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lemon tree flowering, should I feed it?

5 years ago

I aquired a lemon (I think it’s a Buddha’s hand), it’s inside, gets lots of light, it needs more watering than I expected (dries out quickly), it’s flowering now, should I be feeding it? The poor plant looks so lean, barely has any leaves on it and was not in the best of shape when I got it, it’s about 1.5’ tall at most. The tips were kind of sappy too, no obvious scale.

Featured Answer

johnmerr

5 years ago

Can you post a photo? I would guess the tree is flowering; because it thinks it is dying. I would give it a good shot of Nitrogen, which will likely cause the flowers to drop and leaves to grow. We sometimes do that to our young Meyers to encourage them to grow leaves and branches instead of fruit. Not really sure about the Buddhas Hand; but I know if you give a Meyer too much Nitrogen when it is flowering, it will drop the flowers and make leaves.

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Comments (12)

dbarron
5 years ago
Sounds like an easy correction John, I'll keep that in mind for myself.
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J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
ok, I’ve got some tomato food, so I will try that
johnmerr
5 years ago
What is the formulation of your tomato food? Citrus typically absorb NPK in the ratio of 5-1-3 For your situation you would need a higher ratio of N.
J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
mines a little more balanced, I may have some other food to add later, there is only a little left of this stuff
J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
a photo
J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
the green and brown mess off to the side is a mandevilla I’m trying to rehab, was in the trash (I’m a self confessed plant hoarder)
sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)
5 years ago
If you fertilize, give your trees more light (lightbulb over them for 12 hours).
J Williams thanked sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)
J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
interestingly, my little violet plant (can’t remember it’s actual name) and a kalenchoe are blooming or trying to bloom right now as well, I potted up the violet as it was extremely pot bound and couldn’t retain moisture, not sure if that has anything to do with anything, I’m kind of mean to my plants... going to look for more plant food for the whole crew
jenny_in_se_pa
5 years ago
J Williams - you can cut that mandevilla down to about a foot above the soil line and let it rest for winter and then get it going again in spring! Since they bloom on new growth, you can get blooms on shorter vines if you chop it back and let it regrow new shoots so you don't have tons of bare stems.
J Williams thanked jenny_in_se_pa
J Williams
Original Author
5 years ago
I have been thinking about that as it’s such a mess anyhow, wasn’t sure if would survive being hacked out of the ground, thrown into a truck (I’m guessing) and left to die on a dump pile not to mention the days it spent in a garbage bag while I thought about rehabbing it lol
jenny_in_se_pa
5 years ago
Well if you make sure to keep a couple nodes intact near the bottom, cutting off the rest above those nodes will allow the roots to not have to support all the stressed parts of the vine and new feeder roots can then slowly get established. In colder areas (these are tender perennials), e.g., Zone 8 or maybe 7b (with a lot of protection), they will get killed to the ground and will regrow from the roots.
J Williams thanked jenny_in_se_pa

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