Good question? Here's a link that says they grow around 6-10ft tall and can be pruned smaller. I do know mine is dwarf. My tree is appx. 5 years old and is only 2 1/2 to 3ft tall...but its pretty wide. The trunk is only 4" tall,lol...
{{gwi:643552}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Meyer Lemon

Pug...Wow!

I WISH I was your next door neighbor, or lived there with you..I would have a blast planting everything I have here in pots..

Nice, nice!

Mike

not true at all. I have Meyer on full size root stock and it's only a foot or so shorter than my Eureka right next to it. It's easily 8 foot +

Okay, softmentor, but if it weren't grafted would it be even smaller? Maybe your tree was grafted to make it bigger. Maybe ungrafted Meyer lemons are the size of other trees that are grafted to be dwarf????

And 8' still doesn't seem very big for a tree. When I asked at the nursery about some semi-dwarf trees, the worker said "well, it will get to be about 10' tall...."

Ah, Pug, thanks for the link to Wikipedia. It says that the Meyer Lemon is compact and only reaches a height of 6-10'. Another site mentions that the Eureka Lemon for example reaches a height of 10-20'.

Susan

If not grafted it will get very large, 15-20 feet. Dwarf or standard depends on the rootstock.

Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

Hmmmph.
Wikipedia says it only gets 6-10'
Mr Texas says it gets 15-20'

Sounds like we're back to square one....

According to Dave's Garden, Meyer Lemons get 10-12 feet tall. I would post a link, but GW is currently blocking links to that site.

Thanks Mike!!

You're welcome for the link Susan...its all so confusing isn't it? Just keep in mind you can trim them to just about any size you'd like. I personally prefer my fruit trees short and wide, as opposed to tall and lanky...much easier to protect/cover the trees during freeze and easier to pick the delicious fruits as well. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your information. My question was more idle curiosity than concern for the height of the tree. (My Eureka Lemon has responded really well to the sort of pruning you are suggesting, Pug; it sits up against the south wall of a shed and is definitely wider than tall...probably under 6'.) The young Meyer is at the other end of the same shed and I'm looking forward to those sweet limes next year for my Meyer Lemon Margaritas....:-))))

Remember in any such discussion that "your mileage may vary" and "Never believe Wikipedia." As Mr. Texas says, the rootstock determines all. Meyer itself is a compact tree, but not what I'd ever call "dwarf" in the sense that a grafted dwarf apple is dwarf. In Florida, on a vigorous rootstock or own-root (if they live long enough), they may go 12 or more feet tall by at least as wide, eventually. Granted, that's not big for a citrus tree, but hardly what I'd call dwarf either.

There's a difference between the Meyer and the Improved Meyer. The original Meyer was a tree. They still exist in a lot of backyards around here. The Improved Meyer is a bush. I have an IM that grew from the seed of my neighbor's IM. It's now 15 yrs old and is an irregular roundish shape, 8' H x 8' W.

My other two Meyers are grafted onto dwarf rootstock. You can graft them onto something taller, but in the end you've still got a bush on a stick.

I think one reason they don't graft a lot of IM onto taller rootstock, is that the IM grows so fast, it'll weigh down most rootstock. Until that trunk thickens, a good year's harvest pulls the branches down so much, it looks like a strange variety of weeping citrus. One year I was afraid the branches were actually going to break, they were so heavy and long in relation to the diameter of the trunk.

If you have a Meyer that is grafted to taller rootstock, it needs to be very strongly staked until the trunk thickens up. I didn't stake one of my grafted IMs properly, and it ended up permanently leaning to one side.

jkom51-- Don't want to be argumentative, but "Improved Meyer" is simply 'Meyer' cured of citrus tristeza virus. They are in all other ways exactly identical, including tree size and growth pattern. Like all Meyer, they do not come true from seed. Seedlings may resemble the parent, but are not true-to-type. The likely reason you see bigger old Meyer trees and smaller IM trees is that the old Meyer trees are older, so have had longer to grow.

malcolm, if you google this issue, there is debate about growing from seed. The Floridata site (http://www.floridata.com/ref/c/citr_mey.cfm) agrees with me.

There is, BTW, mention of two different varieties of Meyers, which may be adding to the confusion. Another website commented that the seed does not hold and must be planted immediately, which may explain how my oldest Meyer came to be. In 5 yrs it was the ONLY offshoot from my neighbor's IM which bordered our property (hers was a purchased grafted tree, so there is no doubt what it was). There must have been dozens of lemons that rotted and fell off in the soil, but this was the only one that ever rooted.

I can take a photo of my 15 yr old Meyer, but youâÂÂll have to trust me - this IS a Meyer. The fruit is absolutely identical to the two grafted IM trees we purchased, and the structure of it is a bush/shrub, not a tree. It is no more a tree than my yellow cestrum, which may be 20' tall but is undeniably a shrub.

All three Meyers, despite one being free-sown and two purchased dwarf grafts, have identical leaf and branch structure as well as growth patterns. The branching pattern of an IM is unmistakeable; it is one of the most heavily crossed I've ever encountered, quite different from Eureka, Lisbon, or Ponderosa lemons, all of which I have local access to.

Several people I know have the old Meyer trees. They are a true tree, and the fruit is far more regular in shape, almost identical on the outside to a standard lemon until you cut into it. Then the flesh color is a giveaway - itâÂÂs more orange than yellow inside.

Improved Meyer fruit is distinctly different than true lemons, not only in taste and acidity but in shape, peel, and color change. We use a lot of our Meyers fresh, so if there was a difference we would be able to tell quite easily.

There is no other lemon I know of whose peel turns bright orange when overripe. In a good year I get 50-75+ lbs or more off each IM, so I've certainly cut into enough of them over the past dozen years.

Just to clarify, Meyers weren't 'cured' of the tristeza virus. Like sudden oak death, there is no cure for it. Some uninfected rootstock was eventually found and nursery stocks were restored in the mid-1970's with FDA approval.

This is an interesting (and new) discussion! I know that the original 'Meyer' does not come true to type from seed, which is why it could not be cured of tristeza through nucellar seedling culture. If Four Winds found a clean tree, that virtually guarantees that it was a (non-nucellar) seedling, since 'Meyer' is believed to have arrived in the US already infected. But I have a problem with that concept, in that in all literature and correspondence I've come across over the last 35 years, Californians have seemed always to agree with Floridians, that the "Improved" is in all ways identical to the original, except for the disease. And I've seen trees in California, which were in all ways identical to our original as well as our improved. In Florida, it was "cured" of tristeza by shoot-tip micrografting, here at our Winter Haven citrus budwood lab.

At least in Florida (the only place I've had experience with 'Meyer' but that for more than 35 years), no form of 'Meyer' resembles true lemons -- they are always bigger, rounder, more toward orange than yellow, with less of a neck and nipple.
So, perhaps some of the California version of "Improved Meyer" is a different variety, in which case I doubt that it exists in Florida, and what is referred to as "improved" here is the true, original 'Meyer', which was cleaned up.

But have a look at the California citrus variety collection website -- it, too, gives no indication of any differences at all, other than the lack of virus in the "improved" version, and all their photos look exactly right for either form, by Florida standards.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the Floridata site "agrees" with you -- it indicates that all 'Meyer' trees were replaced with 'Improved Meyer', something we know not to to be true in either state. It also gives no indication that the two are in any way different, other than the presence/absence of tristeza virus. The photos on that site are precisely correct for the Florida form of "Improved" Meyer, as well as for the Florida forms of the original 'Meyer'. Until your note above, I've never heard anyone suggest that the original was in any way more true-lemon-like; that simply is not believed by anyone, nor supported by any literature.

Here is a link that might be useful: California Citrus Clonal Improvement web page

I should have continued above: "Like sudden oak death, there is no cure for it." Actually, it's rather easily cured from a variety. It's true that any individual tree, once infected, cannot be cured, but to clean up ("cure") a variety, any of three methods can be used and have been used extensively:

1. Nucellar seedlings. As long as a variety makes good nucellar seedlings, and if the juvenility period of those seedlings is not unacceptably long, this is the simplest method. 100% successful.

2. Thermotherapy. Usually effective. The method varies, but usually involves maintaining potted trees in a heat chamber, and exposing them to high temperature for a period of time. A typical regimen is 35ðC days, 30ðC nights for 2 weeks, followed by 40ðC days, 35ðC nights for another week, then 50ðC days and 40ðC nights for another week. Buds are then cut from the branches and propagated on virus-free rootstocks. This method is quite effective if the tree survives; often it does not.

3. Shoot-tip micrografting. This method has proven highly useful in removing numerous virus diseases from citrus, including CTV. It involves growing a vigorous new shoot, as rapidly as possible, then harvesting a tiny piece of the terminal growing end, and grafting it, under tissue culture conditions, to a young rootstock seedling. You have to get a piece small enough that it has not yet differentiated phloem tissue. This doesn't always work -- if the piece is too small, it dies; if too large, it may still carry the virus. So the trick is to get exactly the right piece. So you do a lot of them, and test later to see which, if any are clean.

Thermotherapy followed by shoot-tip micrografting can be a very effective combination.

I bought a Meyer Lemon earlier this year, and it was very hard to get an answer to this question. Answers seemed to vary widely as we see here. I eventually bought a tree grafted on US 897 rootstock from Briteleaf Citrus. The vendor stated that the fully mature size for an in-ground tree on the dwarfing rootstock would be 8'. I forget how large they said the Meyer Lemon on their full size rootstock would get, but I think it was around 15'. I opted for the dwarfing rootstock because I can have a small tree without needing to do a lot of pruning.

Great tree pug! Do you ever have to protect it from the cold? If so what temp do you protect it at? I've heard that Meyer Lemon has cold hardyness somewhere between a lime (which were decimated here in last year's cold) and oranges (which were fine last year), but haven't found very good info on exactly what temp it starts to take damage to leaves & branches.

>>At least in Florida (the only place I've had experience with 'Meyer' but that for more than 35 years), no form of 'Meyer' resembles true lemons -- they are always bigger, rounder, more toward orange than yellow, with less of a neck and nipple.

So, perhaps some of the California version of "Improved Meyer" is a different variety, in which case I doubt that it exists in Florida, and what is referred to as "improved" here is the true, original 'Meyer', which was cleaned up. >>

You may be right. I don't know whether this will cloud the issue further or clear it up, but when I have seen Meyers brought by folks who have access to one of the original trees, they are as close to the appearance of grocery store lemons as one could imagine, except that for some reason they tend to be glossier, I imagine because of the high oil of the peel.

They are regular in shape in a way I envy because mine are highly irregular - always have been. As you can see from this photo, the variance in appearance is considerable. All four of these Meyers came from the same plant, one of the purchased ones. The more oval ones do get bigger, BTW, but still remain more oval than round.
{{gwi:53265}}

Also, I find the thickness of the skin highly variable here, depending upon the weather and water.

For those who have wondered about freezing point, two of Meyers are in semi-protected spots, one is not. In 2008 we had a highly unusual cold spell where the nighttime temps dropped below freezing every night for two weeks, although they never went lower at our house than 27 degrees. There was no damage to any of the Meyers, even though I lost a number of plants, including a prized Japanese maple.

All Meyer lemon variations are as different from store bought lemons. What makes them 'Meyer' is that they're closer to oranges. If i could find the book, i could explain how they don't grow true to seed, its because of the lemon mixed with orange thing. Improved meyers are cured of the tristeza virus thorugh various methods, nucellar, and shoot micrografts...
malcom, ive never heard of thermotherapy, but it sounds like most of the time, it would kill the plant.

Thanks sun worshiper! I've had it in a pot for about 4 yrs before I planted it in the ground this April. I did use to put the pot up against a south wall during temps below 30 degrees...but last winter as you are well aware was one of the worst winter in FL and it survived the low 20's with just a blanket and thrown next to a south wall...this year I'm going to let nature take its course. My neighbor has one that she did NOT protect and it had NO damage.

One thing I do still wonder here, from a California standpoint, is about the existence of old-line Meyer, since it is my understanding that, at least since the early 1970s, perhaps much earlier, it has been illegal to plant/possess/sell the infected form there. They have never been illegal in Florida, but I don't know where I'd find an old-line tree still living, at this point.

if your lucky, you might find one in the ground, but i dont no y you would want one, ther is a great chance that its a symtomless carier of the tristeza virus, wich would kill all your other citrus
there is no other difference between meyer and improved, improved has no virus
reg meyer was banned in 50's
why do you want to find the origional non improved meyer line?

I'm given a seedling reportedly from a Meyer but I've noticed that it has winged leaflet wings. Is that any indication of its provenance? Do Meyer lemons have such leaves?

Back to the size...I bought mine 8 years ago as a 3 foot tall, spindly 3 gallon. It is now 14 feet tall and 12 feet around AFTER SEVERAL HARD PRUNINGS! Its shape is decidedly more "shrublike" than "tree like"....easy to see sitting next to a ruby red grapefruit and a satsuma.

That is excellent news on the cold hardyness puglvr! I'll be very interested to know how it fares this winter without protection. Thanks jkom51 as well for the info on your min temp. I'm going to protect mine until its trunk sizes up a bit. Then hopefully it can fend for itself. It is very small right now:

{{gwi:643884}}

wilmington_islander - Thanks for the excellent information! Great to know the dimensions of an actual tree, and its age. Do you know which rootstock your tree is on? I think I made the right call to seek out the dwarf rootstock since I want a small tree.

Meyer lemon trees have natural dwarfing characteristics, whether grown from rooted cuttings or grafted. Those grafted on dwarfing rootstocks will be more "dwarf" than those grown on standard rootstocks. Citrus trees growing in the ground will tend to get taller and bushier than pot-grown specimens, regardless of rootstock. A tree that you call a "dwarf" in a pot may grow to "semi-dwarf" in the ground.

That's right. A "dwarf" redwood, for example, might still be over 200 feet tall ;)

Josh

Sunworshipper:

I am not sure what rootstock it is on...if any. There is no "graft' like on all of my other citrus trees...as to cold hardiness, don't worry where you are. Mine have never been protected and survived 19 degrees when it was the size yours is currently. I suffered about 33% leaf loss lst year due to the cold...4 nights in a row with temps from 23-27 and frost. Funny thing is my valenica, tangelo, grapefruit, satsuma and honey murcott showed no damage whatsoever....only the meyer lemon leaves and the thornless key lime leaves....thornless key lime was defoliated. The key lime I have is also 8 years old and huge....not supposed to live here, I know! And truth be told, I have not had fruit from it since 2008 becasue of the cold...but I have had bountiful crops from it until then.