Nick. that is a great story about this tree. I took particular interest because my first trees were lemon seedlings. Mine are just now about 4 years old. I bet this one never flowered because they need to reach a certain leaf node count and this one never was able to do that. When you break the leaf it should smell like a lemon. Thanks for sharing. Mike

I think the photo in your 14:24 post clearly shows serious fertilizing deficiencies by the look of the leaves with green veins but yellow surface. Very few Meyers live their full lifespan because people don't feed and water them properly. To say they are born hungry is putting it mildly! And that must be the smoothest graft line I've ever seen on a Meyer, I'm impressed. I find it hard to believe it was grown commercially from seed, because Meyer seed isn't very viable. The reproduction success rate appears to be approximately -99.9%, based on my own limited experience, LOL (we have had three of them in-ground for the last 10-15 yrs and one is a genuine Meyer seedling). Improved Meyers are a bush, so even when grafted to dwarf tree stock they grow out and around before they grow up. Meyers can form leaves, flowers, buds, and fruit all at the same time (almost continuously, especially as they age) so feeding them adequately is essential for continued success. Citrus fertilizer on a regular schedule is a necessity (as is iron, in either granular or liquid form). But yours is so starved you might want to also help it with a few feedings of properly diluted liquid fish fertilizer, as well. I'd space them out, maybe a 3-gallon bucket of water with the fish fertilizer added, once every three weeks until the rains start in earnest. Even if you save your Meyer, you will NOT get a good crop this winter, or at least at the start of the harvest season. My trees already have a large number of small green lemons formed, which will take a couple of months to ripen. Be patient and when you feed regularly, don't add twice as much thinking it will work twice as fast. Doesn't work that way! Follow the instructions and if you're in Southern CA, keep an eye out for the dreaded Huanglongbing or HLB, previously known as Citrus Greening, disease. Google Images will show you what the leaves/insects look like; there is no cure.

On a grafted tree the first 10" to 12" of the trunk would be the root stock, and all branching, or what you call suckers, should always be removed from the root stock. As Dave in NoVA wrote, on a tree grown from seed you can do as you please. Dr. Carl E Whitcomb, Ph.D. advises in his book "Plant Production in Containers 11" to leave the lower branches on as they supply nutrients, energy and thus growth to the lower portion of the trunk. He further states that there is no hurry to remove the lower branching on a seedling tree, they can always be removed at a later date. In the final analysis do as you please.

I feed them Miracle Gro 24-8-16 half strength weekly or when needed. They get 16 hours of light daily from the time they come inside till they go outside. lots of light. The temperature inside the can is 10F higher than the room air and is humid. Light put on new shoot outside in early fall. Seedlings under a bucket light with a daylight 23 watt CFL. Temperature rise 20F. 85F inside. 3/4 of the growth happen during fall, winter, and spring. This gives me about a 6 year old plant in 2 years. Beyond this the grow is only a little better than normal. Steve