"Jeff Layman" wrote

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.


They do suffer from Scale Insect and I find I have to blast them off with a
high pressure spray every couple of years, leaf by leaf branch by branch.
Your problem, as you cannot see it, sounds more like red spider mite which
it could well be as you have the plant under cover all year. I put ours out,
normally about March after the worst of any frost, they are against a S.
facing house wall and under a porch roof and a wisteria that runs the length
of the house wall, so have some protection. Not taken them back into winter
quarters yet, I await a forecast of frost for that.
Being under cover might also mean a lack of pollinators.


--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK