Lemon tree instructions

[AsiaCS]

My husband and I just bought a house and inherited a lemon tree with it. It seems to be quite healthy and is producing lots of lemons that look great. Is there any sort of upkeep advice we should be aware of? I'd hate to see such a lovely, fruitful tree meet an untimely demise due to lack of knowledge on our part. Any information is greatly appreciated!

As an aside, would a pommelo tree also grow well in the same environment or does it vary, even if they're both citrus?

 

[Chuck]

My husband and I just bought a house and inherited a lemon tree with it. It seems to be quite healthy and is producing lots of lemons that look great. Is there any sort of upkeep advice we should be aware of? I'd hate to see such a lovely, fruitful tree meet an untimely demise due to lack of knowledge on our part. Any information is greatly appreciated!

As an aside, would a pommelo tree also grow well in the same environment or does it vary, even if they're both citrus?

If you are located close to Houston I presume the lemon tree is in the ground? If so there isn't too much that will harm the tree except a long hard freeze which doesn't happen all that often in Houston. If you expect a hard freeze cover it with Nsulate or something similar. About the only insects you will have to deal with are grasshoppers which there isn't too much you can do about and scale. Scale can sneak up on you so keep an eye out for it and when it shows up just spray it with Neem Oil 3 times once every 10 days. Also you may encounter some caterpillars. If so spray with Bt. Spider mites might show up and if they do spray them with Spinosad. Be sparing on the fertilizer and don't let the tree get completely dry. If it doesn't rain thoroughly soak the ground out to the drip line about once a month. I haven't grown a Pommelo but there are some south of Houston in a little town named Bacliff. If they grow there they will grow in Houston.

 

[KimmyMarkks]

My husband and I just bought a house and inherited a lemon tree with it. It seems to be quite healthy and is producing lots of lemons that look great. Is there any sort of upkeep advice we should be aware of? I'd hate to see such a lovely, fruitful tree meet an untimely demise due to lack of knowledge on our part. Any information is greatly appreciated!

As an aside, would a pommelo tree also grow well in the same environment or does it vary, even if they're both citrus?

I would love to have a lemon tree in my home! I buy lemons every week and they get pretty expensive. How big is the tree? Can you take a picture?

 

[AsiaCS]

Thanks for all of the info and the good news about pommelos! Do we need to trim the tree from time to time or just let it do its thing?

Kimmy, I'm not really sure what's big for a lemon tree. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's medium. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. If I could give you some lemons I totally would. Not really sure what to do with all of them. What do you do with the lemons you buy?

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for all of the info and the good news about pommelos! Do we need to trim the tree from time to time or just let it do its thing?

Kimmy, I'm not really sure what's big for a lemon tree. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's medium. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. If I could give you some lemons I totally would. Not really sure what to do with all of them. What do you do with the lemons you buy?

Trimming a lemon tree us up to you . A lemon would rather grow as a big bush but moderate trimming will not hurt it.

 

[AsiaCS]

Thanks, Chuck!

This is a picture of the tree.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks, Chuck!

This is a picture of the tree. View attachment 10170

Now that is a lemon tree. Too bad that fence is there, otherwise the entire tree would be as tall as its tallest parts are. It is either a Myers or a Ponderosa. Have you seen the tree in the foreground bloom yet? It is a Mimosa and will get fairly large too, bigger than the lemon tree.

 

[AsiaCS]

Haven't even been in this house a month yet so I've only seen some lemons go from green to yellow. I'm impressed by the knowledge of people on this forum. Does the mimosa need to be trimmed occasionally?

 

[Chuck]

Haven't even been in this house a month yet so I've only seen some lemons go from green to yellow. I'm impressed by the knowledge of people on this forum. Does the mimosa need to be trimmed occasionally?

Only the limbs at the bottom so as to allow you to get under it to mow, mulch etc. In Houston do any pruning in February. The tree will probably, with correct trimming, not have any limbs below the top of the fence in a few years. Don't prune them all off at the same time. Do a couple this Feb and some more next year. A properly trimmed Mimosa is spectacular and in Houston I have seen them reach 40 ft and more. Both trees were planted way too close to the fence.

 

[Corzhens]

If you have lots of space then let the lemon tree grow tall and wide. As many branches it would have, the more fruits it will bear. For its upkeep, I guess it is all right in its location. Just give it enough water in the morning and some natural fertilizers once in a while to induce fruiting. Our lemon trees are small but fruiting nicely so we do not buy lemon anymore.

 

[Chuck]

Haven't even been in this house a month yet so I've only seen some lemons go from green to yellow. I'm impressed by the knowledge of people on this forum. Does the mimosa need to be trimmed occasionally?

I have been thinking about your lemon tree. I lived and gardened for years in the Houston area so I have a little bit of first hand experience. I would first like to ask a couple of questions. Which direction is the corner of that fence, is it south. The second question is if you can take some pictures of the base of the tree up to about 4 feet high showing all of the low growing limbs?

 

[gata montes]

Do we need to trim the tree from time to time or just let it do its thing

As has already been mentioned lemon trees don't need pruning in order to produce fruit - they do however benefit from being thinned out once a year - meaning removing all the internal inward growing branches and dead wood - preferably in early spring - as it improves air circulation - which in turn helps to reduce the risk of disease and fungal growth - but more importantly - as lemon trees produce a lot of suckers throughout the year - which can if left stunt the growth and vigor of the tree - these do need to be removed as soon as they appear.

You can also top prune in order to keep the tree at a good height for harvesting - which is what we do with ours - as keeping them at around 6 - 8 ft makes it easier and quicker to harvest the fruit

Oh and also - as lemon trees are one of the least hardy of the citrus family and the one you have is doing extremely well there is no reason why you wouldn't be able to grow any other kind of citrus - I would also just add - that lemon trees are slightly more cold hardy than people realize - particularly as mature trees can normally withstand short periods of temperatures of around 20 -25 F without too much harm - as mine do quite regularly and often temperatures much lower than that - in fact - many will even survive quite prolonged periods of extremely low temperatures - they don't however look very attractive - but more like rather unsightly - due to their brown paper like foliage.

 

[AsiaCS]

I have been thinking about your lemon tree. I lived and gardened for years in the Houston area so I have a little bit of first hand experience. I would first like to ask a couple of questions. Which direction is the corner of that fence, is it south. The second question is if you can take some pictures of the base of the tree up to about 4 feet high showing all of the low growing limbs?

According to my husband and Google maps, it's southwest. I can try to take a picture of it tomorrow afternoon but if it's too spiderweb-y, I can't guarantee quality. Lol.

Gata, thank you so much for the in-depth response in regard to trimming. My husband mentioned wanting to take a little off the top after I reported back the findings I got from here initially. We don't want the upper lemons to go to waste.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do with a lot of lemons, other than lemonade?

 

[Chuck]

According to my husband and Google maps, it's southwest. I can try to take a picture of it tomorrow afternoon but if it's too spiderweb-y, I can't guarantee quality. Lol.

Gata, thank you so much for the in-depth response in regard to trimming. My husband mentioned wanting to take a little off the top after I reported back the findings I got from here initially. We don't want the upper lemons to go to waste.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do with a lot of lemons, other than lemonade?

Why don't you get one of those hand held overthead light bulb changing tools. You squeeze the handle and the end of it grabs a light bulb or lemon. That way you can grab the lemons from the top without breaking your neck falling off of a ladder.

Houston has super high humidity in the summer along with it being hot as Hades and this makes it a perfect climate for mold, mildew and fungus growth. The prevailing winds in Houston are from the Southeast and it looks as if you tree doesn't get much if any air circulation because of that fence which can lead to problems. The reason I wanted to see what the base of the tree looks like is to see if any limbs were in close proximity to the ground and how dense the foliage is underneath the tree. As a preventative measure against fungal problems in the future I would suggest that you remove any limbs that are not growing upwards from about 3 feet from the ground. If they are growing horizontally or even downward remove them. The object being to improve air circulation and to remove any foliage that soil may splash upon during Houston's summer deluges where it is common to get 1"+ of rain in 30 minutes.

 

[AsiaCS]

My grandma had one of those lightbulb things to pick fruit from higher up on her various trees when I was a kid. I'd forgotten all about those. Great idea, Chuck.

This is the lower portion of the tree. Let me know what you think. Out of curiosity, where did you get all of your lemon tree knowledge? Personal experience or the internet?