In what part of Oz land do you live? Can you put your Meyer in the ground? They are much easier to deal with when planted in the ground. Pictures would help, of course. If it is in a pot now; and you are going to plant it in the ground, you only have to dig a hole a little bigger than the pot; carefully take the tree out of the pot (for me I always choose to destroy the pot to preserve the rootball) and put it in the hole. Back fill with the dirt from the hole , water it in well and wait. When it begins to make new growth you can begin a regular fertilizer regime; but not before; the absence of nutrients encourages the roots to grow seeking food and water; and with citrus, first the roots grow and then leaves and branches.

I'm beating John to this. A close up of the fruit would be helpful, but to me, clearly you've got a lovely Improved Meyer Lemon tree. A few clues for you: First, it's a bush :-) Meyer's like to form more of a bush-like shape, very common. And perfectly okay. Second clue is the shape and color of your lemons. Rounder, darker, richer yellow which will continue to ripen to yellow/orange, and their skin will be thinner and smoother than, say, a Eureka or Lisbon lemon. They are extremely juicy, less acidic and make the best lemonade ever. They are also fabulous to cook with, just Google "cooking with Meyer lemons" and you'll see all kinds of great recipes. Martha Stewart extolled the virtues of the Meyer lemon, and that has launched the Meyer lemon into culinary stardom. Your Meyer lemon will produce ripe lemons nearly year 'round, so be sure to pick them off as they ripen. I don't let mine get over-ripe (soft and more orangy in color). If you don't pick the ripe fruit, you can force your tree into an alternate bearing cycle, which you don't want. Also, you need to rip out all the grass from underneath the tree, out just beyond the edge of the canopy by about a foot (that's the drip line of your tree, and where the feeder roots exist.) Be sure your tree is on a drip and not being sprinkled by the lawn sprinklers. That will be eventual death of a citrus tree, they do not like to be constantly wet from a sprinkler, you can cause fungal infections on the trunk that way. Lastly, be sure you fertilize your Meyer regularly, at least 3 times a year (I fertilize my Meyer more frequently, 4 times a year, and with twice the amount of recommended fertilizer because they are SUCH prolific fruit bearers). Lastly, you may want to treat for Citrus Leafminer if this is an issue in your area. Just search our forum for Citrus Leafminer or CLM, tons of messages around that - I've probably posted over 30 times at least about CLM :-) And, you can add your USDA & Sunset Zone in your "Zone" section where you have "South Texas" (see my zone info). That helps us on the list know how to best advise you as well. Patty S.

Liminqueens, thanks for the science, learned something today! :) Mike, I'll give it another week or so, since we just had a freezing advisory a couple of days ago and days are not quite in the 70's yet, more in the 50/60s right now. You're saying its ok to bring them in and out like that? I saw a post not too long ago from someone that had a tree that did great on his patio, and then lost all its leaves and deperished the second he brought it back inside for the winter. Something about light difference shock and temperature issues. How do I avoid my tree going bald when I bring it back in? I'm going to be very candid with you: that is the very reason I have been going back and forth in my mind and hesitating in bringing the trees outside for the summer, because of all the posts here and elsewhere that show bugs infestations on their Meyer lemon trees, and trees in shock when brought back in. Is the risk vs reward worth it taking them out for a couple months? If you tell me it is, I will believe you but it's a question worth asking, ya know? I have been holding my breath around my trees since I got them, and considering they seemed to be doing ok, I was frankly afraid to do anything that might hurt them or expose them to parasites. So if I'm going to take them out on the patio, I want to make sure I don't screw it up. The Patio has mostly shady areas (for most of the day, anyway), and full sun areas (same, for most of the day), but no filtered sun areas, since its a patio and not a garden and I don't have other trees out there. Does that pose a transition problem for my trees? And if it's going to be really cold 2 weeks after I bring them out, what do I do, take them back in for the night? Now about soil, keeping in mind that my trees are going to stay potted and go back in for the winter. I've read a lot about 511, and it's also available already mixed, so that's definitely a plus. I've read about gritty soil as well, but quite frankly, I don't have the experience to decide which one is best, so right now it's pretty much flip a coin to pick one for me. Should I put something else at the bottom of the pot, like gravel, to make sure it drains properly? I've also read people using coconut fiber pads to help the water drain well. A lot of questions, I know. And I'm sure I'll have more of them before I'm done, too. So thank you again for taking the time to help. Atheen PS: Been trying to get back into my first post to correct the pic orientation, but can't seem to find a way to go back in the original post to edit it. I can edit the comments, but not the first post. Am I missing something?

UPDATE 2019! Hey everyone, happy new year! You guys are still my special community of help and advice that I always think of when I am around my tree! I have since brought my tree down to my parents house in South Carolina. Being a bachelor (still) I had to move into several different apartments in Nashville since that post, none of which would be suitable for my baby to thrive in! My parents also have adopted her and done an excellent job helping raise her as my dad loves loves loves lemons in all of the water that he drinks. It had a great summer - they brought it outside and kept it in full sun - it grew to become a large leaf bearing tree that the kids love to “pretend water” with toy cups and boats full of water. Now it has been brought in for the winter and it has grown so many lemons - I’ve been anxiously waiting for them to start turning yellow. Over thanksgiving it appeared that some of them were beginning to turn yellow at the base of the fruit. I was hopeful that this January they would turn full yellow and I could come and pick a few. Here is the sad news. It has been dropping leaves consistently. It still is blooming. My dad and i think that it is due to over watering. Then i just found out from my dad that after Christmas it got a spider mite infestation. My dad sprayed it with some pesticide and he thinks the spiders are all dead. I’m attaching a photo of what he used. Again, just wanted to update you guys. Last year we got lemons and it was incredible to see where this tree had come from. I think I might have to name her Lazarus! Never would have saved her with yalls help. What do y’all think of the current state the tree is in? What do you think of the spider mite infestation? Any advice would ALWAYS be so helpful!! Forever grateful, Jamie