My Lemon Tree Needs a Good Home

15 years ago

I recently posted this on the citrus forum, but I guess there are not enough people from my area to respond. SO I thought i would post it here too.

I am a GW member for a few years now.

I have a lemon tree that I have had for 10 years now. It was started by seed probably 3,4,or 5 years prior to me recieving it. I got my lemon tree from a dear friend. His father had brought over a lemon tree from Italy when he migrated to America, about 80 years ago. My tree is a baby of that lemon tree.

My friend's tree would grow the biggest lemons I had even seen! AS big as a grapefruit!

My tree has bloomed for about 5 years now. But here is the thing. I moved last year to a new home. I have a nice Florida room, but it faces SW and does not get much sun until late afternoon. This was not enough sun for my tree and it lost all of its leaves over the winter and I thought it was done for.

When spring came, I brought it outside and tried to nurse it back to health the best I could. And now it has reguvinated itself, and has tons of new leaves and shoots. It has no blooms on it as of yet because it had to regrow all its leaves again, but will have blooms on it soon I believe.

The tree with pot is large, including base of pot, it is about 4-5 feet tall. It is in like a 20 inch pot now and very heavy. It does need a new pot, for the one it is in now is cracked but I did not want to replace it if it was to be moved again.

Because of the poor light, I have not been able to properly grow lemons on it, but I am sure it will thrive in the right conditions. This now leads to the point of this post.

I have realized because I love this tree so much, it would not be right to keep it and let it go through another bad winter here without proper light and loose its leaves again.

So I have decided that in the best interest of my dear tree, I should try to find someone to adopt my tree so it can grow propery and thrive.

Like I said, I have had this tree for over 10 years, and I really hate to let it go, but would rather do so in order for it to stay alive.

if anyone out there is serious enough to want to adopt my tree, please email me at bonechickchris@aol.com

I do not know how many people in my area frequent this forum, but if anyone knows of maybe a place that is citrus friendly and would like to adopt my tree, please let me know.

I really want someone who knows citrus and has grown citrus and knows how to grow them in the winter up north here.

Thank you for reading this. I aprreciate your time very much.

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Comments (3)

yourpal
15 years ago
Bonechickchris,

Here are some thoughts...

1. Since it was happy in your last place but you don't have sufficient lighting in your new place can you augment the lighting with grow-lights?

2. Scout some public locations like library, town hall, retirement or rehabilitation facility, school, doctor's office, veteran's hospital etc. for places that are plant-friendly (already have some), have sufficient lighting and space and whatever else you think it needs. Then talk to someone in charge there with an offer to donate.

3. Google Garden Club of NJ (GCNJ) and find a local garden club in your area. You can probably call the GCNJ - or send email - and find out how to contact them. The local club may have some suggestions or someone who will take your tree.
fmart322
15 years ago
I agree with yourpal, look for a place where you can go and visit it from time to time. Anyplace that has an atrium would be a good bet. You do know that you can sell it? Tree's like yours aren't easy to find. Put an ad in the papaer or craigslist ect.. I had to do this with a variegated ficus tree I had that got to big on me and when I moved it just didn't get the light it needed. It was so nice in my old home people, including my wife, thought it was fake. I gave it to my family Dr. who has an indoor pool and now it get's great light and humidty. Tough break.

Let me ask you, did you ever make lemoncello with any of those lemons? When I went to Italy I saw the large lemons that you say this tree grows and they are nice. good luck.
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looks pretty good but if i may suggest a few things. 1.personally I think the pot it a bit too big. However you can get away with that by having good water habits. 2.Remove the fruit. As exciting as it is your tree needs to put on some growth and not spend its energy growing the fruit. 3.I think you are over fertilizing. Once a week at that strength is ok during the summer growing months but is overkill in winter. I can get away with it but mine all live in a greenhouse. MeyerMike overwinters his inside his home and IIRC he doesnt fertilize near that much and his plants do just fine. 4. you may want to loosen the stake so the trunk can move around a bit. It helps the trunk strengthen and grow bigger. overall I think youre doing pretty good. Mike
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Its always had plenty of light, been outdoors in Los Angeles. Never repotted, which I suspect it needs to. My mom used to fertilize it every now and then, but it was still not well. I fertilized again a couple weeks ago. She used some type of fertilizer sticks, I use Lilly Miller Citrus + Avacado food (it says natural ingredients). A lot of the leaves fall off, as well as the tiny lemons that try to grow. It is definitely struggling. Thanks!
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i agree .... on repotting... i would have done it a few weeks back ... but what i dont know.. is if you can do it.. without aborting the fruit ... also... think long and hard about what cures you use in soil ... if you plan on eating the fruit ... many things to ponder.. and i would also defer to the citrus peeps ... but one thing for sure .... WATERING IS NEVER A SCHEDULE thing ... you water when it needs water.. and most trees like the media to nearly dry before you water again ... insert finger and find out.. or learn to do it by weight of pot ... get this.. the thing that happens.. when the media doesnt dry enough.. is you get weird bugs living in the media.... and that might be right where you are right now ... so though you think the issue is the media... the root cause.. might be your watering .... [there is almost a root pun there] i wish you luck ... ken ps: now the real .. next question is... have you ever grown a tree indoors???? .... it might be a wild ride ... especially if you are up north.. in the great white north... and have a forced air furnace ... and that again.. is where watering might become a nightmare ... besides indoor humidity issues in winter .... one thing for sure.. your outdoor summer watering schedule.. will be near useless indoors .... this is where it gets real hard.. if you havent figured that out yet.. lol ....
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So sorry to hear about the loss of your father. And I understand about wanting to keep his little tree going. Some things to help: First, if you're seeing teeny black flies crawling on the soil, and flying around, they most likely are fungus gnats, as Dave has mentioned. Fungus gnats thrive in too moist soil. So, the very first thing I would recommend is to re-pot your little tree in better draining soil. If you search this forum for "511" or "gritty mix", you'll come up with some good potting soil recipes. Or, if you can find bagged Farfard Professional Potting soils in your area, they also will work. Again, search this forum for "farfard" for the best choices. Citrus do not tolerate soggy soils well at all, and will suffer from root rot, besides promoting pests such as fungus gnats, which can damage tender feeder roots. Next, moisture meters (of this caliber) can be pretty inaccurate. You can try using one, but you're better off just using a stick inserted down to the bottom of your pot. Checking the soil moisture down to the bottom, to make sure you're not retaining a puddle of water at the bottom of the pot. As far as fertilizers, most folks on this list use DynaGro Foliage Pro, and you can supplement with Osmocote Plus, which is a time release fertilizer with a good NPK ratio plus all the micros. The Dynamite Select All Purpose will also work. Use the Foliage Pro with every watering. Skip the Tanglewood - your tree is much too small for that, and really, this product is used in citrus culture to keep ants off of outdoor trees. This will not prevent the types of indoor pests that plaque indoor citrus, including fungus gnats. Put your tree outside as much as you can during the year. Most folks will acclimate their trees to the outside slowly, over a couple of weeks as soon as temps allow. Don't do it too early, as you don't want to end up with the tree exposed to temps below freezing, but citrus are outdoor plants, so as much total outdoor time, the better for the tree. Lastly, to treat the fungus gnats. Use Gnatrol. Works extremely well. You might need a few applications as a soil soak, but that will take care of them. Be sure to treat all your indoor plants, as they will spread from plant to plant. Patty S.
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ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
15 years ago
Hello,
I was wondering what is proper protocol if you give or sell a tree re removing it?
I would like to find a good home for my cup plant (which is like a tree) but I could not dig it out.

Would it be terribly presumptuous to ask the recipient to remove it?

My Lemon Tree Needs a Good Home

Comments (3)

yourpal

fmart322

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ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a

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