Meyer Lemon Trees: 6 Tips To Get Loads of Fruit
Lemon sprouts transform fruit, so if you don’t have any blossoms on your lemon tree, how can you expect fruits? Make your tree comfortable. Under the correct care conditions your tree will have a huge amount of blooms!
1. Light
Before fruiting, Meyer Lemon trees need light! They won’t blossom without getting enough light. Ensure your trees get no less than 6 hours of daylight every day. You can do this by setting your tree by a bright window. If you can, try to put your tree so it faces south. Southern facing areas have a tendency to get all the more light.
Additionally, if your tree is potted and kept indoors rotate it every three weeks the make sure that a different portion of your tree is facing the window. Along these lines the whole tree gets time in the daylight!
2. Water
Next, make sure that your trees get the right amount water. Over watering or under watering your tree can harm fruit production. The soil should slightly dry out in between waterings, but it should never completely dry. Check on your soil once a week, if it feels dry to the touch two inches below the surface of the soil then it’s time for more water. Slowly poor water into the pot and count to 20, or wait until you see water running out of the bottom of the pot. Moisten the soil, don’t over saturate it.
Generally Meyer Lemon Trees need water every one to two weeks. Leaves can be an indicator as to how your tree feels. If the leaves are drooping like they’re too heavy for the branches, and turning dark brown or black the tree is getting too much water. If the leaves are crispy and dry or curl upwards this is a sign of under watering. Also, if the leaves turn brown or yellow this is another sign of under-watering.
Don’t immediately over correct under watering. Gradually add more water to your tree over time. If you immediately saturate the soil with a ton of water your tree may become stressed or over watered!
3. Nutrients
Another way to keep your tree healthy and productive is to make sure that it gets all of its vitamin and minerals. When potting or planting your tree it’s beneficial to mix in some citrus planting mix with your natural soil.
Also, to give your tree an extra boost give it some citrus fertilizer! Give your tree two tablespoons of fertilizer like citrus-tone three to four times a year. Once in the early spring, early summer, late summer and in the fall. Space out your fertilizing by about four to six weeks.
4. Temperature
Meyer Lemon trees are very cold hardy and can withstand temperatures down to about 20 degrees. If your area gets colder than that then your tree will need to be brought inside. When they’re inside winter heat can dry them out. Be careful not to place them under a vent. If your leaves start to get dry you can mist them daily with a spray bottle to give your tree some humidity.
Once it warms up don’t just stick your tree out in the hot sun for hours! It will need time to adjust to the heat. Move your tree outside for a few hours each day, gradually increasing the amount of time it spends outdoors to get it used to the harsher outdoor environment before letting it live outside all summer.
5. Pollination
Once the blooms open on your tree they’ll need to be pollinated. Good thing that these trees are self-pollinating! However, having two or more trees will greatly increase the amount of blooms that will get pollinated.
Meyer Lemon Trees can bloom all year, but have two main blooming times. In the fall and early spring. If they bloom while it’s too cold for them to be outside simply keep your tree indoors. However, they won’t have the wind and bees to carry their pollen from bloom to bloom for them. You could release a few bees inside of your home to help with pollination, but we wouldn’t recommend it!
You can pollinate your indoor trees by hand. Simply take a small dry paint brush and run it over each bloom as if you’re painting them. Do this once daily, and don’t wash the paintbrush until after the blooms have been pollinated.
6. Pruning
Another way to keep your Meyer Lemon tree happy is by pruning it. Meyer Lemon trees don’t have to be tall to produce fruit, just healthy. Keep them wide and branched out. When you decide to prune your trees in the early fall or early spring look for branches that are growing straight upwards. Generally they aren’t fruit producing branches. Also, remove any damaged or crossing branches. Make your cuts at 45 degree angles facing upward to promote new growth.
Also, look for areas that block the sunlight from the center of the tree. Removing these branches will increase air circulation and the amount of sunlight that hits these branches, which will decrease your tree’s risk growing mold and fungi.
Be sure to look at the amount of lemons you have growing. In order to prevent fruit over bearing you’ll want to remove a few lemons in large clusters of them when they’re pea sized. This will make sure that you have a few lemons that grow to their large mature sizes, instead of a ton of lemons that stay small.
Harvest
Your Meyer Lemon tree will need time to get adjusted to their new environment before they start producing fruit. Once your lemons start to grow give them time to mature. They can take around 6 months to mature. Don’t harvest them until their skin changes from green to dark yellow. When your sweet Meyer Lemons are ready their skin will be a shade of yellow similar to the color of an egg yolk.
Source: www.fast-growing-trees.com
