Update, Spring 2011 All is well in the pieris patch this year! Last year I deadheaded leftover blooms from 2009 and I gave all the pierises plentiful compost. I may also have added some Plantone, I'm not sure. I got a little giddy with Plantone. I moved a few of the dwarf pierises to give them some more room and I pruned reverting branches from two of the three Little Heaths. P. Mountain Fire on April 9, 2011 The Cavatine and maybe a Prelude also bloomed but I don't have a good photo. Little Heath is becoming a real joy. Of the three, I left one alone, moved a second one with light pruning of reversions, and heavily pruned a third. The one I left alone bloomed heavily. The second one that was moved also bloomed heavily, just later, and the one I heavily pruned didn't bloom at all. This is the Little Heath I left alone, on May 4, 2011 with new red foliage appearing with blossoms remaining. There's a piece of Cavatine (I think) showing on the left. The red or pink foliage was like a second bloom this spring. This is some of the pierises on May 18, 2011 with a Euonymus Silver King and a big old Ilex verticillata as backdrop. I think that's Cavatine and maybe a Prelude on the lower right still blooming. The overall bloom time was really extended well over a month. There was much more snow cover than usual last winter (usually we get minimal cover) so that may have helped. In any case, the problem seems to have been transient, or maybe I now know a better way of maintaining the plants Claire.

Ok..First of all, the curse of the lemon meyer!! But have no fear, you can prevail! Immediately, I mean immediately, I would get that plant out of the soil ASAP.... That soil your using, has been the DEATH of all mine when I first began. It holds way too much water, a perched water table which citrus HATE in our growing regions, no matter what the product claims, and it holds way to much residue fertilizer salts that can turn leaf tips brown. Your roots should look a healthy white. Take a peak while you are add it, if not, it is killing your tree fast. Therefore the branches dying..Root rot kills the branches, but first the leaves drop, usually green and or yellow..The leafs drop green if under watered and root damaged has taken hold.. Is there a way you can STRAIN out all the peat moss in that soilless mix you bought? Please let me know..I will give you a great idea? Do you have quick access to good nursery mix? You live in Ohio? You need to keep your tree on the dry side with such a lack of sunlight, and make sure it absolutely needs watering before you do it again.. Let us leave it at here, until you change the soil..Nothing else is going to help it, until you first take this step. That soilless mix is junk! Sorry..:-( Let me know when you have done the first step, and or if you want too.. I will then guide you from there..You NEED to put that plant in a FAST draining soilless mix, that dries out rather rapidly. One that is porous and provides great gas exchange after each watering. One that allows the salts to flush out at each watering. One that allows you to feed at every watering. One that provides oxygen and does not suffocate the roots..Does not take too long to dry out, or compact:-) There might still be hope. How much sun does it get? How are the temps? What size, kind of pot is it in? How long has it been taking the soil mix to dry out? What kind of water do you provide it with? Do you use vinager? What kind of analysis, or how high is the ph of your water? What are your cultural habits in detail.. Mike

Hi Manur83. Thanks for taking the time to reply. They have been 2 summers without blooms, hopefully this, their 3rd year. I suspect we have been impatient. My wife says they came in small containers and they weren't very big in spring of '15 when they were planted but they grew nicely. Last summer (their 2nd) they were a little taller, nice green leaves, healthy looking but no sign of buds or flowers. Like you say, maybe they were focusing on growth and we've probably been expecting too much. This spring, now, the leaves look very healthy AND we have buds. Making progress :-). Fertilizing...each spring, just as most stuff is starting to come up, we give all plants a healthy dose of bone meal which apparently is very high in phosphorous. But I'm sort of torn whether to fertilize any more. Did go to Endless summer web site and they recommend a high phosphorous fertilizer for "BloomStruck" late spring early summer. We gave them Bone Meal early spring. I don't know whether to give them another shot of fertilizer or not, now or later in the season...or what to give them. I'm thinking, maybe some rose food 18-24-16 in about 3 weeks... High in phosphorous with some iron. But not sure. If you or others have thoughts on this, would like to hear them! We have Annabelle's in 3 locations in our yard, and they do fantastic with nothing but Bone Meal in the Spring and water. The ES plant's card says to "keep soil evenly moist" whatever that means. So keeping an eye on that making sure the soil doesn't get dry. We are hopeful of getting flowers this year, would be nice. Thanks for your comments.

Bob, most citrus varieties from seed have a long 'juvenile period'. This means, for many years, the plant is incapable of blooming. The plants have to grow 'up'. Lemons, oranges and grapefruit often have to grow for 10 years or so before the growth finally achieves adequate maturity to form blooms. That usually means growing to a height of 8 to 15 feet in height. Then the topmost growth (furthest distance from the seed) will bloom. You can Google 'citrus node count' to find out more. You have to stop shearing the top of your tree, or it will never achieve that maturity up there. OR, 1) you can take a bud from one of the topmost branches (this is likely the closest to becoming mature growth) and graft it lower down onto the same tree, or to another rootstock (say another small lemon seedling). OR 2) You can take a cutting from the topmost portion of the plant and root it. It 'remembers' its maturity level and will continue to grow and mature until it finally reaches that magical 'node count' where it is capable of blooming and bearing -- hopefully at a much smaller size. Here's a way to keep the size down by continuously taking cuttings and grow them until the growth gets mature: Here's a diagram I did about node counts: