Newbie in Philadelphia - plant indoors? outdoors?

18 years ago

Hi,

I am a new home owner and have just started to go to the nurseries to make some changes in the hard, and i saw at this one nursery a lemon tree, tangerine, and grapefruit.

The lemon tree was outside and starting to grow many lemons. I thought it was great, but didn't want to pay $80 if it wouldn't work in my climate.

Is this something i can keep indoors for the off season, and keep outdoors for the summer? Or if it got down to the high 40's would i have to bring it indoors? Is it something that can stay in a pot for years and years? Is lemon more manageable than tangerine and grapefruit because it is smaller?

Thanks!

Doug

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Comments (5)

rickjames
18 years ago
Congrats on your new house.

There are potted orange trees in France that are hundreds of years old, so it's very possible to do, but it will require some care of course.

I don't grow indoors, but plenty of people do the in-in-winter-and-out-in-summer shuffle :) --which you will need to do in your zone. Some citrus trees tolerate light frosts to the upper 20's or so with acclimation--like Meyer Lemon and different mandarins--and some are frost tender, like Thai limes. You'll prolly want to do some light research on how to properly care for a potted tree, with the most important thing being learning to not overwater and maintaining your tree in a very well-draining medium; proper feeding; pest control; and temps/light exposure--it's not hard, really. There's plenty of lively discussions here on GW and other forums about that stuff...

About tree selection, I would encourage you to look for a grafted tree labelled as dwarf, just to help with maintaining a smaller size as well as helping you actually get fruit. You'll need to *eventually* do some light pruning on any if you want to keep it small but these types are usually not very fast growers.

You can choose whatever type of citrus you like the best, but keep in mind that some trees will need some amount of prolonged heat to produce sweet fruit--I've no idea how a grapefruit will do indoors--maybe fine--but I don't bother with them myself, even outside year-round, since it is too cool where I live to get good fruit. And you can pick based on *ulterior motives*--I love lemons and limes, and I love being able to go out to the yard and grab one when I need it, as opposed to having to go out to buy one. But some people would say that you can get a lemon at the market anytime, so why plant that? Most citrus should be managable if you try to choose the right rootstock and are willing to put a little maintanance in--once again, prolly less with the dwarf types.

As an alternate to an expensive purchased tree, you can aslo consider growing some from seed as well. Key/Mexican limes and calamondins supposedly do well from seed, with fruit production in a couple years; or you can grow a lemon seed and see how you do with it, though you may not get fruit for many years. I've got plenty of Key lime and Meyer lemon seeds (Meyer don't grow true from seed I think) if you can't find any--just email me...

Finally, maybe you'll want to check out on-line citrus retailers--from what others have posted, you can get a nice tree for a lot less than 80$ and maybe have more types to choose from.

HTH.
birdsnblooms
18 years ago
I agree w/most of HTH's advice. A couple things I disagre with are: you don't need a dwarf citrus to grow in a pot..container size will natureally keep the tree at a minimal size.
Most citrus seeds are true, so you can sow and get duplicates of the parents. Most, not all.

Doug, 80 is a lot to spend..I can give you two places that sell 4' tree at 20-25.00..shipping is also cheap..I've been ordering from one place over 3 yrs now.

You asked if lemons will do best because of their size..Doug, some lemons are as huge as grapefruit like the Ponderosa..
On the other hand there are mini oranges like Calamondin, and limes such as Keys.
IMO, I think lemons are the easiest to grow.

Yes, your tree can and should be summered outside in summer, then brought in during fall. Keep plant in a sunny winter window, away from a heater. Soil should be well-draining, fertiizer used mainly from Mar-Oct. If you can't find citrus food then go w/azalia. It works fantastic.
Pruning is only necessary when stray branches or rootstock starts to grow from the trunk. To prune means possibly delaying flowers/fruits.

Anyway, citrus are fun to grow, and make the house smell heavenly in winter..Toni
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rickjames
18 years ago
HTH stands for "hope this helps"; that is not my screen name ;)
gmotsl
18 years ago
Hi Doug,

If you wanted to, you could probably grow a potted lemon tree indoors year-round. The flowers are self-pollenating, so you don't need the help of bees to get fruit. Your tree would probably grow faster if you do put it outside for the summer. On the other hand, it is really nice to have a pretty lemon tree right there in the bedroom/den/living room/wherever...
birdsnblooms
18 years ago
Rick, sorry about the name error.

Doug, Calamondin Oranges don't require bees either..I'm sure there's a bunch more but can' think of any at the moment..Toni

Newbie in Philadelphia - plant indoors? outdoors?

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