Hi there. Have you ever tried the taste of a Meyer lemon? It's my personal favorite; if you have never tried it, you should. You NEED this lemon! So that variety is definitely my pick for lemon (a neighbor has a tree and gifts loads of lemons every year around Christmas time- that's when most of hers ripen); I can't say enough good things about how good this lemon is for baking, etc. Very aromatic!

For lime, I have a Bearrs and absolutely love it--- it's very prolific and tasty and easy to grow; mine is in a pot and going on 2 years. Extremely healthy.

Hope this helps.

Becky

I have successfully grown a dwarf Meyer lemon in a whiskey barrel for about four years now. That gets my vote. They are very juicy and as already noted in this forum, very tasty!

For a fig variety, I would choose a Black Jack. They don't get very big and are known to be good producers.

I don't grow limes so I can't comment.

Good luck!

Here is a link to a helpful article from UC Riverside via CRFG. I have the variegated Eureka, Home Depot carries it often. It's supposed to be not as productive as some lemons but how many lemons does one really need? Meyer is very productive and very ornamental too and makes a great tarte aux citron. Consider seeds when you choose a tangerine, some of them have alot of seeds.
Re: figs, Black Jack is described as a dwarf that tops out at 6' and can be found in nurseries but there are better cultivars that are dwarf, Negronne, a purple black with red flesh is very highly regarded. Some fig trees have two crops per year, some only one so look at that too. You can prune the tree to the size you want, just stay away from known vigorous giants like Black Mission.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toot's favorite citrus

Mexican Lime or 'Key Lime'. The best lime out there. Harvest when yellow (as limes are, not like the store that are picked too soon) and/or fall off the tree for that nice tropical taste. Home grown Key Limes are incomparable. Produces fruit year round and is always in some stage of bloom. Tree has small thorns but the 'thornless' Key Lime is less less productive.

I use them in drinks (margaritas, lime-aid, tea, etc), marinades, key lime pies, to freshen up my Mexican beers, etc.

Just my opinion.

Thanks for all the help.

I went to the nursery today to check out the Bearrs Lime & Improved Meyers Lemon. They had the Ultra Dwarf & the Dwarf trees.

I want a tree that maxs out at 6-7' and the guy at the nursery said the Ultra Dwarf on the Flying Dragon would be too small and I should stick with the Dwarf. He also said citrus should not be pruned but let to grow to its maximum size for the best results. I'm a little afraid of the dwarf variety if I have to let it grow to max. size but he said that would be best.

I'm not sure about this advice. I thought I saw a post that someone's dwarf tree had gotten to 15'. One mentioned a dwarf grapefruit that became 30 x 30. I just don't have that kind of space in my yard. Any advice on whether I should go Ultra Dwarf?

You can shear citrus, it's just unhealthy to thin them as the bark scorches. After reading what Armstrong's website had to say about the Ultra and semidwarf rootstocks, if it were me I'd get the ultras, put them in the ground and feel confident I wouldn't have to "control" them.

The ultra dwarf on flying dragon are described as slow growing perhaps getting to 10 ft if I recall correctly. Many times only up to 7-8 ft. I'm hear it can make the fruit 40% smaller not just the crop smaller. After much reading I just bought 3 in san diego at pacific tree farms. They have a 25% off going out of biz sale. They were $32 before discount. I wanted to choose trees that fruited at different times so I can have fruit all yr. I got the cara cara navel orange. dec-mar
kishu dwarf mandarin oct-dec And one I may return.
Its the honey tangerine. I was told it could hold fruit until july but no sorce on the internet agrees. It also has many seeds. It turns out the pixie is the one I probably want. It is seedless, holds fruit until around july and is supposed to taste great. That should just leave me fruitless from aug-sept. Any good suggestions to fill that gap :) ? I still need to find out what roosstck they use on mine. They are from durling nursery. So consider fruiting time in your decision. I didn't want just the best fruit but the best fruit at any one time of the year. 600 lbs of citrus all in jan probably wont do you alot of good.
Damon

If you keep it potted and don't heavily fertilize, the lemon tree will stay small. I have a potted one from my mother that is 15 years old that is still almost small enough to pick up. I just fertilize it for fruit bearing. Does fine, just isn't huge. I have another one in an 18 gallon pot that has gotten bigger... they seem to get as big as the pot allows.

We just transplanted our 8 year old citruses from their BIG pots into the ground.... and they look soooo small. You're right Heathen, they do stay small in pots.

I had a bearss lime in the ground and was able to keep it at 7' by pruning it regularly. It put out a lot of tasty limes, more than we could use at the time. My neighbor kept his Meyer lemon in bush form for easier access for his petite wife.

I'd steer away from the ultra dwarf trees. How much fruit can you really get from those puny things? I agree with the previous suggestions for a dwarf bears lime and either a dwarf eureka lemon or a full size meyer (full size is a small tree anyway). I have a Black Jack fig and would not buy another. I've had it for five years and it grows painfully slow for a fig and really needs more heat than available in zone 10. This year I got only about two dozen figs with another dozen still unripe on the tree. My suggestion would be a White Genoa fig. I used to have one before my dog chewed it up. I think the Genoa is a winner in zone 10. If your interested, some veteran California Rare Fruit Grower member wrote a paper on "The Best Figs for Coastal Southern California". If you do a google search, you'll locate it.

I have 2 Petit Negra Figs that I think are the best tasting of all..... well, the Honey Figs were really good too.

Some days ago I buy 4 dwarf Mandarin.
I made him by beginning a Hobbie. If somebody could help me, I need to know:
1.- The pots to which I am going to plant, they should be of the same size of which they came.
2.- How much and how many times I need watering.
3.- Type of floor should put in the pots.
4.- Type of fertilizer and how much.
5.- There is any manual that on this, I could read.

The Improved Meyer actually is a bush averaging 8x8'. Sometimes they go to 10-12' but it takes quite a while. When you buy them as trees they have all been grafted onto standards. The original Meyers were trees and got to a moderate size (30') as they aged.

Meyers benefit from pruning because they have a lot of cross-branching. It takes a number of years for the trunk to thicken up, and they bear so heavily when young the branches will drag on the ground.

I have a Bearss lime, no seeds and very juicy. However, the crop it bears is relatively small when young compared to the Meyer.

Any citrus, no matter what, tastes better as the plant matures, in about 7-10 years for full flavor. They are very heavy feeders, buy citrus fertilizer in the LARGE bags and feed regularly. I also use liquid iron for greening up, the granules are almost useless.

Can you graft several citrus together?

Waterlover, yes you can - its very common.

I'm wondering if anyone knows what is the next smallest citrus rootstock after Flying Dragon? I want to buy two semi-dwarf mandarins, Kishu and Gold Nugget, but I have enough room for two 8-9 foot tall trees.