Meyer Lemon Tree: Planting, Care, and Growing Guide
Meyer Lemon Tree: Planting, Care, and Growing Guide
By Steven Biggs
This Little Lemon is Absolutely Prolific!
50 Meyer lemons on a knee-high bush.
The branches hung to the ground under the weight of the fruit. The bush was yellow with fruit. Not a single branch broke under the weight of the fruit. Meyer lemon trees are work horses. If you want to grow your own citrus, it's what I recommend starting with.
'Meyer' lemon (Citrus x meyeri) is the lemon that's not fully a lemon.
It's a hybrid between a lemon and an orange or mandarin orange. While the leaves of Meyer lemon trees look like true lemon leaves, the fruit are thin-skinned, taking on an orange tinge as they ripen.
I love the mild taste of the fruit and the distinctive smell of the rind. It makes an unbeatable sorbet.
Here's my Meyer lemon sorbet recipe.
Lemons and Meyer Lemons are the fruits I recommend for first-time home citrus growers. They're the gateway citrus trees. They're easy to grow, and have a better chance of ripening in the short summers we get in cold climates.
Here are more reasons that lemons are a good choice for gardeners in cold climates.
Learn How to Easily Grow Meyer Lemon Trees in Pots
Meyer lemon trees are a great choice for cold-climate gardeners who want an exotic crop. They have a compact, bushy form that makes them suitable for growing in a pot, and they're quite cold hardy—more cold hardy than true lemons. (See more about hardiness below.)
In northern gardens Meyer lemon is usually grown as a potted plant...but there are gardeners pushing the boundaries in warm zones.
Potted Meyer Lemon Size
This potted Meyer lemon is pruned into a bush form to keep it compact.
When it comes to the size of the plant, you’re the boss. You control plant size with pot size and pruning. Think of bonsai, where a decades-old tree is only knee high.
The other thing that affects size is the rootstock; some types of rootstock are dwarfing and keep a tree smaller. Meyer lemon trees sold in garden centres are often on dwarfing rootstock.
Meyer Lemon Tree Care
While it's outdoors over the summer, keep your Meyer lemon tree in a sunny location.
As with any potted plant, your pillars of success are:
Suitable pot size
Good potting soil
Regular feeding
Proper watering
If you get these four things right, you'll keep your Meyer lemon tree happy.
Here's a full guide to growing a potted lemon tree year round and getting the conditions right.
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Watering a Meyer Lemon Tree
When it comes to watering Meyer lemon trees, more is NOT better.
Meyer lemon trees hate wet feet. That's another way of saying that when the soil is constantly wet, the roots can die.
I aim to keep the soil of my potted Meyer lemon trees on "the dry side of moist." Keep the soil moist but not soggy.
If you're in doubt, wait another day before watering. Lift up small potted lemon trees and let the weight help you gauge how dry the soil is.
Find out more about how to water a lemon tree so that it thrives.
Feeding
Potted lemon plants must be fed! There's a small volume of soil feeding the whole plant.
Start feeding in the spring, when new growth begins. Cut back on feeding in late summer as cooler temperatures and less light cause plant growth to slow.
There are many fertilizing products on the market. And each lemon grower has a favourite formula.
Not sure where to start?
Look for “all-purpose” or “general-purpose” product. Make sure it has micronutrients
Decide what suits your style of gardening (do you want to mix solutions regularly – or apply slow-release fertilizer granules just once in the spring)
Find out more about feeding and micronutrients in this article.
Repotting Meyer Lemon Trees
Mature Meyer lemon trees don’t need to be repotted annually. Just replace the top few centimetres of soil every couple of years. Faster growing young Meyer lemon trees can be moved to a bigger pot each year if the roots have filled the current pot.
Soil structure breaks down over time, so you will eventually want to repot mature Meyer lemon trees in new potting soil.
Meyer Lemon Tree Pollination
Meyer lemon flowers have both male and female parts and are “self-fertile.” That means you don’t need pollen from a different lemon tree for a Meyer lemon tree to bear fruit.
If the plant is outdoors over the summer, insects and wind move the pollen. You don't have to help with pollination.
Pollinate flowers on lemon trees growing indoors using a small paintbrush.
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Propagating Meyer Lemon Trees
Growing Meyer lemon trees from seed is easy...but be prepared to wait years for fruit. That's because seed-grown plants go through a juvenile stage before they begin to flower and fruit.
To get fruit more quickly, buy a plant, or root a cutting from a mature plant. (Meyer lemon trees grow well on their own roots, so it's not necessary to graft them.)
Meyer Lemon Challenges
Insect Pests
Outdoors, pest problems are usually minimal. It's when a potted Meyer lemon tree is indoors for the winter that you're more likely to encounter pests. Two common pests are scale and spider mite.
Watch for spider mites when overwintering lemon plants indoors at room temperature. That’s because spider mites do well in the dry air in centrally heated homes.
Find out more about controlling scale and spider mite on lemon trees.
Leaf Drop
Leaf drop is common when Meyer lemon trees are brought into warm, centrally heated homes
On more than one occasion, I’ve had a naked Meyer lemon in my kitchen over the winter. It reminded me of the Grinch's Christmas tree!
When Meyer lemons are brought into the house in the autumn, expect leaves to drop. It's normal. The warm, dry air in centrally heated homes is not ideal.
If you want less leaf drop, cool, bright overwintering locations are ideal. (See below for ideas.)
Fruit Drop
Some fruit drop is normal when the fruit are still pea-sized. If only a few little lemons drop, it's nothing to worry about.
If all the fruit drop off, that's not normal. Two common causes are poor pollination and not enough water.
Meyer Lemons Over the Winter
Meyer Lemon trees are evergreen and keep leaves through the winter. (As I note above, if your plant is unhappy in the house, it might drop quite a few leaves.)
Meyer lemon plants tolerate more cold than many people realize (see below). When they are in cold conditions, they also tolerate darkness, because the plant stops growing.
Cold Tolerance
Meyer lemon is hardy to about -6°C (21°F). Hardiness is never exact, so expect younger growth to be more tender and susceptible to cold.
But the important temperature to remember is the temperature at which the fruit is at risk of freezing, around -3°C (27°F)
Indoors
Consider moving Meyer lemon trees indoors earlier rather than later, so there is less of a drastic change in temperature and humidity. This helps to minimize leaf drop.
While the fragrance of the flowers makes it nice to have Meyer lemons in a bright kitchen or living room window, you might have other options:
What about a cool, bright attic window?
A cool sunroom with a temperature just above freezing
A cold, dark garage or shed
Find out more about how cold a lemon tree can get during the winter.
Indoors – Care over Winter
Keep soil on the dry side of moist
Too much water can rot the roots
Higher humidity helps minimize leaf drop and make conditions less suited to spider mites
Watch for scale and spider mites
Meyer Lemon FAQ
Why is my potted Meyer lemon tree turning yellow?
There are a few things that can cause this. It could be not enough nutrients in the soil. It could also be that the soil is too alkaline, so that plant can't take up the nutrients that are in the soil. But another common cause is overwatering—which kills the roots and sends the tree into a downward spiral.
What time of year do you repot Meyer lemon?
The best time to repot Meyer lemon is in the spring, just before new growth begins.
Can I grow a lemon tree indoors in Canada?
Yes! Here's what you need to know.
Should I mist my Meyer lemon tree?
If it's growing in a centrally heated home with dry air, misting is a simple way to raise humidity.
If I want to propagate my Meyer lemon tree myself, do I have to graft or can I root cuttings?
You can root Meyer lemon cuttings. Your rate of success is better if you use rooting hormone and apply bottom heat (e.g. with a heat mat.)
More Lemon Information
Guide: How to Grow Lemon Trees Indoors That Actually Produce Lemons
Find out how to grow lemon trees indoors (and get lemons!).
By Steven Biggs
Can You Grow a Lemon Tree Indoors? Sure!
If you’ve seen lemon trees growing outdoors in warm climates, you might be wondering how you can grow a potted lemon tree indoors, without it getting too big.
Many lemon varieties grow into small trees when grown in the ground outdoors in warm climates.
(Keep this in mind if you plant a lemon tree in the ground in a greenhouse – it can get big!)
If you know a few simple things about how lemon trees grow and how to care for them indoors, you can enjoy the fragrance of lemon flowers and harvest your own lemon fruit indoors.
This guide to growing a lemon tree indoors explains what you need to know.
Lemon Tree Size
You can keep a lemon plant small. When it comes to the ultimate size of your lemon tree, remember that as the gardener, you’re the boss. You’re the one with the pruning shears!
Here are things (besides pruning shears!) that can affect the size of your lemon tree indoors:
Most commercially produced lemon trees are grafted. That just means that a piece of a lemon variety with nice fruit is attached (“grafted”) onto another variety that has roots with desirable traits (a.k.a. the rootstock). Some rootstock varieties have a dwarfing effect, keeping the lemon tree smaller. (A common dwarfing rootstock is called ‘Flying Dragon’).
If you have grown a lemon tree from seed, or your lemon tree is a rooted cutting, it will be growing on its own roots. There’s a good chance it will get bigger than lemon trees grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock.
Pot Size
This potted lemon tree is over 50 years old. Pruning and pot size keep it compact.
The smaller the pot, the smaller the lemon tree.
Think of how bonsai trees that are hundreds of years old can grow in very small pots.
It’s a combination of a small pot, along with root and stem pruning that will keep your citrus trees small.
Lemon Variety
There are many lemon varieties—just like there are many apple varieties. As well as differences in the fruit, there can be differences in the way the plant grows. Some are more compact than others.
A good example is the Meyer lemon tree, which is naturally dwarf and more bush-like than many other lemon varieties. (Meyer lemon trees are actually a hybrid that has some tangerine genes in its bloodline!)
(I think a potted Meyer lemon tree is a great starting place for first-time gardeners. They're compact, and very fruitful. I've harvest 50 lemons from a knee-high potted Meyer lemon tree.)
Indoor Lemon Tree Leaf Drop
A lemon tree that’s been growing in cool, humid fall conditions outdoors will often drop leaves when brought indoors for the winter. It’s ugly…but common. They grow back.
Lemon plants are evergreen, meaning that they have leaves on them year-round.
It is common for some leaves to drop off as the temperature and light levels change with the season.
(Especially if you have a potted lemon growing in cool, humid autumn conditions outdoors and then you bring it into the dry air of a centrally heated home. It might just drop its leaves in protest!)
What Kind of Light do Indoor Lemon Trees Need?
Bright light is best. Look for a location that has at least 8 hours of bright light per day. That usually means a south-facing window.
When the lemon tree is growing in full sunlight, the growth is more compact, and there will be better fruiting and flowering.
If you don't have bright natural light, try a grow light. (I've seen pictures of an indoor lemon tree doing very well under a grow light...in the Yukon!)
Indoor Lemon Tree Harvest
Lemon trees have flowers and fruit at the same time. Pictured are fruit at different stages of maturity.
Lemon is one of my favourite citrus trees because lemon trees can have fruit and flowers at the same time. That means that while you’re enjoying the smell of lemon blossoms, there might also be small immature fruit on your lemon tree—and some larger ones.
Ripe lemons can remain on the plant for many weeks. There’s no rush to harvest them.
The size of the lemon harvest you can expect depends on a few things:
Variety
Plant size
Growing conditions
Season length
Indoor Lemon Tree Pollination
Pollinate flowers on lemon trees growing indoors using a small paintbrush.
Do you need 2 lemon trees to get lemons? No!
Every lemon bloom has male and female parts. They are also “self-fertile,” meaning you don’t need pollen from a different lemon tree to get pollination.
Outdoors, wherever there is a breeze, or a bee, pollen from the male part naturally drops or is transferred onto the female part of the flower and a small fruit starts to form.
Indoors, use a small paintbrush to transfer pollen between flowers.
Partially or imperfectly pollinated blooms can form fruit that drops off early. Not enough water can also cause small fruit to abort.
Tip: Lemons can make a lot of flowers in a cluster. Sometimes up to 12-15 booms. If they all become lemons, it’s a lot of work for the plant. Thin out the little lemons to 3-6 fruit per cluster.
Lemons can make a lot of flowers, sometimes 12-15 booms in a cluster. Thin out the little lemons to 1-6 fruits per cluster.
Indoor Lemon Tree Care
Watering Lemon Trees Indoors
When lemon trees are watered too often, the roots rot. Healthy roots are bright, like the ones pictured.
Top tip for indoor lemon tree care: Watering is the #1 key to success for indoor lemon trees.
Lemon trees don’t like to be in continuously wet soil. They hate having “wet feet”. Too much water can rot the roots.
After watering, the soil at the bottom of the pot remains quite wet until your lemon tree draws on that water – so don’t just water when the soil at the top of the pot looks dry.
When watering your potted lemon tree, touch the surface of the soil, and put your finger into the soil to see if it’s moist below. A good rule of thumb is to keep the soil on the dry side of moist.
In doubt? Pick up the pot to feel how heavy it is.
Frequency of watering will depend on:
Soil
Pot type
Plant size
How fast the plant is growing
How dry the air is
Temperature (and, yes, heated floors will definitely cause the soil to dry out more quickly!)
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Pruning an Indoor Lemon Tree
Prune lemon trees so branches are well spaced.
Here are some general pruning tips for lemon plants:
Remove crossing branches
Prune so branches are well-spaced
Cut back to a bud or a branch
Remove fast-growing, upright branches (water shoots)
Remove suckers coming from below the graft union on grafted plants
Indoor Lemon Tree Pests
An indoor lemon tree can get the same pests as an outdoor one...but indoor conditions are often better for the pest!
The two most common pests of indoor lemon trees are:
Scale on an Indoor Lemon Tree
The adult stage of scale insects are immobile and have a shell. Scrape them away with your fingernails, or use a cotton swab soaked with rubbing alcohol.
Scale insects can be dabbed away individually with a cotton swap dipped in rubbing alcohol. If the outbreak of scale is larger, try rubbing them off with your fingers, spraying the tree with a high-pressure water source, or using a biological control such as a predatory mite.
Before noticing scale, you might first notice sticky spots on the floor below, or a dark, sooty coloured film (mould) on leaves. Scale insects give off sticky liquid, and that’s the cause of the sticky spots below, and the mould, which feeds on the liquid. Wash leaves with a soft cloth to remove sooty mould.
Spider Mites on an Indoor Lemon Tree
Watch for spider mites when growing lemon trees indoors. They’re hard to see without a magnifying glass…you might only see little spots moving on a leaf. If leaves begin to look stippled, check for spider mites.
Spider mites do well in the dry air in centrally heated homes. Higher humidity helps minimize leaf drop and make conditions less suited to spider mites
Seasonal Moves for a Potted Lemon Tree
Moving Your Indoor Lemon Tree Outdoor for Summer?
Gradually harden off plants in the spring over a period of a couple of weeks. Don’t go cold turkey and put them in full sun without hardening them off or there can be sun scald and wind burn.
Moving Lemon Trees from Outdoors to Indoors
If you’re bringing a potted lemon tree indoors for the winter, consider moving it indoors earlier rather than later, so there is less of a drastic change in temperature and humidity. This helps to minimize leaf drop.
While the fragrance of the flowers makes it nice to have lemon trees in a bright kitchen or living room window, your lemon tree does not need to be at room temperature. It will do better in cooler temperatures.
Here are examples of protected spaces that have cooler temperatures:
A bright attic window
A sun room (it does not need to be fully heated, keep the temperature just above freezing)
Find Out How to Grow Your Own Lemons
Harvest more lemons this year. Grow Lemons in Cold Climates Masterclass shows you how to grow a lemon tree in a pot or outside with protection. And get lemons!
Pots for Indoor Lemon Trees
Do not us pots with reservoirs (“self-watering” or “SIP”). This is because this sort of pot keeps the soil constantly moist…and lemon tree roots can rot in wet soil.
A decorative pot with no drainage holes is a recipe for soggy soil and root disease. Make sure to select a pot with drainage holes so that the roots don’t rot!
Lemon Tree Pot Size
When deciding on pot size, consider:
The size of pot you can move
Young plants that have not attained the final desired size can be moved to a bigger pot annually, early in spring or early summer once the roots fill the current pot.
Whether the roots are likely to quickly fill the pot. “Overpotted” lemon plants (plants in pots that are too big) won’t use up soil moisture as quickly—so there is more chance of root rot.
Repotting Lemon Trees
Covering everything from lemon varieties, to location and watering, to pruning and shaping, to overwintering, dealing with pests, and more—and including insights from fellow citrus enthusiasts—this book will give you the confidence you need to grow and harvest fresh lemons in cold climates.
Mature plants don’t need to be repotted annually. Remove and replace the top few centimetres of soil every couple of years.
Soils break down over time and air pores collapse, so you will eventually want to repot the plant in new potting soil.
Lemon Tree Potting Soil
If you’re moving your lemon tree outdoors for the summer, a heavier soil can prevent the pot from tipping over in the wind.
Here’s what I do for potting soil:
For young plants that are growing quickly and that I’m moving to bigger pots regularly, I use a lightweight soilless potting soil. It’s great for fast-growing plants.
For lemon plants that have reached a size I want to keep them at, I add some garden loam to my potting soil for added weight (so they don’t tip over when I put them outside for the summer.)
The potting soil products available to you will depend where you are. The key thing is to tailor your watering to the mix you’re using—and don’t over-water. (I spoke to a grower who make a very well-drained mix because he found he was always heavy-handed on the watering!)
Indoor Lemon Tree Fertilizers
Potted lemon plants must be fed! You’re getting a small amount of soil to support all that plant and fruit development.
Start feeding in the spring, as plants begin to grow. Cut back on feeding in late summer as cooler temperatures and less light cause plant growth to slow.
There are many fertilizing products on the market, both organic and conventional. And each lemon grower has a favourite formula.
Not sure where to start?
Look for “all-purpose” or “general-purpose” product. Make sure it has micronutrients
Decide what suits your style of gardening (do you want to mix solutions regularly – or apply slow-release fertilizer granules just once in the spring)
More on Micronutrients and Potted Lemon Trees
“Interveinal chlorosis” (yellowing between leaf veins) on a lemon tree.
Micronutrient deficiencies are common with lemons. So make sure the fertilizer contains micronutrients.
“Interveinal chlorosis” is a fancy way of saying yellowing between the leaf veins. And it's a common thing to see on lemon tree leaves.
It's often iron, zinc, or manganese deficiencies. These deficiencies can even occur when the micronutrients are present in the soil, but the soil is too alkaline. That alkalinity prevents the lemon plant from taking up the micronutrients.
What to do for Micronutrient Deficiencies in Potted Lemon Trees
Forget lab analyses. Here are some other things you can do:
Use elemental sulphur to lower the soil pH. Available for home gardeners at garden centres.
Occasionally use a water-soluble fertilizer for acid-loving plants.
Some areas have a lot of lime in the water, and it builds up in the potting soil with repeated watering. So just repot your lemon more often.
Flying Dragon rootstock is intolerant of lime – so you might find lemons on their own roots are less troubled by high pH than grafted lemons on Flying Dragon.
Growing a Lemon Tree FAQ
What should I do if I don’t have full sunlight?
Ripe lemons last a long time when left on the the tree.
If you’re growing your lemon tree inside year-round, this can be a problem. You might want to add supplemental light, or grow your lemon under artificial lights.
But…if, like me, you put your lemon tree outdoors for the summer, think of indoor overwintering as simply a way to get your tree to survive the winter.
What about other citrus plants?
Another favourite citrus tree of mine is yuzu, a very cold-tolerant citrus with a very fragrant rind. It grows very well in a pot—and the fruit are very useful in the kitchen. Another very cold-tolerant fruit tree is mandarin orange.
How long can I leave homegrown lemons on the tree?
They last weeks, often months, on the tree. Don't pick what you're not ready to use.
What can I do with my Meyer lemons?
Lemons lined up to process into lemon curd. Meyer lemon curd is my favourite!
Lots of Meyer lemons is a good problem to have. My favourite uses are Meyer lemon curd, or sorbet.
How long before my indoor lemon trees will produce fruit?
Seed-grown fruit trees go through a juvenile stage where they don't bear fruit.
But a rooted cutting or a graft from a mature fruit tree can bear fruit right away. I've seen a six-inch tall lemon tree flower and form fruit. (My recommendation is to pick it off, so that energy is used to grow the plant bigger.)
Can I grow Meyer lemon trees from seed?
If you grow a lemon tree from seed it will likely grow up to be like the parent plant. (This doesn't happen with many fruit trees, apples are a good example of fruit trees that have offspring different from the parent plant.)
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
More on How to Grow Lemons
6 Reasons to Grow a Lemon Tree
You can easily harvest your own lemons if you grow a lemon tree in a cold climate. Here are 6 reasons to grow lemons in areas they don't normally survive.
By Steven Biggs
You CAN Grow Lemons Somewhere Cold!
Yes you can grow citrus trees. Even in places where they don’t normally survive the winter.
And I think that the best citrus for cold-climate gardeners to start with is a lemon tree.
There are many ways to successfully keep lemon trees alive over the winter.
You don’t need a greenhouse. And you don’t need a bright, sunny window.
Here are my Top 6 reasons to grow a lemon tree in a cold-climate garden.
1. Lemon Trees are Forgiving
As a student I worked at a small U.K. nursery that had the U.K. National Collection of citrus trees. I brought home a couple of small Meyer lemon trees in my suitcase at the end of that summer.
6 Reasons to Grow a Lemon Tree in a cold climate. A Toronto lemon harvest!
Then those lemon trees languished for years. I was a student and moved around a lot, so they went from fluorescent lights to dimly lit apartment windows. It wasn’t until I moved into my first house that I started to pay attention to my lemons.
When one of my now knee-high Meyer lemon trees bore over 50 lemons in one picking — the small tree was so laden with fruit it looked like it was doing yoga stretches — I was hooked!
But until then, that lemon bush withstood a decade of me not knowing what I was doing.
Find out How to a Grow Lemon Tree Indoors (That Actually Produces Lemons)
2. Lemon Trees are Cold-Hardy
When we moved from our bungalow to a house with an old sunroom that stayed just above freezing over the winter, my lemons were happier than they had ever been. The cool winter temperatures suited them. There were fewer insect pests, and when spring came, those trees flowered as they had never flowered before.
“One of my now knee-high Meyer lemon trees bore over 50 lemons in one picking!”
3. Lemon Fruits Ripen in Moderate Climates
While Bob grows lemon trees outdoors, he grows oranges and other “sweet” citrus in a greenhouse. Lemons don’t need this extra heat to ripen.
Lemons ripen in climates too cool to properly ripen other citrus.
Canadian citrus expert Bob Duncan lumps citrus into two broad groups: “sweet” citrus such as oranges and grapefruit, and “acid” citrus such as lemons and limes.
This distinction is very useful for cold-climate gardeners to understand because sweet citrus need a sustained high summer heat for sugars to develop in the fruit. Acid citrus, on the other hand, doesn’t need sustained heat to ripen.
Bob lives in the Pacific North-West region of North America, which has a moderate climate. To get his sweet citrus to ripen, he uses an unheated greenhouse. The greenhouse is for additional summer heat — not because of winter hardiness!
BUT THE LEMONS — an acid citrus — don’t need the greenhouse to ripen, even though the summer temperatures are not hot where he is. “With lemons, they don’t need as many summer heat units,” Bob explains. (“Heat units” is a concept often used in agriculture. It considers daily maximum and minimum temperatures and the heat that a plant experiences during a growing season.)
When you consider its combination of cold-hardiness and ripening requirements, lemon makes a very practical citrus for the home gardener in a cold climate.
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
4. There’s a Thrill in Pushing Boundaries
You may be surprised to learn that there is a history of lemons being grown way beyond the boundaries of where they could survive without human help.
The lemon has a bit of a cold-climate pedigree!
My daughter with a Ponderosa lemon tree and a lemon harvested in the spring. Note the smaller lemons that will ripen later in the year.
Time and again gardeners and farmers in areas that would normally be too cold for lemon cultivation have devised ways to grow lemons.
If you are interested in a delicious mix of history, horticulture, cooking ideas, and travel, check out The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and Its Citrus Fruit. Author Helena Attlee explores the history of citrus fruits in Italy, including some cool-climate adaptations. Of course, I didn’t read the book in the order it’s written. I went straight to the chapters about Amalfi and Lake Garda, which have a history of growing lemons in sub-optimal climates.
If growing a lemon tree in a cool climate sounds like a lot of bother, well, honestly … it is. But maybe you’re like me and enjoy the challenge of growing something that’s not supposed to succeed in your climate. You wouldn’t be the first.
5. Lemons are Versatile in the Kitchen
Some people are surprised to hear that I think it’s worth the effort of growing lemons even though they are widely available in supermarkets.
But trust me, it’s worth the effort.
Lemons are best when they are fresh. It’s no fun trying to zest or juice a shrivelled, dry lemon that has sat out too long. The easiest way to store lemons so that they stay fresh is on the tree—they last a long time on the tree!
In February I can pick a handful of Meyer lemons from the trees stowed in my greenhouse and make sorbet. The juice and rind of this lemon have a unique flavour (often described as a cross between a mandarin orange and a conventional lemon) that really can’t be beat.
There’s Also the Zest
I’ll also zest a Ponderosa lemon into our chicken kebab marinade. Again, a unique taste I can’t buy at the grocery store. The Ponderosa lemon zest is a bit lime-like to my taste buds. (It’s no surprise that it has a unique flavour because it is thought to have some citron, another citrus, in its ancestry.)
Don’t Forget the Leaves
When you grow your own lemon trees, you can harvest more than just the fruit: Mid-winter I will grab a few lemon leaves to wrap around kebabs that I’m cooking on the grill. Lemon leaves are fragrant when bruised or torn, and impart nice flavour into a kebab while keeping it moist.
Grow a lemon tree for the fragrant flowers that come out at the same time that fruit is ripening on the plant.
6. You Get Flowers and Fruit at the Same Time
Some citrus plants flower once a year. Bob Duncan’s oranges, for example, bloom once, in the spring.
Not Lemons! Lemons yield fruit at different stages of maturation and flowers all at same time.
Even after the main spring bloom is over, you can still enjoy the fragrance of the flowers. With lemons, home gardeners can enjoy harvesting fruit and the fragrance of blossoms year-round.
Good for the patio: good for the kitchen garden!
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Lemon + Citrus FAQ
Do lemons grow on trees or bushes?
Both. How the plant grow depends on two things:
How you prune it.
Natural growth habit of the plant. (Meyer lemons have more of a bush-like growth habit.)
Are there indoor citrus trees?
The conditions in centrally-heated homes tend to be warmer and drier than is ideal for most citrus. You can still grow potted citrus in a bright window — but a cool bright sunroom or greenhouse is better.
For more about how to grow indoors, read this article about how to grow a lemon tree indoors.
How to you feed citrus trees?
Read this article about how to grow a lemon tree indoors.
Can you grow oranges in Canada?
You can grow oranges in a greenhouse, or as a potted plant that gets winter protection.
Want More Lemon-Growing Articles?
How Cold can Lemon Trees Get?
By Steven Biggs
Overwintering Lemon Trees
There are many ways to overwinter lemon trees, because they tolerate colder temperatures than many people realize.
In the picture below, I’ve loaded up a potted Meyer lemon plant to move into a protected area for the winter.
In the beginning, I used to grow it in the kitchen all winter.
Then, I started leaving it in the dark, cold garage for the winter.
These days, I put it in a greenhouse that I keep just above freezing.
Wondering what to do with a potted lemon tree for the winter? In this excerpt from my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t, I talk about how cold-hardy lemon trees are.
MY LEMON TREES DID VERY WELL when I moved into a house with an old sunroom that stayed just above freezing in the depth of winter.
There are many options for overwintering lemon trees in cold climates because they tolerate cold.
Sadly (for me), the dilapidated sunroom succumbed to a house renovation and my precious lemons were banished to an insulated garage for the winter. Normally, I kept an electric heater in the garage that I could flick on if the temperature plummeted.
But while we renovated, there was no power to the garage, and during a particularly cold spell, the temperature inside the garage dropped well below freezing.
I was heartbroken to think I’d lost my lemons.
Happily, they survived. Only a few branch tips died. For plants that I associated with Mediterranean climates,
I was delighted to learn that lemons are amazingly cold tolerant!
Many factors determine cold hardiness
It’s not an exact science.
For example:
Young plants are more tender.
Fruit and young shoots will be affected before older, woodier stems.
If the plant is already dormant from cool temperatures, it can better withstand cold than an actively growing plant.
With grafted lemon plants, some rootstock are more cold-tolerant than others.
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Citrus expert Bob Duncan of Fruit Trees and More on Vancouver Island says to remember the temperature at which the fruit freezes.
The MOST Important Temperature to Remember
When I asked citrus guru Bob Duncan from the nursery Fruit Trees and More about lemon hardiness and minimum winter temperatures, he stopped me and took me back a step, saying:
“With lemons the fruit is on the tree in the winter. The question to ask is ‘What temperature does the fruit freeze at?’”
Bob went on to explain that the fruit of citrus is at risk at anything below -3°C (27°F).
