Keeping them dormant is important if they are to survive low temperatures: light frosts can be tolerated for short periods. Citrus love being stood outside for the summer (viz. Versailles), even in Britain, where the get all the light and fresh air they enjoy. I prune mine hard just as they are coming into growth in the spring. Take out coarse, thorny growth completely as this is least likely to fruit. I feed with Tomorite through the summer, no feed in the winter.

The received wisdom is that they like their soil to be a little alkaline, so be sure, when watering with rain water or if your local water supply is soft, that the pH does not drop drastically over time.

FelixLeiter wrote:The received wisdom is that they like their soil to be a little alkaline, so be sure, when watering with rain water or if your local water supply is soft, that the pH does not drop drastically over time.

I'm surprised about this? Is the problem with low pH or with conditions getting alkaline?

Hi Colin,
My information differs slightly from that of Felix's. The information I have always accepted is that Citrus trees grow best with a PH of 5.5 to 6.5 which is slightly acidic. If it is more acidic than that it locks up certain elements and if the PH reaches is as high as 7.5 many more of the nutrients are again locked up and become unavailable to the plant. PH7 is the neutral stage and I would have thought that it would be best to keep below PH7. So it seems that it is a very fine line keeping this balance.
JB.