At some point, your tree got much more needed sunlight than now which explains the smaller leaves verses the bigger ones towards the top. Small and compact growth = lots of sunlight Bigger leaves and elongated = lack of sunlight There is nothing wrong with trimming your tree now. Usually may of us have a vision of what they want their tree to look like and cut accordingly..It's a matter of personal preferrence. Where each cut is made, it should be just above a leaf joint and in a way that you will direct new growth. For instance, if you want a branch to grow to the left, you would cut to the node of the leaf facing right... Some like their trees as tall as they can grow so will just cut below the top tips. Others like them short and bushy, cutting almost down to the soil level or graft line.. Whether you leave fruit on or not depends on how much sunlight and fertilizer you give it. If you pan on feeding heavily, you tree will support the fruit and still grow well. If you grow it outside even better. If you plan on leaving it outside, if the growth is already poor, or if you are not consistent with fertilizng, then I would take all the fruit off.. MIke)

I decided to leave them out. Just spend a few hours in a still hot sun to position them from the winds. It's just still too mild to wanna move them. At worst in the extended I see temps in the 60's and low in the 50's. And they get unobstructed southern sun all day long. When I move them, they go into a sunny, big garage, but it's hard to keep up with the watering..., bad enough in the winter. I was considering fertilizing for the last time of the season (they haven't been fertilized in over a month), but figured the excessive rains would just leach the fertilizer out. I spent time tilling the soil and introducing more gypsum. I don't use a gritty mix but they get so darn dry in more peat/perlite based soils. Spent time hosing them down well. Been a dry Fall so far so all the rain in appreciated. I do notice that plants seem to respond better to RAIN than water out of a hose. Didn't use to believe this but in my experience tropical plants grow better with regular rain that can't be made up from irrigation. Is it too late to consider fertilizing? (I don not fertilize at all in the winter as they are kept quite cold.)

I also live in MD, and have potted meyer lemon trees that were on the deck all summer long and that I'm about to transition to a winter inside, and asked very similar questions in another thread, and here is the advice I was given: Bring them in when the temps outside at night are lower than what the temps are at night in my house (to minimize the temps differences when you bring them in). So, basically, starting now, I have to bring them in at night-.- since my house is at about 69° at night. Once the daily temps get consistently lower than 73 (which us what my house is at during the day in the winter), I'll bring them in permanently. Also, start putting them gradually in the shade more during the day, since they won't get much sunshine or that much light once they are in for the winter. I'm far from being an expert, but that was the advice I was given. Hope that helps :) . Atheen

I would do one of two choices. I would put it in a bigger pot filled with mulch or soil, the pot in pot method so the bottom of the planted pot will rest on or be in contact with the soil or mulch and the water will be tricked to come out of the planted pot with a wicking action....This way the perched water will sit in the empty pot filled with mulch rather the your potted one... Or I would push a nylon or cotton wick into the bottom of one of the holes of your pot and set the pot on a stand so that the wick dangles...The water at the bottom of your pot will continue to come out and dry in the air leaving you with virtually no perched water at the bottom.. This is just to hold you over until the best time of the year to root prune and bare root being around Fathers Day when your tree is actively growing...This way it gives it a chance to recover much more rapidly..