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growing meyer lemon indoors in SLC

17 years ago

I am new to citrus growing, I want to grow a meyer lemon inside my apt in SLC. Can anyone tell me ALL of the basics needed? I want to order online and get a good tree for around $50, and grow it inside using a light for the winter. Who should i buy from, what kind of basic light should i use, how do i water this tree and when what type of fertilizer should i use. thanks for your help!!!

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Comments (5)

ecomtl
17 years ago
The best thing you could do is do a search on all your enquiries in this forum. You can easily get all your answers and then some just by looking around here for 15 minutes.
birdsnblooms
17 years ago
Thay, where is SLC? LOL..Sorry.
Unless you're in CA, three terrific places to buy citrus are www.briteleaf.com and www.harricitrus.com and www.acornsprings.com
If you're in CA, then try www.fourwinds.com though I believe they only sell dwarfs.
A basic light can be purchased at a hardware store like Home Depot. Shop lights w/2 flourescent bulbs..either 2 Gro Lights or One cool, one warm white bulbs.
Citrus or Azalea foods are best. Since these are meant to be used once every three months, you can add either Miracid or Miracle Gro in-between.
South and west windows in winter are best..a summer outdoors should be considered.
Watering and soil are also important. You want to water only when soil feels crumbly..too much water and it'll cause root rot.
And the soil should be well-draining. Therefore, when you water, you want it to drain freely.
Humidity is important..So, purchase a humidifer and mist leaves daily.
Always inspect a plant for pests upon arrival. Bugs will deveour a plant like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree..LOL I guess that's about it..it sounds a lot more complicated than it really is..Once you get the hang, it's one easy task..Toni
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Citrus trees need WELL draining soil. MG is NOT a good choice unless you have added perlite at the rate of 4 to 1 perlite to MG. MG stays too wet for citrus roots to breathe. I would remove the tree from the MG and amend it so its VERY WELL draining. Citrus trees are also not watered on a schedule but rather watered ONLY when they need it. Citrus plants like to dry before watering and then watered deeply. My trees are kept inside through out the winter and some only get watered once a month. I use a moisture meter to tell me when the trees need a drink. A moisture meter is one of the important tools when growing citrus. I for one do not trust the finger method. The leaf drop is normal for a newly transplanted tree and if other conditions are met it should grow back. Fert should be with held until signs of new growth are seen. You don't want to stress and already stressed tree. Andi
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Steve, you crack me up...lol Just put aluminum foil around the buckets and you will have shiny ones too) Rene, now that your trees are outside they will grow back leaves suited for summer. You gained leaves that are use to lights not the sun and that is why you shedded the darker older ones. They should grow back. Becareful though not to put your trees right back into the sun right away or they will burn off. They actually look pretty good for being held up indoors for so long. Hope you are not in stoe for another winter blast like we are here in good ole New England( As for the bugs, I use Neem oil mixed with a bit if natural soapy water and drown/suffoctae the buggers. Not sure whay they are, too hard to tell. Did you use outside soil, or a bagged sterile mix? What kind of soil is that?
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Hey all, starting a new thread here to avoid completely hijacking the one I initially posted some questions in. I just got a 2-3 year old Meyer lemon tree that is about 3 feet tall, and I'm looking to grow it fully indoors in my apartment. I understand this may not be ideal but I do have decent sized south-facing windows that get a lot of light, so I'm hopeful I can manage to get at least a handful of lemons. Picture of the setup is below, this weekend I'll move it upstairs where I have the same windows with all 3 shades always open. It's honestly looking a bit sad currently, the branches are much more droopy than when I first got it (and it was shipping in a box for an entire week). The blossoms are drying out, one fell off this morning. I just picked up an IR thermometer, with my thermostat reading 75 the soil temp is 60 and top of the leaves is 66, seems like an OK difference to me but I'm not sure what's ideal. Haven't repotted yet, it's in a 5 gallon plastic pot for now and I'm looking at moving it to a 5 or 7 gallon fabric pot when my new soil is delivered on Saturday. Looking for tips or anything else that would be useful to measure, I want this tree to be the best it can be (without needing an insane amount of maintenance) and I'm not afraid to get scientific with it. Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far and to anyone else who takes the time to read and respond!
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suzannesks
17 years ago
thaynes, for apartment living ...you DO want a dwarf citrus tree. Fourwinds.com in California sells very nice dwarf citrus tree's.They sell (1) yr. trees and (2 to 3)yr.old trees.I myself buy the older tree's the 2 to 3 year olds.They have a better start. I have ordered 10 citrus trees from this business and have always been happy with their trees.***Suzanne
thaynes
Original Author
17 years ago
thanks for the info, when you say misting does that just mean spay with a spary bottle?? and when i go to the hardware store, are the bulbs going to say warm or cool???
birdsnblooms
17 years ago
Thaynes, the bulb should specify the type of bulb. At least mine do. I got mine at Home Depot just last month.
Yes, misting is spraying w/a spray bottle..Toni

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