Growing lemons from seed.

[bazfaz]

About six years ago on a visit south of the border down Espana way we stopped to gather some fallen lemons. They had delicious juice so I sowed a seed. We now have a flourishing shrub in a large pot. I keep it trimmed so it doesn't get out of hand. But after 5 or 6 years it has never flowered. Do you think it ever will? We inherited from Mrs Faz's sister a lemon in a pot and this flowers and fruits successfully. Am I doing something wrong with our lemon-from-seed? Does it need a few words of love - or threats that its days are numbered unless it does what nature intended?

[Deleted]

Websites make it sound so easy.

[bazfaz]

Yes, I have googled it. I had no problem getting the seed to sprout and grow. The bush just refuses to flower. Maybe I am being impatient.

[bjd]

Don't trees have to be grafted in order to produce fruit?

[bixaorellana]

Trees don't necessarily have to be grafted to produce fruit. However, the lemon in question may have been a hybrid. If so, its seed might very well not produce the same kind of tree from which it fell. One of the parents of the original lemon tree might have been there to produce good strong stock, but was not the kind that flowers well. The fruit from the hybrid has reverted to one of the non-hybrid parents.

Here is a fuller explanation: www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5720

[bazfaz]

I believe lemon trees have to be grafted to be certain you get the same fruit. But seeds must produce some fruit-bearing trees or what is the point of them?

[Deleted]

You should read Bixa's site, it explains. Citrus seedlings are used primarily for rootstocks onto which chosen varieties are grafted.
A seed from the citrus fruit you may grow into a tree,but will probably not produce good fruit. Also,it will be many years before you will know either way.

[Deleted]

Maybe it is one of those sterile Monsanto monsters.

[bazfaz]

Bixa posted her link as I was writing my post.

Rootstocks are chosen for certain qualities: resistance to disease, for instance, or dwarfing. On the rootstock you put your desirable fruiting graft. Our lemons were picked up from a whole orchard of similar lemon trees. The seed cme from a desirable fruit. I want to see it perform.

[Deleted]

I have a small grove of Meyer Lemons. I frequently will have a seedling sprout from a piece of fallen fruit the opossums or raccoons left behind. Rather then let them take over the grove as unwanted "volunteers" I have potted up a few and given to people. Every single person I have given one to has told me theirs never bore fruit. Have at it and good luck.
A newly purchased tree properly grafted can yield up to 30 lemons by the second year.
I once had a yield of 52 on one tree that was only about 3 years old.

[Deleted]

How insulting to Baz Faz! Just tell him that he is as incompetent as your friends next time!

[bazfaz]

I understand that a Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Sounds good. But ours were just lemon-lemons.

At least the leaves are good in Thai dishes.

[Deleted]

I don't know of Meyer lemon leaves being used for flavoring. Kaffir lime leaves are the most commonly used in Thai dishes that I'm familiar with and have read hw's references to. Their growth here is very iffy.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2009 21:02:10 GMT kerouac2 said:

How insulting to Baz Faz! Just tell him that he is as incompetent as your friends next time!

(do you think he got it?)

[bixaorellana]

He can't seem to understand the simple genetics of plant hybridization. Perhaps he needs to go all the way back to the birds and the bees.

[cigalechanta]

meyer lemons!! be still my heart! I mentioned a newver tasted one and a poster on Fodors sent me two.. They were exactly like one I plucked from a tree in Nice, almost like a grapetfruit.
I juicws them into vanilla ice cream and stirred the juice in. The best Lemon ivce cream I ever tasted. Alas here in Northern New England we can't grow the things I love the most, like olives, figs, lavender, lemons, and my list goes on.

[imec]

Jul 26, 2009 20:08:47 GMT casimira said:

I have a small grove of Meyer Lemons.

A GROVE of them? OMG!!! Do you make Limoncello with them?

[Deleted]

I have a total of 12 trees,8 Meyer lemons,2 Lisbon lemons,1 Persian lime and 1 Blood Orange.
I have made Limoncello in the past. They ripen around late November. A good number of them I ship out to friends and family and that takes care of Christmas,some I barter with local restaurants in exchange for meals (handy when company comes to town and I'm broke), and the remainder I experiment with and make stuff;limoncello,marmalades,Moroccan preserved, lemon curd and the like. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas. They are much more fashionable these days then when I first started growing them so there are a whole lot more recipes out there. The ingredients can get pricey (vodka,olive oil).
Louisiana few people realize is a major producer of citrus.

[imec]

Do you have any lavender? I once made a sensational lavender lemonade. I can't put my hands on the recipe but this is similar... gardeningtips.org/April/recipe.shtml

[spindrift]

Casimira - I'm so envious of your citrus orchard

[Deleted]

Spindrift, I could see some Meyer lemons in some lovely pots in your courtyard. They are the hardiest of the citrus and can be brought inside in the hardest part of the winter. The blossoms alone would send you. Even one tree would be plenty. I kind of wish sometimes I hadn't planted so many and allowed some room for some other fruit. (does that sound like "sour lemons"?) I have always loved lemons though, above all the citrus ,and I try to keep them from getting too big and sprawly which means sacrificing some fruit from year to year. It's the only section of the garden that gets full sun.

[spindrift]

Casimira - A friend in my town bought a large lemon tree in a pot. She kept it in her courtyard garden. She left it out during the winter. It lost most of its leaves and tried valiently to recover during the following summer. Unfortunately it never looked the same again.

Yes, I'd certainly have to take it in during the winter months but I'd have nowhere to put it.
I have never seen lemon trees in flower. I cannot even imagine what they're like!

Perhaps , one day if I move house, I might have a conservatory and I'll remember the Meyer lemons......

[Deleted]

There are dwarf varieties available too.

[bixaorellana]

Mmmmmmm ~~ citrus flowers are very small, but spread a powerful sweetness on the air.

Question about protecting a potted citrus in SD's area: would a tree be likely to survive without damage (or minimal damage) if the pot were wrapped in burlap right up to the trunk? Or would the cold affect the top parts so much that the tree would suffer?

I'm assuming the friend who left the lemon tree out did not cover it at all -- is that correct? In the warmer parts of the US, whenever there is a freeze warning people race out with quilts and blankets to protect their tender vegetation. This technique allows them to have plants that are really a little too tropical for their areas. I'd think that this could work well if you only had one or two tender plants in a courtyard.

[spindrift]

I'm sure my friend did not cover her tree at all. She herself would say that she has nil knowledge about plants or gardens.

Next time I'm in Hilliers Garden Centre (one of the UK's best)....I'll ask about Meyer lemon trees. Dwarf would be a good idea.

[Deleted]

Of all the citrus,Meyer is the most cold hardy. I would if leaving it out during a freeze cover it,(I use a painter's canvas drop cloth and bungie cords if and when I need to go this route).
Do check with your local nursery though and see what they say. The fact that you're in an enclosed courtyard gives you more protection too and the heat from the brick and stone also helps.