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Tiny Airport Lemon Tree

17 years ago

Happy Friday everyone,

This is a re-posting/update of a post I wrote at the beginning of the year. As there are a number of new members to the citrus forum, I thought I'd see if anyone might have any info for me.

About 2 1/2 years ago, I bought one of those tiny lemon trees (four leaves on a slender stem in a cardboard tube-type box) that they sell all over Florida (mine actually came from the Ft. Myers airport). I don't know what variety it is; the box it came in didn't say. It's been growing nicely; I keep it indoors and put it outside from spring to just before fall frost time. I feed it four times per year with the avocado/citrus food. It's now in a good sized container, has lots of nice green growth and is almost 6 feet tall. The main trunk is nice & thick and actually does look like a strong tree trunk. I don't believe it's grafted as the stem was so slight when I got it. Can anyone tell me what variety these tend to be and when I might get the first flowers? If anyone else has grown one of these out & actually gotten fruit I would be THRILLED to hear about it! Thanks! Stephanie in Germantown, MD

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Comments (2)

tsmith2579
17 years ago
I'm going to make a S.W.A.G. (scientific wild a**ed guess) based on what is often sold in the nursery business for gardeners. Lisbon and Eureka are the lemons of commercial growers but the lemons most often seen for home sale are Ponderosa and Meyers. Cut and paste this link for info.
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/ponderosa_lemon.htm Ponderosa cuttings are easy to root and grow quickly An 8-10 inch cutting taken in autumn will grow to 3 or 4 feet its first summer.
citrange2
17 years ago
I remember seeing these when I was in the USA. Unless they were produced by some advanced micro-propagation technique, I think they were young seedlings. The stems were too thin to be grafted or even cuttings.
So, you might as well have sown a seed from a commercial fruit and a couple of months later you would have the same thing.
Citrus seedlings usually take from around 5 to 15 years to fruit depending on exact growing conditions.
To be sure, someone needs to contact the supplier of these boxed plants and ask them directly.
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