On 09/10/16 08:19, BobHobden wrote:
wrote in message
...

We have had a lemon tree in a pot for a number of years. We bring it in
over the winter but last year put it in a place without enough life. It
lost many leaves and suffered some die back before we noticed. However,
this summer it has recovered outside and has put on a lot of new growth.

My problem is that it has stopped flowering, we used to get quite a lot of
fruit off it. Is it just a question of time?


They do that if they suffer a serious problem. One of our lemon trees is
only just starting to fruit after a few years of rest and growth after a
similar winter problem where I allowed it to get too dry. A tahiti lime is
only now recovering, it's flowering well, from over fruiting some years ago
when we had 32 full sized limes on a 3ft high plant.

BTW they are the two best citrus to grow in the UK, you get full sized
usable fruit off them. Just remember they are gross feeders (in the summer)

I've finally given up with my Clementine/Mandarin/Satsuma (I can't
remember which it is). It lived in a just frost-free greenhouse for
years, and flowered well but produced few fruits. A couple of years ago
we had a conservatory built, so I repotted the tree (which was then
about 1 x 1 metre in size) in a 45cm square pot, and used new ericaceous
JI for it. The tree was put in the conservatory, where it got full sun
for most of the year. Minimum winter temp was 10 deg C. It flowered
reasonably well the first year, but then got scale insect and some other
insect problem which left the leaves sticky and the floor underneath it
covered in a sticky mess (wife most displeased...). It was treated with
systemic insecticide which helped at first, but although the scale
insect disappeared, whatever was causing the sticky leaves remained a
problem and unseen under a loupe. This year we had quite a few flowers
and a couple of dozen fruit, which, one by one, fell off until only one
was left. The sticky mess got worse, the plant started to get covered in
sooty mould, and the final straw was wasps being attracted to the sweet
sap on the leaves.

It's back in the greenhouse, covered in sooty mould, and visited by many
wasps. It still has one fruit on it. As far as I am concerned, despite
the wonderful scent of the flowers, a citrus fruit tree just isn't worth
the effort needed to grow it well in the UK.

--

Jeff