Even my 6ft tall Improved Meyer lemon has dropped a considerable amount of fruits. I started out with a few hundred and now I have around 70-80 fruits. I was actually more relieved than annoyed. I was worried about the health and vigor of the tree when it had so many fruits on it. My tree is healthy but, it didn't grow many new branches at all. Thinking back, I had the main flush of flower buds back in April last spring, and that resulted in the most amount of lemons. I then had another flush of flower buds appear around June and again in July. Now the first set of fruits are just starting to ripen. I was crushed today to see my lemon tree on the ground this morning. I lifted it up and found what would have been the first ripened fruit. I have not had a citrus that ripened to maturity in several years. I would say this fruit was maybe a month away from being ripened. When I bought this tree, I was told that I was in store for a lot of possible problems. Meyer lemons seem to be more finnicky with there care. They hate wet feet(like all citrus), but they need to be kept perfectly moist or they revolt, and they also need to be fed, and if they don't get enough acidity, they will develop yellow leaves. I give mine a capfull of vinegar everytime I water, along with a fertilizer called Foliage Pro. Good luck with your tree. This happens to be one of my favorite citrus trees and this is the right place to go if you have any questions or you have problems with your tree. Andrew

Oppalm. Citrus prefer cool oppossed to hot 'nights' during winter. A 10 degree drop at night is ideal. It'd be difficult if not impossible for us to adapt to rooms kept at 50-55F degrees, not that I blame anyone. lol, but citrus wouldn't mind the decrease. It's best bringing citrus indoors gradually..similiar to taking them out..they need to adapt either way.. Few leaves drop if temps are kept 65-68F during the day, and 55-65F at night. Humidity makes a huge difference, if possible invest in a humidifer. They're great for people, too. Misting and weekly showering perks tropicals-sub-tropicals during gray, dry months. Proper watering is most important, year round. The idea is to allow soil to dry between waterings. If it was my citrus, I'd wait until spring to repot. Increase 1-2 sizes from its original size. MG Palm & Citrus soil is okay, but you may need to add other mediums so it's well-draining. Choose a south or west window in winter. Whichever provides brighter conditions. My plants get additional artificial light a few hours after dark. The longer the better. Withhold fertilizer after Sept..Start up again in late winter/early spring, or when you notice new growth. Fertilizing when days are short, and/or gray, will cause spindly growth. Pruning isn't necessary. Unless someone is really hung up on shape, there's no need to prune. It also reduces chance of flower/fruiting. Stray branches and root stock should be removed. Good luck, Toni

Thanks alot. I just brought it in now because I was looking at that radar and it is actually snowing only about 200 miles away! Luckily I live near the coast so I wont be getting any snow, but it 40 degrees exactly right now and pouring (Burr!). The plant was also soaked so I was afraid of rot, but Im going to bring it back out next week because its going to get sunny and mild (mid 60s) and I dont think 4 days will be enough for discomfort for it to lose fruit. My goal is to keep it out long enough to get most of the fruit to ripen so I dont feel guilty if it does go into shock when it is moved inside permenantly for the winter. I might even put a frost cover on it if it looks like its going to get frosty on a night, but anything predicted to go lower than 37 and it will be spending that night indoors. Thanks again for the response, I appreciate it! Good luck.

I am just a hobbyist with but one boug, but FWIW, I disagree with the repotting information in the link above. "I do not recommend root pruning when you repot your bougainvillea - in fact, disturb the roots as little as possible because the plant might go into shock and take weeks to recover. For this reason, you should always pot into a larger container than the old one." I have a Boug that I brought inside for a few years until I built my GH. Now it goes in the GH in the winter. It has taken all kinds of abuse...pruning, variable watering...finally the 24" clay pot was too big and too heavy, so I did a little experiment...and I did everything he says NOT to do in that link, and this plant didn't miss a beat. There is the rootball in December when I repotted. The top has been hard pruned. I downsized the pot by 2 inches by shaving off about 2 inches of the rootball all the way around. The plant grew and bloomed all winter without missing a beat. You read this Boug "fragile root system" business all the time, but my experience just doesn't support that. Also, he recommends a peat-based soil mix, and he says you can keep them in a 1 gallon pot for three years. Peat-based mixes are fine for short term plantings, but for long-term plantings (a year or more) you need a soil mix that will retain its structure. Peat-based mixes will collapse and compact and lead to root problems. I prefer a mix using bark. A series of excellent discussions on this topic, initiated by Tapla, can be found on the Container Gardening forum. Here is a link that might be useful: Third thread in the Tapla container media series