I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot on my
patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little mini-lemons
fall off before long, never getting even close to full size. What
causes the lemons to fall off and how can I remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

On 5 Jul 2005 16:46:14 -0700, wrote:

I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot on my
patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little mini-lemons
fall off before long, never getting even close to full size. What
causes the lemons to fall off and how can I remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

Possible lack of pollination?

I seem to have plenty of bees, especially Carpenter Bees, buzzing about
my garden, and don't seem to have any problem with pollination of other
plants. I guess I could take a camel's hair brush to the blossoms and
try and hand pollinate them, see if that helps.

-Fleemo

On 5 Jul 2005 20:42:15 -0700, wrote:

I seem to have plenty of bees, especially Carpenter Bees, buzzing about
my garden, and don't seem to have any problem with pollination of other
plants. I guess I could take a camel's hair brush to the blossoms and
try and hand pollinate them, see if that helps.

-Fleemo

I just take my finger and brush it over each flower. Many times if
you still have a reasonable number of fruits left after the drop, it
can be considered a natural thinning. That is, provided your watering
and fertilization practices are proper. I fertilize my lemon and key
lime trees with a healthy dose of compost on top of the soil, and
liquid seaweed sprays on the foliage. The seaweed has shown to
decrease the infestations of red spider mites. Scale is also a
problem for citrus, so check carefully for scale on the bark. Pruning
citrus is also important. You should not top the tree, but you should
remove any branches growing in toward the center, anything shading the
fruit, and certainly anything dead.

There is a lot of information about backyard citrus. Do a search and
you will find endless information on fertilization schedules, etc.

victoria

Bourne Identity wrote:

On 5 Jul 2005 16:46:14 -0700, wrote:

I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot on my
patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little mini-lemons
fall off before long, never getting even close to full size. What
causes the lemons to fall off and how can I remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

Possible lack of pollination?

Actually, citrus does not require pollination to set fruit. Only
in commercial orchards do they encourage bees, in order to increase
the size of the crop. In a home garden, you should get sufficient
fruit without worrying about pollination.

Citrus is self-thinning. Fruit falls off if more is started than
the tree can support. Other causes of fruit-drop include improper
watering (too much or too little), poor drainage, lack of zinc, and
insect damage (especially spider mites, which are often too tiny to
see).

--

David E. Ross
URL:http://www.rossde.com/

I use Mozilla as my Web browser because I want a browser that
complies with Web standards. See URL:http://www.mozilla.org/.

Citrus is self-thinning. Fruit falls off if more is started than
the tree can support. Other causes of fruit-drop include improper
watering (too much or too little), poor drainage, lack of zinc, and
insect damage

Thanks for your input David. The tree is rather small, only about
three feet tall. Perhaps it's not ready to form fruit yet? I'm also
wondering about the watering. What kind of watering schedule do citrus,
and lemons in particular, like? I water the tree along with the rest
of my patio pots, which seem to do fine with a good soaking every two
or three days.

-Fleemo

wrote:

Citrus is self-thinning. Fruit falls off if more is started than
the tree can support. Other causes of fruit-drop include improper
watering (too much or too little), poor drainage, lack of zinc, and
insect damage

Thanks for your input David. The tree is rather small, only about
three feet tall. Perhaps it's not ready to form fruit yet? I'm also
wondering about the watering. What kind of watering schedule do citrus,
and lemons in particular, like? I water the tree along with the rest
of my patio pots, which seem to do fine with a good soaking every two
or three days.

Three feet is good for a dwarf citrus. If it's not a dwarf, it
might never bear fruit while planted in a container. My dwarf
Eureka lemon is about three feet tall and has about 20 full-size
ripe lemons plus smaller green lemons that are still maturing. In
the past month, I've already picked about five lemons; so it may
have had over two dozen.

Where I live, my potted citrus gets watered at least every other
day. However, they are all in either redwood tubs or terra cotta
pots, both with drain holes. Also, they are all elevated on bricks
above concrete rounds. Thus, with my home-made potting mix, any
excess water drains away very quickly. Citrus are very sensitive
to poor drainage.

Note that, with frequent watering and excellent drainage,
container-grown citrus requires frequent light feedings. Nitrogen,
iron, and zinc quickly leach away and need to be replaced. Never
feed when the soil is dry; otherwise, you will burn the roots
(another cause of fruit drop).

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at URL:http://www.rossde.com/garden/

Thank you for the info, David. I think my plan of action will be to
pick up some citrus fertilizer for regualr fertilizing, making sure it
gets watered every other day, and perhaps, as Victoria suggested,
experiement with some hand-pollenating.

Wish me luck (and lemons!).

-Fleemo

If they weren't pollinated, I don't think they would product any fruit, no
matter how small. The most common reason for citrus fruits to abort around
these parts -- Wisconsin, Zone 5 -- is lack or humidity or a moisture
problem, which could be too much (the usual) or too little.

Good luck!
Suzy O

"Bourne Identity" wrote in message
...
On 5 Jul 2005 16:46:14 -0700, wrote:

I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot on my
patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little mini-lemons
fall off before long, never getting even close to full size. What
causes the lemons to fall off and how can I remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

Possible lack of pollination?

Suzy O wrote:
If they weren't pollinated, I don't think they would product any
fruit, no matter how small. The most common reason for citrus
fruits to abort around these parts -- Wisconsin, Zone 5 -- is lack
or humidity or a moisture problem, which could be too much (the
usual) or too little.

Good luck!
Suzy O

"Bourne Identity" wrote in message
...
On 5 Jul 2005 16:46:14 -0700, wrote:

I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot
on my patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little
mini-lemons fall off before long, never getting even close to
full size. What causes the lemons to fall off and how can I
remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

Possible lack of pollination?

What citrus grows in Wisconsin? Have you ever heard of June drop?

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

Suzy O wrote:

If they weren't pollinated, I don't think they would product any fruit, no
matter how small. The most common reason for citrus fruits to abort around
these parts -- Wisconsin, Zone 5 -- is lack or humidity or a moisture
problem, which could be too much (the usual) or too little.

Good luck!
Suzy O

"Bourne Identity" wrote in message
...
On 5 Jul 2005 16:46:14 -0700, wrote:

I have a young Meyer lemon tree that I planted in a large pot on my
patio this past spring. It gets flowers, but the little mini-lemons
fall off before long, never getting even close to full size. What
causes the lemons to fall off and how can I remedy the situation?

Thanks.

-Fleemo

Possible lack of pollination?

Citrus is apomictic. That means fruit can be formed (and even
viable seeds) without pollination. Citrus is also self-thinning,
dropping any fruit that exceeds the plant's ability to support to
ripening.

Common causes of fruit-drop in citrus is either a lack of zinc or
improper watering.

Zinc used to be found in commercial citrus food, but I notice it is
now lacking. If you can find a very small sack of zinc sulfate,
buy it. Use only about one large pinch per container once in 1-2
months during the growing season. Zinc is also good for gardenias;
a lack causes the flower buds to drop without opening.

Allowing the plant to get too dry and then compensating by
overwatering will cause ctirus fruit-drop. Citrus (and most
fruits, including annual fruits such as tomatoes) require constant
moisture. For citrus, however, this does NOT mean wet soil. In
the ground, it's okay for the top inch or two of soil to get quite
dry before watering; this could mean watering once a week or even
less frequently. In a container with a well-draining mix, daily
watering might be necessary. Note however that daily watering a
container-grown citrus in a well-draining mix will quickly leach
away nutrients, requiring frequent LIGHT feeding.

--

David E. Ross
URL:http://www.rossde.com/

I use Mozilla as my Web browser because I want a browser that
complies with Web standards. See URL:http://www.mozilla.org/.