Morphet writes:
Terry Collins wrote:
How big will it be?
um...as big as a lemon tree? I don't really want to prune it back
unless I really have to....so it can grow and much as it wants to
without fear of amputation by me.

There are a number of reasons why someone may decide to prune a citrus.
A huge tree might block out the view, or might block out too much sun
from other plants or from your lawn. A large tree is likely to present
you with a large crop of fruit, and this may not always be the delight
it at first sounds: it all has to be picked or it can be a source of
pests or disease, and not everyone is able to scale a ladder and push in
among the (sometimes thorny) limbs. Also, in many localities the citrus
leaf miners are a pest and the organic control is to spray both sides of
every leaf on the whole tree regularly with Pest Oil, so for a smaller
tree this task is less daunting. Further, a lot of growers are plagued by
bronze citrus bugs and the only way to get rid of these stink bugs is to
pick them off the tree one by one, and you can only do this if you are
able to reach the topmost twigs (as that's where they retreat to stage
their determined last stand). Finally, in times of drought, you are going
to have to carry fewer buckets of water to keep alive a small tree than a
giant. :-)

That said, I have a huge lemon growing at my Mum's place, and it's a
delight to behold, loaded with fruit at every stage of maturity nearly
all year round. But she lives in an area free of citrus leaf miners and
without the bronze orange bug. I grew the seedling myself from a seed.

Note: the bronze citrus bugs squirt an irritant (can cause blindness in
the eyes of pets) so protect your eyes when grabbing them with pliers or
using the Hoover.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)