to continue the discussion on fruitless trees.

My tree which I think is about 4 or 5 years old had lemons on it when I was
given it as a present (September time). Since then ziltch. With very little
knowledge on these I watered it every other day and give it citrus feed
every 2 weeks. This went on for a year or so and still no flowers/fruit. The
plant looked in a poor way.

About 2 months ago I decided to stop watering and feeding it plus we
recently moved it to the warmest place outside the front of the house. Now
not only do we have 7 flowers growing rapidly but new leaf shoots are
popping up from base of the stem to the top branches.

As said before I believe you must treat these plants as they would in their
home environment, very lean on water and the warmest of places.

Fingers crossed for Xmas lemons.

When I lived in California there were lemon and orange trees in the garden.

I was told to water them deeply just once a month in the dry months by
leaving the hose running at the base of each tree for an hour.

They thrived. After I came back to England it took me ages to remember to
buy lemons at the supermarket, because I couldn't just pop out to the garden
to pick one any more. :-(

BTW, the best variety was held to be Eureka, AKA Four Seasons.

--
Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

In message , Ted
writes
to continue the discussion on fruitless trees.

My tree which I think is about 4 or 5 years old had lemons on it when I was
given it as a present (September time). Since then ziltch. With very little
knowledge on these I watered it every other day and give it citrus feed
every 2 weeks. This went on for a year or so and still no flowers/fruit. The
plant looked in a poor way.

About 2 months ago I decided to stop watering and feeding it plus we
recently moved it to the warmest place outside the front of the house. Now
not only do we have 7 flowers growing rapidly but new leaf shoots are
popping up from base of the stem to the top branches.

As said before I believe you must treat these plants as they would in their
home environment, very lean on water and the warmest of places.

Fingers crossed for Xmas lemons.



Well done. Unfortunately a recent orange tree we've been given as a
present has not been so fortunate. In good health (although a smallish
pot) when we got hold of it, we've managed to just about kill it in 2
weeks :-(

It's sat in our south facing conservatory, which hits an easy 45 degrees
with the current weather, and it's been watered twice in that time, and
had one dose of some citrus feed we bought from the NEC show. All the
leaves have dropped off and the small fruits are shrivelling slightly.
It's also been put outside a couple of times when the conservatory has
been really hot (south facing patio, 30+degrees)

We've not over watered (been very careful of this having googled) and
it's not sat in standing water either.

Tempted to buy another couple to prove we can get one to survive!

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
GSF600S
http://www.toastyhamster.org
BONY#38

In article ,
"mike. buckley" writes:
|
| It's sat in our south facing conservatory, which hits an easy 45 degrees
| with the current weather, and it's been watered twice in that time, and
| had one dose of some citrus feed we bought from the NEC show. All the
| leaves have dropped off and the small fruits are shrivelling slightly.
| It's also been put outside a couple of times when the conservatory has
| been really hot (south facing patio, 30+degrees)
|
| We've not over watered (been very careful of this having googled) and
| it's not sat in standing water either.
|
| Tempted to buy another couple to prove we can get one to survive!

I moved mine (actually orange and kaffir lime) out a long time
ago, and our south-facing conservatory has much better ventilation
than yours. They are much more cold-resistant than is commonly
believed, and it is generally worth keeping them outside from
(say) May to September.

Despite appearances, they are not drought-resistant, and suffer
badly in seriously hot, dry conditions - especially when in pots.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from "mike. buckley" contains these
words:

Tempted to buy another couple to prove we can get one to survive!

They grow well from pips - but you need a fungicide with them usually.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Nick Maclaren" wrote

after "mike. buckley" wrote :
|
| It's sat in our south facing conservatory, which hits an easy 45
degrees
| with the current weather, and it's been watered twice in that time, and
| had one dose of some citrus feed we bought from the NEC show. All the
| leaves have dropped off and the small fruits are shrivelling slightly.
| It's also been put outside a couple of times when the conservatory has
| been really hot (south facing patio, 30+degrees)
|
| We've not over watered (been very careful of this having googled) and
| it's not sat in standing water either.
|
| Tempted to buy another couple to prove we can get one to survive!

I moved mine (actually orange and kaffir lime) out a long time
ago, and our south-facing conservatory has much better ventilation
than yours. They are much more cold-resistant than is commonly
believed, and it is generally worth keeping them outside from
(say) May to September.

Despite appearances, they are not drought-resistant, and suffer
badly in seriously hot, dry conditions - especially when in pots.

All our larger trees...

2 x Lemons (growing fruit and in full flower now and setting fruit again)
Orange (covered in good sized fruit and flowering again)
Tahiti Lime (some fruit still to ripen, flowering better than ever now and
setting so much fruit)

Have been outside against our S. facing front wall since March (no frosts
since) and will be out there until September at least (depends on the first
frost). They love it outside and as Nick says, can take some cold, although
I do avoid frosts and drag them back into the light clear plastic roofed
garage if it is a possibility. In the real winter they fill our little
greenhouse which is kept min 40°F.
(Cymbidium Orchids are treated almost the same.)

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London