Lemon Tree Question

Hi All,

It seems that questions about lemon trees are quite popular at this time of
the year, so I appologise in advance if this one has already been asked and
answered. I did a quick search but found no results.

I planted a lemon tree about 8 months ago. The plant itself has nearly
doubled in size. The tree bloomed with flowers some months ago for the first
time, producing tiny lemons. However, the tiny fruit simply fell off the
tree before they had a chance to grow.

Is this normal for a young plant? Should I be more patient and wait until a
certain amount of time before I can expect healthy fruit? Some of the leaves
are a dark green and some are a light pale green colour. The rate of growth
of the tree, especially during the summer would indicate to me that the
plant is healthy and I have fed it with an all-round citris plant food.

Thanks in advance, Rick.

"Matchstick" writes:
I planted a lemon tree about 8 months ago. The plant itself has nearly
doubled in size. The tree bloomed with flowers some months ago for the first
time, producing tiny lemons. However, the tiny fruit simply fell off the
tree before they had a chance to grow.

Is this normal for a young plant?

Yes, apparently. In fact the experts recommend that you pull any fruit
off young trees so they will put their energy into growth. Though I guess
if the early fruit drop continues beyond a year or two you might have to
make sure you do have the bees to carry out pollination.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)