John Savage wrote in message
om...
Terry Collins writes:
Sounds like a bush lemon, well that is what I call it..
Basically, all the root stock of citrus trees sold are bush lemons with
the top being a graft of the desired citrus. Add a few different types
of graft and you have a citrus fruit salad.

They use the bush lemon as it is the best root stock, so either cut it
off and graft something else to it, or cut it out, unless you want to
grow it as a shelter tree for small birds,

Or fertilise, add manure and keep watered and you may be rewarded with a
crop of deliciously sweet fruit. It is a bit of a lottery, but some bush
lemons are good bearers. I grew some lemons from seed, the trees were
very good bearers, fruit were the conventional Lisbon shape and very
juicy,
but the thorns made it mandatory that I use a hook on a stick for
harvesting hard to reach fruit. I'd be hesitant to do a mass snipping off
of many thorns as this probably opens up a lot of points for disease to
take hold.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

That's a good tip; I'll give it a try.My husband says he remembers lemon
trees being thorny, so maybe it might bear for me!! I had to cut the thorns
off, unfortunately, as it's only a small tree and my boys play around near
it. The thorns were just too long and i had no way of fencing it off. I will
just keep a close eye on it, and prune off and seal any diseased looking
bits. No-one around us has citrus trees, so hopefully it should be ok.
Thanks for the advice!!