Its mid winter and citrus are ripe in the south. But this is the season my potted tree blooms. I suppose its something about the light or temperature change when I bring it indoors in October that triggers blooming. Looks like it may be a good year, as more buds keep forming. Five so far. The most its had before is three lemons.
What kind of care do you give your Meyer lemon? I'd love to try growing one, and even moreso now that I see the beautiful blossoms.
ReplyDeleteNot much care. It is about 4-5 feet tall and in a big pot. It goes outside where the sprinklers and filtered sunlight reach in May. It comes inside to a sunny south window in October. It gets fertilized with regular 5-10-5 when I notice the leaves getting yellowish. The hardest part is remembering to water regularly in the winter and finding enough room for it inside.
ReplyDeleteTwo winters ago it got a bad scale infestation so I decided to dispose of it and put it outside in the back yard in March snow and cold. All the leaves fell off and it looked terrible, but not having the time to dispose of it, I left it in the pot. By midsummer it had leafed out beautifully with no scale left.
I am getting one of these meyer's this year. I have a pink variegated lemon and I think another variety would be good for cross pollination. Just found out I am supposed to pollinate it by hand. Could be why I have only had one lemon in three years. Don't the blooms smell great, it is worth growing just for the blooms.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about pollination. I have never done anything. Most blooms seem to set fruit and most fruit seem to ripen. I have never really noticed the smell of the flowers - I get so few. I will check the one in bloom now.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! That is incredible. Rich, sweet and wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! I remember the first time I smelled citrus blossom in a garden centre it was amazing, almost intoxicating. Loved the month by month pictorial for 2009 Kathy, in a year that seems to have whizzed past it is a reminder of the wishful thinking when seeding, hard graft growing/watering and smiles and chuckles of pleasure when harvesting and eating, Thanks for bringing the year back to us!!!
ReplyDeleteMarian (LondonUK)
Hi Kathy, my Meyer lemon tree is blooming now as well. I purchased it as a twig almost two years ago and managed to get a harvest of 12 huge lemons last year (nice for marmalade and preserved lemons). Just an FYI, January is when Meyer lemons tend to have their major flush of blooms for the year, though they also have minor flushes year round. I hand pollinate with a fine art brush, transferring pollen from one flower to the stigma of another. (The bloom you photograph doesn't have one so it will not form a fruit).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I want to consider using a different fertilizer. Citrus are heavy nitrogen feeders and it's recommended to use a fertilizer with at a 3-1-1 ratio.
Thanks Thomas! I have a couple more buds forming. I'll find some high N fertilizer.
ReplyDeleteVery Lovely! My citrus bloomed several years ago but no fruit. I'm hoping to buy a proper dwarf tree, mine was started from a seed many years ago.
ReplyDeleteHi! I have some variety of lemon tree- don't think it's a meyer because it's more like a bush... I have been hand pollinating my lemons for 2 seasons now, and last season I got unbelievably huge, beautiful, branch-bending lemons- too many to use- I gave them away. This is the first time I've moved mine inside, it's blooming now. I never fertilize mine at all, and it produces very well!
ReplyDeleteSounds great. I fertilized mine a few days ago and its amazing how fast the leaves green up.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your website. I love the pics and information.
ReplyDeleteThanks. My little lemon tree needs some attention tomorrow. It has about 20 lemons growing on it now and still is flowering - plus our wind storms keep blowing it over. It needs so much nitrogen. Tomorrow I should fertilize and replenish the soil that had spilled out. And just generally give it some attention.
ReplyDelete