Meyers Lemon was introduced to USA from Asia and later found to be a symptomless carrier of the citrus virus Tristeza. This does not affect Meyers Lemon in any way, but can allow the disease to be passed on by aphids to commercial citrus varieties which are affected. The virus can be eliminated by various laboratory procedures such as heat treatment and shoot-tip grafting. Clean Meyers Lemon was propagated on a large scale in, I think, the 1960's and all old line Meyers should have been replaced with the new 'Improved Meyers Lemon'. Certainly, no old Meyers should now be sold in the USA. There is no difference between 'old' and 'improved' Meyers (apart from the lack of Tristeza). They are the same variety.

This issue was hotly debated here about a year ago. If I remember correctly (I'm on another computer so access is limited) the stock that was destroyed as carriers were from two of the three major CA nurseries. The third was certified virus-free. Stock from other states, such as Texas and Florida, was unaffected. Where I live there are a lot of the original Meyers still around. The East Bay was still mostly small homes (on what is today large urban lots) and rural farms until the late 1960's; the Warren Freeway section of Hwy 580 was not completed until the mid-1970's. I don't see any reason why a Meyer wouldn't live 50-75 yrs if properly fed (and that's a big IF, most people don't feed their Meyers as much as they should). The older citrus trees in our area were all planted in the 1930's and 1940's, and are still going like gangbusters today. One of my co-workers who lived in Concord in the mid-1990's had a home in a former orchard-turned-development, and said there were Meyer trees all over her area. The trees bore great big gorgeous lemons year-round. A neighbor across the street from her, who was born and raised in one of the original tiny cottages circa 1920, said she remembered when the Meyer orchard was planted in the 1930's, and watched as the owner sold off the land to developers in the 1970's and most of the trees were bulldozed.

Maydl, buying fruit at the market, makes one wonder if whomever labels them knows what they're doing. lol I checked Improved Meyer's in a citrus book. It says: Meyer isn't a true lemon like Eureka and Lisbon, it's a hybrid between lemon and mandarin or an orange. The fruit has 'thin' skin with a bright yellow rind that darkens to orange-yellow as the fruit ripens on the tree, but still acidic. Flavor is unique-lemony with flora overtones in both the juice and rind. Meyer trees sold in Ca are often sold with a tag from the CA Dept of Food and agriculture. Fruit: Medium size w/very thin, yellow to yellow-orange rind..Dark, yellow very juicy interior.Acidic, flowery taste, many seeds, holds well on tree, difficult to peel. Tree is small, compact, with few thorns. Fruit grown in Fl generally has a thinner, smoother rind..It's juicer, bigger, more elongated and harder to peel than the same variety grown in CA. When did you buy your Meyers? Citrus from Fl aren't allowed to be shipped outside of their state. (The ban is still on) So, it's possible your Meyer's was grown in Ca. Whatever, enjoy the fruit, Toni

Yes... I believe so. A meyer of mine froze to the graft after a week long series of dips to the low 20s... punctuated with a quickie to 16F. It only gets morning sun but grew 4-5 ft. in one season. The roots were established enough after 2 years such that the tree put itself back into root/leaf balance. I was able to quickly confirm the thorny growth was not rootstock.