I don't believe the "not improved" form would be available for sale in California. The only difference is the presence or absence of citrus tristeza virus infection. It causes no symptoms at all in the 'Meyer', so the two look and act exactly alike. The problem is that the virus can spread from an infected tree to oranges, grapefruit, and other citrus nearby (spread by aphids) if you have an infected tree. I suspect your nursery bought their trees from two sources, one of which used the term "improved" while the other did not. It used to be, and I assume still is, illegal to sell the infected form in California.

They are very easy to care for. I have a Eureka and a Meyer. Meyer's are also very easy to care for, a little more cold tolerant, and VERY prolific. Fruit holds well to a point (and then can be a little off-tasting to some). My Eureka will drop the fruit when it's ripe. My Meyer has a more rounded, lower growth habit, but is about 8 to 10' tall. My Eureka was resurrected from the dead, but they tend to be a bit more upright, and will send up these vigorous, upright water sprouts. They also bear just about all the time, and are also pretty prolific. Meyers don't so much tend to do that. The Meyer lemon is sweeter and about twice as juicy as a Eureka. Eurekas have a more classic lemon taste. I happen to love my Meyer lemons and make the most delicious lemonade from them. Patty S.

I may be wrong about this, but I was told the flowers have to be pollinated in order to set fruit. I had a Meyer indoors that kept dropping blooms, and when I moved it outdoors, it started setting fruit. And indoors it was in a bright room with a huge east-facing window, and it thrived other than no fruit. That was years ago- these days my Meyer (the same dwarf tree I got 8 or 9 years ago!) is in a very large pot (about 36" across and 30" tall) on a dolly in my yard. If it's going to freeze or frost I roll it into my garage until it warms back up. I got a sturdy furniture dolly from Tractor Supply for $15 and it is a lifesaver! This was in central Georgia; I recently moved to the Florida Panhandle and have no concrete on which to roll the dolly, so it's now living next to my well house, I drape a tarp over it and the well house when it's going to frost/freeze. So far the warmth from the well house, water tank, and heat lamp in the well house has kept it fine. I get literally 100+ lemons per crop off this tree now, and the tree itself is maybe 3 feet tall by around 4 feet across. It often has mature fruit (HUGE lemons often as big as a baseball!), green growing fruit, blooms, and buds at the same time. About every 3 years (it starts doing poorly when it needs it) I pull it out of its pot, shake all the soil out of its roots, repot in fresh citrus potting mix, and pray I didn't kill it! I do it when the tree has no fruit on it, because doing it while there are blooms or fruit causes it to drop the blooms and fruit. I also only prune as needed to control unwanted growth. I just nip a branch or bud occasionally, never a lot at once. I thin the lemons it sets. I wait till they are marble-sized, then remove any that are scarred or misshapen. Then I remove some if it has what I decide are too many in one spot, because leaving too many on the tree results in smaller fruit, and I like BIG lemons! I fertilize pretty haphazardly- usually I toss a handful of 10-10-10 on it when I'm fertilizing something else. I have used "citrus fertilizer" as well. Finally- I have accidentally left it out in the freezing cold, and the result was it dropped all the leaves the frost killed. It also dropped all the blooms it had and buds that were forming. However, I took better care of it the rest of the winter and in the spring everything grew back. Meyers can be tricky to get the hang of, but are totally worth it!! I have fresh lemons 9 months out of the year most of the time, thanks to its habit of setting successive crops of fruit throughout the year if it's happy.

I have read most of these post...yet I still do not seem to see an answer for me...I have lemons, maybe a handful that have been growing for almost 10 months! and still are green as grass....Are they ripe? Can I eat them? Or do I need to just say "Hey, it will take a year and a half to get a yellow lemon?"..it is for sure a meyer lemon plant..*sigh* Oh I live in mid to north Georgia..Highs are low 90's and cools are 68ish..