I haul my Citrus and related kumquats into a large, south-facing garage around late November. (Plants include Navel, Blood, and Valencia oranges, mandarins, Meyer's and Eureka lemons, Meiwa and Nagami kumquats, calamondins, citron "Buddha's fingers", and limequats). The top half of the garage doors have been replaced with two rows of translucent glass. The garage is insulated some and a temperature range of between 32 F and 60 F. is maintained over the course of the winter. Many days this past January did not get out of the 40's but February temps are usually much milder. I keep them rather dry and may water and mist them every one to two weeks depending on temps and the sun conditions. The kumquats start blooming in February while they are still inside and the Oranges are usually in flower by early to mid-April once they are out. (I can usually start hauling the kumquats and oranges out by late March.) They basically line the outside of a second garage (the potting shed) where they get full sun from around noon to sunset. That's pretty much it. I don't consider it a lot of work really. I fertilize when they are outside, not when they are inside and relatively dormant. I have some citrus in the house during winter; limes (Persian and Kaffir) because these are more tropical in temperature needs but the ones that don't get into the house definitely look better in terms of winter health. I have Meyer's Lemon (out back) with about a dozen regular sized fruits on it. It's about two feet tall and incredibly top heavy. I can't imagine it looking as robust and fruit- laden if it were being being overwintered in the house. PS. Guess I need to check out Walmart now for citrus.

Njoasis,

How have you been? Good to see you still doing good with your trees.

Did you loose any leaves at all on any of your trees?

I know the local greenhouse here does just about what you do. They put them in the coldest room, and most of theirs drop all their leaves though, especially the "lemon meyer". Most of them look bare. The ones that don't loose their leaves, they pluck them all off to encourage rest, and no pests.

I think I will do the same on my garage. It would be great to put all my plants in there with windows, since it faces the sunny side of my home. What a waste of sun and space, to be blocked by walls...

Thanks

No, I don't loose any leaves over the winter. For whatever reason, a lot of my oranges were getting yellow leaves last year from late summer into autumn. It was either fertilizer burn (I was using Holly tone on them at the time) or maybe a nutritional deficiency. Anyway, seems to have cleared up. But my Meyer's has about a dozen full lemons on it, is incredibly top heavy and has all its leaves. I do not pluck off any leaves or in any way encourage them to become, in effect, "deciduous". I personally can't recommend that someone grow citrus by such radical pruning. I wonder what their minimal temps in their greenhouse are. I got to 32 F. one morning in January and really panicked but everything is looking really good now. The key for me is getting through January, once we are into February the sun really starts to work its magic. Happy citrus gardening!

Where are you located, njoasis? I would love to citrus trees. I am going to purchase a Meyer's Lemon this weekend. Hope that I can keep them alive thru the winter..One question do I need two trees for good pollination? I have honeybees.

Queenbee, you do NOT have to worry about gender when you get your plant. A single plant will set fruit (there are some rarer exceptions among the citrus I believe--Clementine for example). Meyer's are very productive and flower freely--throughout the year and the fragrance of the blossums is terrific. Meyer's is actually a hybrid plant (true lemon x a sweet orange). The fruit looks just like most commercial lemons only less acid, more sweet. I don't have honeybees--except when my Valencia Oranges come into bloom. Then they are everywhere! PS. I am in the "Garden State" (NJ).

Yugoslava, I too live in a cold climate and on or about Sept 15 I bring my citrus indoors. I do this early as I have found that any later the cold night temperatures cause a lot of leaf drop when they are moved in. They get a good hosing down prior to the move, potentially keeping some of the bugs from coming in with them. I keep some in a west window and some in an east window (the east window trees seem to do much better than the west window trees). I water deeply but infrequently (ie only when they are very dry) but I mist them often. If you notice yellow stippling of the leaves put them in the shower and clean them off with tepid water as you might have spider mites. The soil I use is very well drained and dries quickly as I have overwatered and once citrus get root rot there's no good way to fix that. I also use grow bulbs in a regular stand lamp and have them on timers to extend the amount of light they get each day. Once the danger of frost is gone I move them outside to a shaded area so they don't get sun burn as I get lots of new leaves from mid March to May and they are very tender. I have tried the garage storage but was unsuccessful - perhaps they got too cold or not enough water - in any case I lost a lot of them and as citrus are so very hard to find in Canada I'll not attempt that again. My trees bloom all year long, inside or out, and although there is more fruit drop indoors I still get enough fruit to have the thrill of picking fresh lemons, limes and oranges. Good luck and don't get discouraged - even the most experienced tree growers occasionally lose a tree.

Thanks joyd! I was reading the response from njoasis and I read their temperature goes to 32 F. That's great! In Toronto, this winter temperature fell to 20 C bellow and my garage is not insulated. If temperature didn't go bellow 32F I wouldn't worry. As it is, winter's long and summer's short and I have to keep this plant well until it can be put outside. I'm familiar with Meyer lemon. However, when I was at Walmart earlier this month I saw a few varieties of citrus. There were kumquats, Persian lemon and several others. Of all different varieties, which are the easiest to care for indoors?

Your lucky!!

I have yet to see Walmart or Home Depot for that matter ever sell any kind of citrus here, and I live in Mass.

Strange that you can actually buy them in Canada..:-)

Yugoslava, the 32 F. was NOT the outdoor temp it was the garage temp! The out door temp was 4 F. and yes, that IS considered dead arctic cold. But getting to your question about ease of growth, WITHOUT a doubt, KUMQUATS are easiest!!
They just don't seem as vulnerable to attacks by insects. Also, they are relatively small and VERY frost tolerant--my favs. Plus, you get to eat the skins!

I've had the best success with Bearrs lime. I don't have the luxury of getting a wide selection of varieties here but I currently have Eureka lemon, Meyers lemon, Bearrs lime, Washington navel and a mandarin (who's name eludes me and has yet to bear fruit). I've killed several orange trees and the one I have now doesn't produce a lot of fruit but I've have good success with the others. When I'm in Vancouver I look for other varieies but yikes they are pricey!

Yugoslava, I live in the Chicago area. We have cold and nasty winter weather here, probably similarly to the weather in Toronto. I have two small citrus: a Meiwa kumquat and a Bearss Lime. Both are inside starting in September and are placed in a large window that faces ESE; so they get as much sun as I can give them, but I also supplement with a grow light. Both have done very well inside this year without much leaf loss or any pests. The kumquat has five colorful fruit equally spaced on the plant. The lime has one fruit which is really quite large. I water them just once a week which has worked out well. Also I mist them twice a day and have been consistent doing that all winter long.

Good luck with your Meyer Lemon. I have never had much luck with a Meyer and have killed three or four in my day. Allegedly the Meyer Lemon is the easiest citrus to grow in a container, but that has not been my experience. All the ones that I had experienced extensive leaf loss. However, I have learned more in the past year or so and would like to try another Meyer Lemon at some point.

I wish I could try keeping my citrus in the garage during the winter like njoasis does. While the temperature in my garage never goes below 32 degrees even in the coldest winter weather we experience, the garage has no windows. I currently have a potted rose that is spending the winter in the garage. It is like being in cold storage for this rose. While it has no leaves on it, the canes are green and will spring to life once I move outside in a few weeks. I just water the rose now and then... just enough to get it through the winter.

Good luck with your Meyer!

Hi Yugoslavia, I've got a Meyer Lemon that I just love - but keeping it free of mites in the winter is a lot of work for sure. I keep it misted and wipe the leaves off. And when things get bad I take it outside to let the spiders clean it off. I'm here in Raleigh in zone 7 so I can always catch a few consecutive days here and there that might be above 32. If it rains, even better. These plants love rainy days and somewhat colder nights to encourage blooms. I completey agree with you, the smell is great. I really do like the fruit I get around Christmas as well.
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Good luck! Alana

E36yellowm3--where did you purchase your tree? I am looking for a nice Meyer's..... I know Logan's will have them in March. I wonder if they will/do carry Limes -other citrus?? I LOVE the picture of you lemons...QB

Hi QB - thanks. I was really happy with the lemon "crop" I got this year - 14 in all. I purchased the tree from a seller on Amazon called Clifton's. It was a nice size when I got it and already had fruit. I've never seen them in the garden centers around here in Raleigh. The mail order place does have other stuff as well. It was kinda pricey so I just opted for the Meyer Lemon. I used to visit my Dad in Fla when he was alive and we'd go to the groves and get Meyer Lemons to make the best lemonade ever. I just needed to get one of those trees to grow my own :-) I'm totally hooked!