Mussari: This lemon story is hard to explain, and maybe that's why no one has had a crack at it. First, we have to define what that "cutting" was. A cutting is usually a rooted piece from the upper or grafted portion of the tree. Are you sure that is what you have? On the other hand, the "cutting" may have actually been a shoot from the rootstock of the tree, which could be a number of things, including a trifoliate, which might explain the odd leaf shape. A tree grown from a rootstock shoot will probably never have lemons as that word is usually defined. Whatever the case, 8 years is long enough for an experiment, if you really want to try to grow lemons, and it may be time to cut losses and buy a real dwarf lemon like a Meyer. I planted a little Meyer last spring, and it began to bloom and set lemons in less than six months. Be advised that I am not a "pro", but hey, eight years! Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Key Limes would be one of the quickest to bear fruits from seeds. There are others trifoliate types which can also bear much fruits even earlier than key limes but they are used as rootstocks or ornamentals but not for palatable fruit use. Fortunella hybrids that include hybrids of kumquats such as Calamondins, limequats, lemonquats, mandarinquats, sunquats would often come true to type from seeds and they also bear fruit early. Perhaps the longest to bear fruit from seeds are the pummelos and their hybrids like the grapefruits. The oranges come intermediate when it comes to bearing fruits from seeds. Grafted or not, but very often, the first few fruits from your citrus tree would be lousy tasting and of poor quality. It usually improves with tree age, with the quality starting to peak and stabilize after about three to four seasons from first fruiting. So don't chop off your tree when the first fruits do not compare with the ones you buy from the stores. The vigorous sour orange most probably came from rootstocks used way back in 1872. Here's short history: Before 1880's, most of California Citrus groves were composed of seedling trees. Most popular are lemons and oranges planted in the missions and haciendas of Southern California. Around 1872, the almost seedless Washington navels became so popular that there were not enough seeds to plant more navel trees, and so rootstocks became a necessity. First rootstock used was sweet orange (C. sinensis) and used until the 1940's. The next more popular rootstock starting around 1890's was the sour orange (C. aurantium) which tolerated phyhtopthora gummoosis and produced high-quality fruit. Then the rough lemon (C. jambhiri) was introduced around 1900's as rootstock for lemons and grapefruits where it achieved high yields even in sandy desert areas, but alas, due to poor fruit quality and susceptibility to cold limited its use. Then Cleopatra mandarin (C. reticulata) was used when trying to find tristeza-tolerant rootstocks. Its value was discovered in saline soils. It produced excellent quality grapefruits, but alas, it is susceptible to foot rot and also lost its popularity. All the above rootstocks were popularly used in commercial citrus industry of California until the 1940's. Around the 1940's a big event happened in California. Tristeza virus was discovered to be causing devastation of most citrus groves on sour orange rootstocks. This has lead to various works on rootstock development and changed the rootstock usage in California todate. Thus it ended the use of sour oranges and the hybrids of Sweet x Trifoliate oranges (Troyer and Carrizo) were introduced. Lately, there is a resurgence Citrus Tristeza Virus in Southern California which could mean that citruses on sour orange rootstocks and the sour oranges themselves would face another bout of devastation. As to the ultimate multi-grafted citrus, I currently have a 61-n-1 citrus tree. Tomorrow, I'm grafting 4 more cultivars unto it. Here's the tree when it was still 50-n-1: Fruits from 50-n-1 citrus tree And here's the best technique to add a cultivar when your tree is already mature. Budding is good for younger trees, but bark grafting have better success rates when multi-grafting to a mature tree. Citrus Bark Grafting Demo Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus Rootstock History

Madeline, I have a Bearss lemon that has been planted 7 years ago when it was 3-4 ft tall. Two years after planting, it bore 1-2 fruit. When the tree grew to be taller and more bushy, it started to produce a crop of between 50-70 fruit. I didn't count exactly, but it was a lot and that was for the last three consecutive years. So, I'm guessing your lemon tree might need a year or so before it finally kicks off to a full fruit production? By the way what is the variety of your lemon? As for lime trees, I also have one in the ground and it's a Tahitian persian lime which I planted in 2008 when it was a little over 4 ft tall. For the past years, it bloomed scantily and produced very few fruit. This year, it must have been about 8-9 ft and it has about a dozen fruit. It's also a slow grower compared to my lemon. As to your question about your patio around your citrus trees, I've heard they like some space around for their roots to breathe. Some years ago, I built some patio blocks around my navel orange and the fruit production dropped the following year. The other concerns I have with citrus fruit trees right now in general is the citrus greening disease that is attacking a lot of citrus trees in FL. So far, I've seen a decline in all my citrus trees fruit production ... especially the oranges. I've read somewhere that certain lemons and limes are more resistant to the disease, but I don't know which kind. I don't know if this helps as that is all I know from my own planting experience.

U have 2 remember that when u replant something outside (or inside) it takes a while 4 it 2 acclimate 2 where u've planted it. The roots 1st have 2 establish themselves, using the tree's energy there. Once the roots r happy with where they r, u'll c new growth in branches n leaves. Citrus likes acidity. U can mulch it with acidic bark. They like 2 stay moist. (Ground n leaves). N they have 2 have some kind of humidity in drier climates. I've seen many comments saying 2 use 5-1-1 fertilizer, a ratio of 3-1-1 is better 4 ur tree until its established, then 5-1-1. I am in Idaho n have a 10 year old kumquat tree n a 2 year old lemon tree. 4 a taller tree prune the bottom branches off n 4 a fuller tree prune the upper branches. Good luck.