Indoor Meyer lemon tree success (Toronto, northwest-facing apartment)
Hi everyone. With the knowledge I gained directly from people here as well as viewing dozens of posts, I have had success growing a Meyer lemon tree in my living room of my Toronto loft apartment. It has gone from 2-feet to 4-feet and producing fruit in only one year. This is how I did it. Before and after pics posted. Thanks to everyone here who helped me.
Plant details:
-2ft container Meyer lemon tree purchased from Sheridan Nurseries in Mississauga, Ontario in March 2021
-re-potted to 7inch container with Promix Cactus soil. This almost killed it. The soil stayed wet for way too long (weeks). Leaves started to turn yellow after only 2 weeks in this soil.
-re-potted with 5-1-1 mix (Reptibark, large perlite, Promix Cactus, lime, pre-soaked 3 days prior to using). The yellowing stopped for a while but then returned in a different form. The watering frequency and nutrients fixed it (see below). New growth started to appear after 2 months of re-potting.
Environment:
-indoor only, within 2 feet of a large, drafty, northwest-facing 18ft window. 0hrs direct sunlight October-March. 3hrs (max) direct sunlight April-September.
-temperature is 76f day, 72f night, 40-60% humidity year-round
-My cat doesn't touch it
Water frequency and nutrients:
-Watered once per day with 1 litre (4 cups) of tap water that has been sitting for 24hrs
-nutrients added to every watering
A note on water frequency:
I had absolutely no idea how often to water this thing even after consulting people here. The reason why is because, like everyone here says, it's different for everyone due to environment variables. I was not able to tell how "wet" my mix was despite using techniques learned here (wooden dowel, moisture meter, etc). I've relied on a schedule and it seems to be working great, likely due to my environment being constant. I first tried once every 3 days after re-potting in to the new 5-1-1 mix. The leaf yellowing had slowed (seeing new yellowing after a week instead of a couple days). I increased the frequency to once every 2 days and this stopped the yellowing. After two weeks, I then started watering every day and new leaf growth started to appear after a couple of weeks. 90% of the water I pour in flows out the bottom immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if this tree would do ok even if I watered it 3 times per day. Over-watering doesn't even appear possible with this soil mix, container size, and my environment. My only recommendation with the water is to experiment. If the container is small like mine, expect daily watering.
A note on nutrients and pH:
Dyna-gro Foliage Pro is added to every watering. I first used the "Maintenance" level on the label of 1/4tsp per gallon (so I was adding 1/16tsp to my litre of water). The tree did nothing for a month and actually started to get a different kind of yellowing than the kind I noticed earlier. The yellowing was appearing from the veins this time as opposed to seeing it everywhere on the leaf. I increased the nutrients to 1/2tsp per gallon and noticed the yellowing stopped after only a week. I increased the nutrients to 1tsp per gallon (the "Production" level on the label). New growth appeared after a week and within a few months, the tree was exploding with new leaves and branches coming out of everywhere. The pH of this water-nutrient combination is 6.0. I don't have to add anything to balance the PH but you may have to depending on your water source. I've heard 5.5-6.5 is good but have no experience trying anything other than my current 6.0.
Light:
-This is the most important thing. Nothing accelerated growth on my tree like how adding watts did.
-I flooded this tree with as much artificial light as I can take in my living room. The amount of light I give this tree is directly related to it's growth rate. Every time I added another 40w of CFL light, the tree responded with faster growth. It is now surrounded by 7 CFL bulbs in clamp fixtures. There's about 300w of CFL light so that's equivalent to almost 1000w incandescent. Some of the leaves are only an inch from these powerful bulbs and don't burn. They're on a 12hr timer.
Pests:
-Fungus Gnats. Wow. The larvae in particular. These things were tough to get rid of, but I won eventually. I tried some organic methods with zero success. Mosquito dunks in the water, traps, watering less, hydrogen peroxide flushes. Nothing worked. I said screw it, I'm gonna nuke them. I didn't see any recommendations for the following technique online but it worked almost instantly. I bought a can of a pyrethrin-based pesticide, like Raid. Ensure that it's the kind for flying insects as anything else will leave a residue. I sprayed the can for about 8 seconds in to a large mason jar. I added my water+nutrient solution to the jar and shook it really well for 30 seconds. After pouring this liquid death in to the container, the run off contained hundreds, maybe a thousand dead larvae. I laughed like an evil madman when I saw it. I was so happy haha. I did this for two weeks straight and the gnats were gone. I have no clue what effect this will have on taste or if the lemons will be toxic. I'm gonna eat them anyway. Living in a downtown urban area, I have much larger concerns to worry about related to health and safety :p.
-Spider mites. Easy to get rid of with Neem oil. I mixed 1tsp Neem oil, 1/2tsp dish soap, 500ml luke-warm water in to a spray bottle. Sprayed all of my houseplants and lemon tree outside until dripping wet. I had to do this once per month in the warmest months. Then after the last time in September 2021, they disappeared entirely. It's getting above freezing outside now so I'll see if they come back in the summer. No problem though. It was easy to spot them because I stare closely at the tree everyday for fun. I could see tiny filaments of webbing on the underside of one or two leaves and then I could see one or two tiny red mites on the leaves. Never more than this. I kinda enjoyed taking the plants out and giving them a good neem oil spray. Smells kinda weird and cool and totally killed off anything living on the leaves.
I think I've included most of the details but please ask if you're looking for more or clarity. Thanks again to the users "meyermike" and "bonsai". You were a huge help and were extremely encouraging. One user however, "lemon lime orange" was extremely rude and offered advice that made no sense for the space I'm living in. I called him out on this and he became extremely rude and stood by his advice. His advice, no matter the individual circumstance, seems to always be to get a grow tent and consult a bunch of moisture charts. Not everyone is looking to harvest a dozen lemons a month in their living room. I didn't get a tent or consult a chart and I have almost 20 lemons on my healthy tree. I've seen this user treat other people on here like this. I just couldn't be bothered with citrus drama and left the forum. I'm back and sharing my lemon tree info because it would be a greater tragedy if I didn't. Thanks again to everyone except lemon lime orange. I'll be more of a man this time and just simply ignore this person.
-edited for spelling and clarity mistakes
Comments (44)
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
2 years agobonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Meyer Lemon
Comments (14)Yugoslava, I live in the Chicago area. We have cold and nasty winter weather here, probably similarly to the weather in Toronto. I have two small citrus: a Meiwa kumquat and a Bearss Lime. Both are inside starting in September and are placed in a large window that faces ESE; so they get as much sun as I can give them, but I also supplement with a grow light. Both have done very well inside this year without much leaf loss or any pests. The kumquat has five colorful fruit equally spaced on the plant. The lime has one fruit which is really quite large. I water them just once a week which has worked out well. Also I mist them twice a day and have been consistent doing that all winter long. Good luck with your Meyer Lemon. I have never had much luck with a Meyer and have killed three or four in my day. Allegedly the Meyer Lemon is the easiest citrus to grow in a container, but that has not been my experience. All the ones that I had experienced extensive leaf loss. However, I have learned more in the past year or so and would like to try another Meyer Lemon at some point. I wish I could try keeping my citrus in the garage during the winter like njoasis does. While the temperature in my garage never goes below 32 degrees even in the coldest winter weather we experience, the garage has no windows. I currently have a potted rose that is spending the winter in the garage. It is like being in cold storage for this rose. While it has no leaves on it, the canes are green and will spring to life once I move outside in a few weeks. I just water the rose now and then... just enough to get it through the winter. Good luck with your Meyer!...See MoreHow Often Should I Fertilize a Meyer Lemon?
Comments (66)I think the comment about a new thread was directed at hottina44 and their question about indoor lighting. That was off topic. alex_g76, Some of those metals are perhaps toxic to mammals when ingested in too high a dose, but that is not the same as with plants. The plants will only take up what they need and leave the rest. Besides, if you look at the actual amounts of metals it is very tiny. Most are MICRO nutrients anyway, and are only needed by plants in very tiny amounts. They might be build up in the potting soil over time, but potted plants should be re-potted with fresh soil every few years anyway, long before the micro-nutrients will build up to any noticeable levels. So you need not worry about that imo. Btw, it's not commonly known, but almost all organic fertilizers are made for and will work best in In-Ground plantings. Organic fertilizers are made of raw ingredients, such as blood meal and bone meal, etc. Those components cannot be used by the plant as food itself. The fertilizer relies on the micro-organisms in the soil to ingest the raw ingredients and convert them to chemicals (yep, chemicals) that the plant can then uptake into it's roots. If those organic fertilizers are used in relatively sterile potting medium, not much happens. They pretty much just sit there. And your plant can starve while there is lots of food sitting right there. The components (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus [NPK] and other macro and micro- nutrients) that the soil organisms produce from the raw ingredients in the organic fertilizer, is the same at a molecular level as what you find in a standard non-organic fertilizer. The benefits of organic fertilizers in the soil is that they feed and therefore increase the soil micro-organisms, which is great for the soil structure and the roots of the plants. Unfortunately this dynamic is very, very hard to reproduce in potted container plants. Therefore I always recommend standard non-organic fertilizers in container plantings, preferably a liquid type, or a slow-release pelleted type, such as Osmocote. Also, as a side note; the metals and minerals in fertilizers cannot by law be called “organic” because the law states that a component has to have Carbon in it and be derived from a once living source to be labeled “organic” Of course these items do not contain carbon and have never been alive. So if you see a fertilizer labeled “organic and natural”, the word “natural” is in reference to the mineral and metal ingredients only. In reading the posts on the thread that bmelz linked, about fertilizing in containers with organics, it does look like some have done it with success but do note that most of what they are talking about is seasonal vegetables and some short lived ornamental plants. Those are often re-potted annually with fresh mix and compost. That works quite well as there is a lot of micro-organisms in compost and manure. But that type of mix also breaks down very quickly, usually be the end of a growing season. When mix breaks down the speed of water drainage slows down a lot. If you're re-potting every spring that's no big deal and the old soil mix just goes back on the compost pile and new mix is made. But with a long lived plant like a citrus tree that soil break down is problematic. Citrus are very sensitive to soggy soil. Most will say they're sensitive to over-watering, but it's not really the water that's the problem, it's the lack of oxygen in an overly saturated, soggy soil. Plant roots need both water and oxygen, so in a long lived plant like citrus using an open and airy mix that lasts a long time and doesn't break down fast is very important. Unfortunately the components of those kinds of mixes, such as Al's Gritty mix and the 5-1-1 mix are pretty sterile. Hence the recommendations of standard non-organic fertilizers. Now if one was to re-pot their citrus trees annually or semi-annually with a compost based mix, then I do believe an organic fertilizer would work. But for myself, I would find that way too much work....See MoreBrown Leaves on Meyer Lemon
Comments (44)Would love your input on 1. leaf miner, 2. Leaf cupping and/or curling and 3. leaf burn problems I'm facing. Have gone thru your great video on addressing leaf miner issues. Want to be sure it's leaf miner alone or if these three issues need different solutions. I purchased an owari satsuma dwarf mandarin plant a few weeks ago, have it in a pot and looks like I have a heavy leaf miner infestation. In addition there seems to be tip browning and curling. I live in the Bay Area. Have started a cycle of spinosad every two weeks, alternating with neem oil on the off weeks. Been about 3 weeks and the curling only seems to be getting worse. Plant is south facing with full sun. Have posted pics at Pinterest: https://pin.it/t4X73-W if you could take a look and provide any inputs on what else I should doing will be very much appreciated. I did top the soil with a little bit of chicken manure and the browning *may* have followed that. At the same link, have also pics of a couple little banana trees that also seem to be suffering from leaf burn. Wondering if the cause is that I didn't sufficiently acclimatize the banana plants in shade after getting it via mail from the nursery. They are potted and placed south facing in full sun. This is my very first time trying to grow fruit trees (or any trees for that matter) - Thank you for lending a helping hand to aspiring backyard gardeners...See MoreHow to Best Handle Meyer Lemon Indoor Transition
Comments (22)@mikerno. Interesting approach. Never used F.E. and wondered if it would actually attract insects when considering buying it for my potted cherry tomatoes. I never did. Good to know. I didn't even think of feeding the Meyers with it. Thanks. Yesterday, I decided to work on creating a concoction of castile soap and neem for my first batch of insecticidal soap. Your comment is encouraging to move forth with that idea. Now, I just need to calculate a pint's worth of the right combo! I can't think about gallons or even quarts worth of mixture. I just ordered some more D.E., too. Covering the tops of my indoor plants, which were completely infested, and bottom watering did the trick. I'm going to try that with my fire-escape crew, too....See More
Horrifying Citrus Monster (Zone 7b, NYC)
2 years agoJeff
2 years agoMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
2 years agoJeff
2 years agobonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
2 years agoJeff
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agobonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoJeff
2 years agoJeff
last yearHi everyone. Here’s an update for my meyer lemon. The lemons are getting large and starting to turn yellow. It’s putting out new growth and flowers non-stop. I’ve completely changed the light source. Before and after pics at the bottom.
I got tired of my cfl lights and replaced them with a single ”quantum” board LED. It’s a Spider Farmer SF1000. It’s 100w (actual) with a 300w cfl equivalent. There’s more light power in this new light than all of my cfl’s (7) combined. I might be taking a huge chance with this. My lemons are finally starting to ripen and I’m worried this change will disrupt things.
My concern with the new light is that the top of the tree will recieve too much light and the bottom won’t receive enough. I can see that the lower part of the tree is a little darker compared to when there were cfl’s placed directly in the area. The light is currently 12” above the canopy and there’s little to no heat near the leaves. Just lots of light. There’s no information online about using led boards for citrus in a living room haha. This will be a fun and kinda scary experiment! I’ve done this change because it looks way better having no cords and clamp lights cluttering the space. The light is 50% stronger while consuming more than half the watts of my cfl’s. This will save me money not having to replace the cfl’s every 2 years. I just made the change recently so I’ll post some results shortly.
Cfl’s…
LED board…
Glamour shot...
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
last yearMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
last yearlast modified: last yearJeff
last yearJeff
last yearlast modified: last yearJeff
last yearSo I chickened out and added two cfl lights to the lower part of the tree. I won’t worry now about the lemons not ripening. I’ll remove the lights after the lower lemons are harvested.
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
last yearJeff
last yearMeyermike(Zone 6a Ma.)
last yearJeff
last year
poncirusguy6b452xx
last yearKen B Zone 7
last yearJeff
last yearHaha poncirusguy.
Ken - Thanks for the suggestion. I’m going to try that next. When I google ”horticultural oil” I keep getting hits for insecticidal soaps and other products like Safer’s End All. Are these the same thing?
Here’s a picture of a dead thrip on my plant table. Anyone know what kind it is?
Silica
last yearponcirusguy6b452xx
last year
Lemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
last yearKen B Zone 7
last yearJeff
last yearThanks everyone for your help. I searched a little harder and found one option for horticultural oil (Green Earth) in the stores in my area. All of the listings I found for horticultural oil on Amazon will not ship to my location. I’m going to continue with the spinosad and see if it works. It was tough getting it in to the country so I’m not giving up on it yet haha. The neem oil got rid of the adults for a week so I might try that next but repeat for a couple months to try and break the 40 day thrip cycle.
I have an unrelated question about re-potting… I tipped the tree over accidentally on the balcony which exposed the rootball in the container (and crushed the poor jade plant below it hahaha). It appears completely rootbound. I haven’t re-potted it in new 5-1-1 mix since I got it a year and a half ago. I’ve noticed recently (before the new light) that some newer growth leaves have been turning yellow at the tips.
There’s about a dozen leaves like this at varying distances from the light sources. I assume it’s a nutrient deficiency. My daily routine of liquid nutrients has always given me perfect leaves until now. I suspect I need to re-pot in to new soil because no other variable has changed over time. I think I read somewhere that I should be re-potting once per year with 5-1-1. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks again everyone.Lemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
last yearlast modified: last yearJeff
last yearJeff
last yearlast modified: last yearHello again everyone. I have another issue with my tree unfortunately. The good news is that the thrips are gone and the nutrient burn has stopped progressing. I beleive the spinosad stopped the thrips and the soil flush stopped the nurtrient burn.
The issue now is that leaves are turning yellow/brown and dropping (unlike the nutrient burned leaves I posted earlier). About 1-5 leaves every day for the last 2 weeks.
I still suspect that my highly compact root ball is causing the issue. I’m not even able to stick my pointy moisture meter more than 2 inches below the top. Like, I can’t jam it in even when pushing as hard as I can. I have a feeling this solid mass is holding water for too long and the leaves are dropping from excess water. I’m really leaning towards a re-pot to fix this. Any opinions?bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
last yearKen B Zone 7
last yearJeff
last yearbonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
last yearJeff
last year
Michael Rivera
last yearLemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
last yearlast modified: last yearYou might find a SensorPush G1 Wifi Gateway + SensorPush HTP.xw extreme accuracy very helpful in pin-pointing problems. Hang the sensor at the top of the canopy or where they get the most heat.
Lemon Lime Orange Zone 6a
last yearProblems logged in red. Easy to fix when you can pinpoint what is happening.
Cassie (8b Southern AZ, high desert)
last yearbonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
last yearCassie (8b Southern AZ, high desert)
last yearJeff
9 months agoHi everyone. After many months, my meyer lemon tree totally recovered. I didn’t change anything. It just got it’s usual daily water soaking with liquid nutrients. The leaves stopped dropping around January and it’s had a major growth cycle. It’s bigger than ever. I’ve strategically removed the excess lemons to balance the tree. There’s 8 that are growing nicely. I think it can handle more so I might allow another 2-3 to grow.
My other plants have all flourished too :). Especially the spider plants.
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening