Once it hits the magic number all buds know it. And once it hits the number it won't revert back. If it did then grafted trees wouldn't fruit as quickly as they do.

you need to be concerned with weither you have your original lemon or rootstock growing.

Cfox. I agree with emachado. Sounds like rootstock has taken over.

Is there an excess amount of thorns on the stems?

Where are you located?

Scenario 1) If the tree was grafted, it sounds like the grafted variety (the lemon) did not survive. The rootstock may have taken over. Can you post a picture of the leaves and trunk (near soil line)?

Scenario 2) Often Meyer lemon is grown from cuttings when sold up north where citrus is not hardy outdoors. If this was the case for your plant, then the new growth is still Meyer Lemon. It could still bloom and produce Meyer lemons.

Thanks for the replies!

I am 98% certain it's lemon still, as those bottom branches that sent up all the other branches at one point had lemons on them, and the leaves all look the same as they did before I almost killed the poor tree. I don't think it is grafted, I believe it is a rooted cutting of some sort since I'm in the northern climate. That said I could 100% still be wrong! that would be disappointing, I won't lie. Here are some pictures, starting from what it first looked like, with captions for some explanations. There are few thorns on it. If it turns out to be some kind of rootstock I'll be so upset that I've spent SO much time and energy keeping it alive! haha!

Here is a picture of what it looked like before I went and almost killed it

Here it is after the trunk has died back. This is what has turned into all the new growth

This is what the trunk looked like, taken immediately after this ^^^ picture. These were taken last summer, the soil has since been changed, if you were wondering about the shavings, haha.

This is the trunk now. I tried to dig down a bit. After seeing what the graft line looked like on my orange tree, I do not thing I see - nor have I ever - seen a graft line on this tree. In the above picture there is a light diagonal line above where the branches are on the dead portion, but that's just the 'seam' where the dead wood meets the living wood so to speak. Hence the assumption that it is a rooted cutting. I dug down to where I feel the start of roots.

Here are what the leaves look like (a teensy bit yellow, I've been lax on fertilizing recently). The bottom half of the tree is bald due to some bugs, hence all the dead leaves. It's in a foil lined grow closet to try and get it to leaf out so I can prune it down a ton because it's really unwieldy!

So, given the pictures, what do you think?

Did you tell us where you purchased the plant? Big box store? Mail order? I think there's a good chance it might be cutting grown based on how low it is branching, but not 100% sure.

A big box garden center. It has since shut down. In another thread I started a long time ago someone said it was common to see road cuttings this far north, but I suppose I don't know how accurate that is :)

leaves look like lemon..its very hard to tell because that thick part of the stem could be the graft line and the new stems would be root stock since they appear to be growing under the graft..or it could just be that it looks thicker at the junction where all the new stems are coming out. Its a tough call...maybe buy a back-up just in case this one doesn't pan out the way you want.

I definitely will! Can't go wrong with more excuses to buy lemons. I will wait till next season instead of ordering this year yet and give it a bit more time. Like I said I am almost entirely certain that the bottom-most branch, one of the main ones sending off the new branches, had fruit on it when I got it - three big fat lemons that I had to clip when I near killed it. There is a chance I am misremembering, but I am still pretty confident about it. :) I guess I will see! I'll probably buy a second one next year just because I'd like another regardless, but I'll pamper this guy over the winter and see if it gives me anything.

If from a Big Box store then odds go up that it is cutting-grown, but again, not 100% sure. I would not throw it out.

You know, now that I think about it, I can't say big box. It was a HUGE garden center but it was family owned. However, the trees they sold there had the same tag and came from the same place as the big box stores carried, so I equate it with the same thing.

If the graft took over its sometimes a citrange, that's a trioflate orange x sweet orange

I ended up emailing Four Winds with the images to ask their opinion. After all, they should know better than most! The reply I got said it looked like a cutting on its own roots and to keep going with it. Obviously not a guarantee, but it gives me some heart anyways!

So, now that I am starting to see leaves on the bottom of the tree where it's bald I chopped it down a pretty huge amount to let the tree focus on pushing those leaves out. They're growing really quickly now, so here's to hoping I get some flowers with it!

Didn't you say you got some lemons from it? Did they taste like Meyers? I thought rootstock fruit was always the sour/bitter type?

Well, it had lemons on it... Until I almost killed it and had to clip them off. I had no idea what I was doing when I got this plant!

D'oh! Well I'm rooting for you!

Hey guys!

Just an update. Once my lemon started showing new shoots near the bottom of the plant I chopped it back. I cut off many of the weird sideshoot branches, anything that wasn't vertical pretty much. I left it with one main "trunk" branch and several smaller ones, now mostly without mature leaves. It just can't be so big inside and I figured if I kill it, I kill it, but the chop had to happen. A four foot plant just wasn't happening inside the apartment. It's been sitting in a foil lined cardboard closet with its own huge grow light. Once per week I've been drenching it in the shower and giving some Foliage Pro. I figured one it leafs out I can put it on the grow table with the other plants.

Holy Hannah, this tree is *exploding* with growth. There isn't a single branch that isn't now pushing out new growth, new leaves. Every day I look there is more than the day before, and it's all growing SO fast.

And, on top of that - FLOWER BUDS! On one of the only branches left that has any mature leaves (one of the few that didn't get chopped!) it pushed out a few flowers! I am SO EXCITED, it's been a long time and I feel like it's a testament to how much I've learned to keep this guy alive. I hope some of the new branches grow a few flowers to go along with the leaves! It's been years since it's flowered, and with half the plant chopped down (more than half?) it should have plenty of energy to produce new leaves and a few fruit.

It's amazing how fast these plants grow. The flower buds were not there two days ago! Here's some pictures, one of some of the new growth along the bare chopped branches and one of the buds! (I wish the branches would grow some leaves instead of new branching but I'll take what I can get!)