Finally finished building our new house, and want to plant the lemon
tree in the back yard. I want to plant it as close as possible
without killing the plumbing in the process. Does anybody have any
recommendations on how close I can plant it, or what a safe distance
woule be?

Morphet wrote:
:: Finally finished building our new house, and want to plant the lemon
:: tree in the back yard. I want to plant it as close as possible
:: without killing the plumbing in the process. Does anybody have any
:: recommendations on how close I can plant it, or what a safe distance
:: woule be?

Lemon trees are shallow rooted, just make sure it gets plenty of sun

--
Tricia

Morphet wrote:

Finally finished building our new house, and want to plant the lemon
tree in the back yard. I want to plant it as close as possible
without killing the plumbing in the process. Does anybody have any
recommendations on how close I can plant it, or what a safe distance
woule be?

How big will it be?
5m away sounds good to me. To make sure it has plenty of sun and
watering it isn't wetting ground near house.

Have you planned your entire back yard?
It would be wiser before planting the lemon tree.

--
G'day Morphet ,
And don't forget that recent building sites can
have a few gardening surprises hidden around the place. One to be careful of
around new foundations/masonry/brickwork etc, is that there can be a lot of
lime /cement splashed around, plus the leaching from the new construction.
This can create a major and often toxic change in the soils pH. You get the
same problem in new concrete pots, but it stabilises after a few months.
Just be careful about rushing in to quickly. As for how close to the
building, I would go out and have a look at few mature citrus trees and
then decide. Do you want to have to prune or shape the tree to keep it
controlled or do want to be able let it do it's own thing. You don't
mention where abouts you are, but generally I would recommend the 'Eureka
Lemon', it's quite an acceptable fruit, a tough variety that is happy in
varied climates and not needing much attention, and best of all, it is one
of the few citrus that gives fruit all year round.

China
Wingham
NSW

--
p.s. Professionals built the Titanic,
Amateurs built the Ark!

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 02:05:04 GMT, "China"
wrote:


--
G'day Morphet ,
And don't forget that recent building sites can
have a few gardening surprises hidden around the place. One to be careful of
around new foundations/masonry/brickwork etc, is that there can be a lot of
lime /cement splashed around, plus the leaching from the new construction.
This can create a major and often toxic change in the soils pH. You get the
same problem in new concrete pots, but it stabilises after a few months.


Good, because we planted Larry last week.... (don't blame me for the
name, my kids named it.....)

Just be careful about rushing in to quickly. As for how close to the
building, I would go out and have a look at few mature citrus trees and
then decide. Do you want to have to prune or shape the tree to keep it
controlled or do want to be able let it do it's own thing.

I did plant it 5 metres form the rear of the house (9 metre back
yard.....so it's about in the middle of the yard)


You don't
mention where abouts you are, but generally I would recommend the 'Eureka
Lemon',

Werribee (Western Melbourne)

it's quite an acceptable fruit, a tough variety that is happy in
varied climates and not needing much attention, and best of all, it is one
of the few citrus that gives fruit all year round.

It's to dark to go out and read what type we ended up getting...but it
had been in the ground for a week now and has not dropped dead (this
is pretty good for me...not really a plant person...but now I owned
the property and nobody else is going to do it for me...

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 02:05:04 GMT, "China"
wrote:


--
G'day Morphet ,
And don't forget that recent building sites can
have a few gardening surprises hidden around the place. One to be careful of
around new foundations/masonry/brickwork etc, is that there can be a lot of
lime /cement splashed around, plus the leaching from the new construction.
This can create a major and often toxic change in the soils pH. You get the
same problem in new concrete pots, but it stabilises after a few months.


Good, because we planted Larry last week.... (don't blame me for the
name, my kids named it.....)

Just be careful about rushing in to quickly. As for how close to the
building, I would go out and have a look at few mature citrus trees and
then decide. Do you want to have to prune or shape the tree to keep it
controlled or do want to be able let it do it's own thing.

I did plant it 5 metres form the rear of the house (9 metre back
yard.....so it's about in the middle of the yard)


You don't
mention where abouts you are, but generally I would recommend the 'Eureka
Lemon',

Werribee (Western Melbourne)

it's quite an acceptable fruit, a tough variety that is happy in
varied climates and not needing much attention, and best of all, it is one
of the few citrus that gives fruit all year round.

It's to dark to go out and read what type we ended up getting...but it
had been in the ground for a week now and has not dropped dead (this
is pretty good for me...not really a plant person...but now I owned
the property and nobody else is going to do it for me...

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 00:13:21 +1100, 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.

5m away sounds good to me. To make sure it has plenty of sun and
watering it isn't wetting ground near house.

Yep, done that.

Have you planned your entire back yard?

No, water restrictions in Melbourne don't allow watering of lawns, and
money restrictions in my wallet don't allow the purchase of many
plants/landscaping, so for the moment my back lawn is devoid of
anything apart from lots of dirt and 1 lemon tree.



It would be wiser before planting the lemon tree.

oh, tell me that now.... g

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 00:13:21 +1100, 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.

5m away sounds good to me. To make sure it has plenty of sun and
watering it isn't wetting ground near house.

Yep, done that.

Have you planned your entire back yard?

No, water restrictions in Melbourne don't allow watering of lawns, and
money restrictions in my wallet don't allow the purchase of many
plants/landscaping, so for the moment my back lawn is devoid of
anything apart from lots of dirt and 1 lemon tree.



It would be wiser before planting the lemon tree.

oh, tell me that now.... g

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 02:05:04 GMT, "China"
wrote:


--
G'day Morphet ,
And don't forget that recent building sites can
have a few gardening surprises hidden around the place. One to be careful of
around new foundations/masonry/brickwork etc, is that there can be a lot of
lime /cement splashed around, plus the leaching from the new construction.
This can create a major and often toxic change in the soils pH. You get the
same problem in new concrete pots, but it stabilises after a few months.


Good, because we planted Larry last week.... (don't blame me for the
name, my kids named it.....)

Just be careful about rushing in to quickly. As for how close to the
building, I would go out and have a look at few mature citrus trees and
then decide. Do you want to have to prune or shape the tree to keep it
controlled or do want to be able let it do it's own thing.

I did plant it 5 metres form the rear of the house (9 metre back
yard.....so it's about in the middle of the yard)


You don't
mention where abouts you are, but generally I would recommend the 'Eureka
Lemon',

Werribee (Western Melbourne)

it's quite an acceptable fruit, a tough variety that is happy in
varied climates and not needing much attention, and best of all, it is one
of the few citrus that gives fruit all year round.

It's to dark to go out and read what type we ended up getting...but it
had been in the ground for a week now and has not dropped dead (this
is pretty good for me...not really a plant person...but now I owned
the property and nobody else is going to do it for me...

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 00:13:21 +1100, 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.

5m away sounds good to me. To make sure it has plenty of sun and
watering it isn't wetting ground near house.

Yep, done that.

Have you planned your entire back yard?

No, water restrictions in Melbourne don't allow watering of lawns, and
money restrictions in my wallet don't allow the purchase of many
plants/landscaping, so for the moment my back lawn is devoid of
anything apart from lots of dirt and 1 lemon tree.



It would be wiser before planting the lemon tree.

oh, tell me that now.... g

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)

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)