On 26/6/05 19:30, in article , "David W.E.
Roberts" wrote:

Well, our little tree has suddenly started to thrive!

It is growing fast with loads of new leaves, and has at least a dozen
flowers.
Some are open others are about to open.

It must be the hot weather fooling it into thinking it is in the Med.

It is also getting watered daily early in the morning, as it is on a south
facing patio.

Perhaps we may even have a few lemons?

My only problem now is that it is in a small pot.
I planned to pot it up around now into a much bigger pot, but I am reluctant
to disturb it whilst it is flowering.

I may do this in a cool spell later on in the month, depending on how it
seems to be coping with the little pot.


I think it's a question of "if it ain't broke" etc. It's happy, so leave
well alone! A bigger pot means more wet compost which is something your
little tree will not welcome. In nature they grow in pretty harsh
conditions when compared to this temperate climate.
I felt that watering daily is not a good idea so I went and consulted Ray
and he says absolutely do not water it until it is on the way to drying out.
And in between, let it drain freely. The danger is that if you water it and
we then get e.g. three days of rain, it is going to be saturated for days on
end but its natural conditions are to be dry at the roots and baking hot!
We think that continuing to water it daily could lead to loss of the
flowers.
We sell lemon trees and we have a Meyer's lemon in our small conservatory
greenhouse. It thrives on benign neglect and produces masses of fruit but
it is watered infrequently and sparingly. The key to growing many of these
things is to think of the conditions in which they occur naturally - olive
trees, lemon and orange trees etc. are all used to sharply draining rocky
soil with searing heat and very little water indeed.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)