Lemons

[hamster]

Ever since seeing one in a cafe in London, I've had a burning desire to have a lemon tree. Possum's thread has inspired me further, although I think mine would have to live inside....

Has anyone ever done this? Could I plant a seed from a lemon from the shop, or should I buy one that's designed to be happy in a pot?

[ina]

I had a wonderful lemon tree in Germany - still regret I had to leave it there. It was about 1m high; lived in a pot, on the balcony in summer, and in the unheated bedroom in winter. BUT: it never had a flower, although it was several years old! Looked stunning, though, with its glossy dark green leaves. Oh, and it was grown from a seed out of an ordinary lemon.

I habitually stick all citrus seeds that look healthy in a pot. And sometimes something grows. They need it a bit warmer that I have it here; that's the problem...

[red]

they say you are best to get a lemon tree designed for this climate. should be ok outdoors in summer.. bring in in winter. i had one but it died (forgot to water...)

[Mainer in Exile]

We had some kind of citrus tree, grown from a seed someone stuck in a flower pot. It survived the transplant, but it never produced, so we never knew what it was.

[red]

I used to plant lemon seeds, as Ina says they make lovely house plants.. dark glossy leaves, but never produced. my bought lemon tree had a teeny lemon.. before i killed it..

[hamster]

The one in the cafe had loads of lemons! I was so envious....

I think I'll plant some seeds just out of curiosity, and nag the bf to get me one for my birthday, in case they don't fruit...

[9ball]

I think lemons are like apples in that the seeds don't grow into the same type - it might be better to buy one if you want some good lemons from it, you could try growing a few from seed as well - you might get a brilliant new variety!

[Annpan]

has anyone seen lemon trees for sale? I have been looking for a while and would love to get one... especially if I can get away with planting it in my greenhouse.

[Clara]

A friend of mine in the UK had a hardy variety that they bought through The Guardian - perhaps if you check the reader offers section of their website it will stil be there.

[marshlander]

has anyone seen lemon trees for sale? I have been looking for a while and would love to get one... especially if I can get away with planting it in my greenhouse.

Reads Nursery hold the national collection of lemon trees. Link is www.readsnursery.co.uk

Ours recently had a flush of fruit (Hence lemon topic in cookery thread) but we feed it special lemon food when watering - the plants need high potash and nitrogen. Hmmm. pack says its urea nitrogen , does that mean I could save some money here?

[frozenthunderbolt]

yup piddle around it havent you ever seen "the worlds fastest indian" Bert Munroe knew what he was doin'

hasn't hurt our tree's either

[Thomzo]

Keep an eye out in the house plant section of your nearest Homebase. They sell all kinds of citrus trees. They aren't cheap but every so often they will discount them. I bought a lovely mature lemon recently for £9.99 reduced from over £30. It was rather sad when I bought it but with a bit of TLC it has flourished and is now sporting one fully grown lemon, ripening slowly, and one half-sized one which is still growing. It's also got a few flowers so fingers crossed for some more.

I wouldn't bother with planting pips. Not only will it take forever for them to get large enough to fruit, but you'll quite probably find that they are then sterile and won't fruit anyway.

I keep mine in the conservatory now but it was quite happy in a south facing window sill. Some types do like a period when it's cold at night and won't fruit if they are kept too warm all the time.

Zoe

[ina]

I wouldn't bother with planting pips. Not only will it take forever for them to get large enough to fruit, but you'll quite probably find that they are then sterile and won't fruit anyway.

Yeah - but it's good fun watching them grow. And although mine never had a flower, it looked highly attractive; I used to plant dark blue lobelia around the base in summer, and with the dark green glossy leaves it was stunning!

[Sky]

I wouldn't bother with planting pips. Not only will it take forever for them to get large enough to fruit, but you'll quite probably find that they are then sterile and won't fruit anyway.

Yeah - but it's good fun watching them grow. And although mine never had a flower, it looked highly attractive; I used to plant dark blue lobelia around the base in summer, and with the dark green glossy leaves it was stunning!

Would be great for shrubs and hedging wouldn't it too, think I'm going to buy a few lemons and plant the seeds now!

[wyverne]

All except one of our five citrus trees are grown from pips. i start them inside in terracota flowerpots and in our warm climate they grow happily outside. They love urine, but don't overdo it - too much nitrogen can make them dry and stringy instead of juicy. Woodash is a good source of potash too and so is chookshit.

There's no reason why they should be infertile - ours all fruit abundantly, and the fruit is delicious - it's just that except for one orange tree, the pippins are all hybrids - totally new and unique, not quite like any of the established varieties.

Furthermore the trees have hybrid vigour, and are tough - tougher than grafted varieties that have to start life recovering from a major surgical operation, and need careful nurturing to establish.

Failure to grow and bear fruit in otherwise healthy-seeming citrus trees has always been cured by hammering a nail into the trunk. It works like magic - I don't know why.

I didn't have the heart to do it, but one of my young orange trees grew to about seven feet high and stopped, no fruit, just good healthy leaves. Then a heavy trellis fell on it, snapping the stem. I bound it up with strips of calico and sealed the wound with gladwrap and the next year it produced fruit and is now growing vigorously with heavy crops of very good fruit each year.

Another tree (this one from a pip) got to about eight inches and then just sat there for a year until something stepped on it and snapped it almost off. I bandaged that too and it forged ahead. It's now a productive orange tree way up over my head. We're almost self-sufficient in oranges now, and they're still growing.

I've seen cumquats blooming and fruiting in full shade in foyers. There's no reason why, with dedication, you couldn't grow citrus from seeds indoors. And what's to lose? If you try and it doesn't work, you've still got a handome pot-plant.

best wishes
wyverne