When I was 2-3 years old, my mother was cutting up lemons and I was fascinated by the seeds. I carried a couple of seeds around in my pocket for a day or two until my mother told me you plant seeds and we put them in a house plant she had. The seeds grew into a small plant inside a pot with another house plant. The lemon tree stayed about 12 inches tall for 4 or 5 years until my mother transplanted the lemon tree into its own pot. At that point it grew to about 4 feet tall. The lemon tree has been inside every winter and on my parents deck in full sun from Memorial Day to Labor Day when it is warm here in Kentucky. My mother claims the tree would often lose all of its leaves when brought inside in the winter and outside in the summer probably due to shock. The tree has never been fertilized. In fact, my mother claims that it thrives on neglect.

Now, 36 years later my mother gave me the tree. I kept it inside in the winter. When it warmed up, I took it outside. The tree had not been repotted in 10 years, so I decided to repot it first. The roots were definitely rootbound.
Using a hose, I bare rooted the ball - at least 75% of the way and repotted using a 5-1-1-1 mix I read all about on this forum. Then, I bought Foliage Pro and use it once a week when watering. I use a dowel rod to tell when it needs watering. The tree is sprouting new leaves everywhere and seems to be doing well.

The tree has thorns that are up to 2 or 3 inches long on it, which i have clipped off the ends of the thorns.

Questions: Can anyone confirm this is definitely a lemon tree? My guess is a Lisbon as it has thorns and is from a store bought seed. I will post multiple pictures.

Also, in 36 years, it has never flowered or produced fruit. I am hopeful the new soil and foilage pro will allow it to flower, if it ever will. Anything else i shoudl do? Use a high phosphorous fertilizer or stick with foliage pro? My concern with foliage pro is it seems to be growing like crazy due to the nitrogen and wonder if less nitrogen in a blooming fertilizer may help out. Any thoughts?

Nick