How to Plant & Grow Meyer Lemons in Pots!
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting a fresh Meyer Lemon, you are really missing out! You won’t find them in grocery stores, but who needs grocery stores when you can grow your own Meyer Lemons at home no matter how much space you have! All organic, non-GMO, all nasty commercial stuff FREE!
I’ve grown these before a long time ago, and unfortunately, I had no clue what I was doing and in the third year I killed my budding Lemon tree by over fertilizing it. So this time I’m doing it right! In this video I’ll show you how to plant your new Meyer Lemon in a pot so you can grow it in your house, on a balcony or patio, or just about anywhere! I’ll also show you what I’ve learned about the soil you need to plant it in, how to fertilize it, prune it, and even protect it from the weather!
Link to homemade seed starting/Potting mix: • How to Make your own S...
Time-stamps and a basic explanation is below to make it even easier to reference the information later!
TIME-LINE:
00:00 - Short Introduction
00:28 - Introduction and Backstory
01:37 - Why plant citrus in a pot?
02:48 - What kind of container to citrus plants need?
03:28 - What kind of soil do I need for container grown Meyer Lemon?
03:55 - Mixing your soil for your Meyer Lemon
05:07 - Planting depth of your citrus tree
06:32 - Pre-Fertilizing and why you need to do it!
07:14 - Setting your Lemon's final location in the container and topping it off
07:42 - How and when to water your citrus
08:29 - Over wintering your Meyer Lemon inside
08:50 - Growing your Citrus Tree: When and how to Fertilize!
09:38 - Pruning your Lemon: How. When. Why?
11:23 - FUNNY! Keeping the Roosters from fighting
12:15 - Protecting your Lemon Tree from Frost and Freeze
12:47 - Summary and Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to watch this video! If you’ve tried to grow citrus before and failed, or succeeded, tell the everyone why in the comments. I always love to hear how other people do things and it helps us all learn!
Thanks again and don't forget to get your hands dirty!
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Instagram: / texasgardendoc
Twitter: / texasgardendoc - Jak na to + styl
I put one in a large Costco pot, and it gave me about 30 lemons. I added about 1/2 an inch of homemade mulch to keep the soil moist (under the hot Texas sun) and the roots from freezing. I am looking forward to more lemons this year!
That’s fantastic! I’ve decided this year I’m going to trim it up a bit but I’m waiting to see what finishes flowering right now before I start trimming it back. I’m hoping I pay close attention so I don’t ruin how many lemons out yet! Lol.
Best wishes to you and lots of lemons!
Bought our first Meyer lemon tree. Thanks for the video.
That’s very exciting! I’m glad you like the video and open it helped you out as well. Let me know if you have any questions and I’d love to hear how it turns out for you!
the chickens didn't approve lmao. great vid.
lol. Yeah, they have their own ways of doing things, and they don’t always approve of my methods! 😂
Thank you so much for your kind words and comment as well!
My myer lemon tree we bought in October 2021 , I kept in pot ,
I have a big lemon growing already May 4, 2022 plus about 14 lil lemons already growing here in Montgomery County , Texas .
God bless you
Mrs Josette Tharp 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Josette, you are probably just a stones throw away from me! I’m willing to bet we’ve passed each other at the grocery or elsewhere at some point!
Congrats on the lemons! I think I let 5 or so go to fruit fully off those I planted in the video. This season I count about 10 or 12 right now, however I think I’m going to pick the, off and leave just one per plant as I really want them to out on some good growth this season!
@@TexasGardenDoc Did it stay in this same size pot?
It did yes! They are about 2 feet taller now, and a LOT wider branches. I decided not to prune it this year as I wanted it to get a little more height first so I can see better what it will look like. I’m planning on keeping it pretty compact and pretty much tree shaped if possible.
Sand, perlite, soil conditioner or pine bark chips (optional to create acidic soil), and peat moss. Best citrus soil there is. Fertilize small amounts every month to avoid washing out a one time fert application
Dan, thank you for that! I’ll give it a try! That’s something I noticed pretty quickly, if you aren’t careful your fertilizer drains out. I appreciate your comment!
Tks, I'm from England
Howdy!
@TexasGardenDoc would adding charcoal into the soil 'hold' the fertilizer?
@gregsanderson2470 it absolutely could help, retain nutrients, both minerals and microbes. Whoever there’s a thing about biochar. And it needs to be biochar not what you would call your standard charcoal. If it’s a briquette, it’s not quite the same thing if it’s whole wood charcoal, that could definitely work!
The one thing to keep in mind when it comes to adding biochar of soil is that needs to be charged first. If you don’t, you can still use it and it will still work well, however it will leach nutrients away at first until it’s full up. Kind of think of it like a battery. If you pre-charge it, it will start working very well for you right off the bat.
Hope that helps!
First video of yours I have watched. Thank you!
Welcome! I’m glad to have you here!
I’m glad you liked it and I hope it helps you out. If you have any questions at all, I’m always here to help even if it doesn’t have to do specifically with whatever is in the video so don’t hesitate to ask!
Thank you! I always wanted a Meyer Lemon tree, just got one. Your video provided an all around information I was looking for to help me grow it.
It was my pleasure to share! That’s great news, I hope this helps you out a lot! If you have any questions or issues, don’t hesitate to reach out. Citrus can be kind of finicky sometimes, and signs of stress can be confusing. So if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d love to help!
thank you! I especially liked your summary and 4 points of happiness.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate that!
I find doing a recap of the end is something I can help a lot of people. That’s how I learn, through repetition of information. So I decided it was a good way to try to help other people as well.
Those four things of helped me quite a bit in my life, and I’m more than happy to share them!
I’m excited, I have my first fruit plant!!!
Awesome! I love fruit trees, all citrus, apples, peaches, bananas, all of them!
Best wishes to you for a FRUITFUL season!
Best instructions ever!
You are very kind. I’m glad you liked it and I hope it helps!
Have lots to plant this year grapefruit lemons limes pray that make it will use pots for a while thank you for sharing what you know with us new bees…stay blessed.
That’s fantastic! Sounds like you’ve got a very well rounded bit of citrus to grow. Mine have done quite well over time in the pots, although I may be planting a few out this year, if I can find a way to protect them from freezing. Best wishes to you, and it was my pleasure to share! If you have any problems or issues, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to help!
MY FAVORITE LEMONS! GREAT VIDEO 👍 THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN.
Mine too, they are so sweet!
Absolutely love the outro ! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Awww thank you so much! It’s what I strive for daily. It’s the only thing that keeps me 100% centered in this crazy world! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Great content! Thankyou for all the information. Looking forward to more.
Thank so much Will! I have 3 complete videos filmed and several that are partially filmed. Work takes up so much of my time I haven't finished editing yet! But soon I think! Thanks for commenting I appreciate that!
I love the coop!
Thanks so much! We are really proud of it!
It’s due for some touch ups this fall, with paint and all, but we still really love it and the girls do too!
I grow a lot of container citrus in Delaware. For p l.jant anting I use 2/3 potting mix and 1/3 perlite. Plants are outside in warm weather and slightly elevated, no saucer. When they are inside I use a large saucer with a round cooling rack to elevate the pot.
Very nice Amy! That's a perfect description too and really EASY for people to follow! Thank you so much for sharing this and especially your location! I know that this comment will help someone who lives near your area!
Thanks again!
I’ve never wanted to grow a lemon tree in my life till now! Great video skills my brotha and great info! I’m always learning new stuff on your videos!
Thanks brother! I appreciate you my man!
we have 3 potted Meyer lemon tree , and we even eat the peal as it is very tasty
I thought I was the only one that did that!
When I was a kid, my dad would challenge me to eat a lemon wedge. So I need the lemon, and he said no, you have to eat the whole rind!
To this day, I still do that!
thanks for the information! I just bought two Meyer lemon saplings - one from a mail-order house, and one from the local Home Depot. Both were the same price; the mail order one is a single stem about 18" tall with nothing but leaves, and the HD one is a much larger, more robust-looking plant that already has blooms on it. The mail-order one is probably a year old, and the HD one is at least two years old.
I repotted both of them this week (after they spent a week acclimating to my house), and I put them out when it's sunny and warm. It's still not really spring here - last night it was almost freezing, and it was 38 degrees an hour ago - so I plan to keep them in pots and bring them inside during the winter. (Zone 8a) I bought some grow lights that I'll use for when they're in the house. We keep the house around 62 at night during the winter, and in the summer we rarely get above 90 degrees.
So we'll see how they do this year!
That’s fantastic! It sounds like you’ve got everything right on track. For me I do pretty much the same thing except that we tend to get warmer earlier in cooler later during the year it sounds like. For now I can still move the pots around, although the plants are getting it pretty big. Eventually, I’ll probably have to put them on rollers to be able to move them easily. I wanted to build a greenhouse for a while so I can put a bunch of my tropicals in there and not have to worry about them. But I haven’t got that far yet. Once I do, I think it’ll be a lot easier to take care of those things!
I hope they do really well for you, and I’d love to hear how it turns out!
@@TexasGardenDoc My dream is to build a greenhouse. I've held on to a few old windows from our remodel (they're stacked up behind my garden shed) plus some extra polycarbonate double-ply sheets with that zig-zag interior, but time and money keep me from completing it. But I'm hoping that by next spring I'll have an "orangery" just like they had in the 18th and 19th centuries to grow fruit trees through our long, cold, windy, snowy, and dreary winters. (Of course, it will be a "lemon-gery" because hey, I like lemons!)
I know exactly what you mean! Over the past I don’t know how many years I’ve dreamed up this idea of a modular greenhouse that allows me to grow all kinds of stuff, but in particular allows those tropicals to live easily all year round. Dreams are wonderful thing but money in time make them a little bit more difficult to accomplish. Keep going with yours and don’t stop! It’s well worth doing, and I know I can’t wait to have mine someday as well!
Citrus love iron as well, we feed ours with burnt tins which we flatten and place under the mulch around the drip line and a feed of ashes from the winter heater but only one feed as citrus don't like alkalinity.
By the way, deer also like apricots and one demolished our anti bird netting and ate every piece of fruit. When he made a move on a mango tree I had been nursing for years it was time for a venison dinner!
😂 it is so true, they will eat just about anything they can get their teeth on!
I never thought about the idea of burnt tins, yes, the wood ashes excellent for it, but I have found like you mentioned, it was citrus. You have to be very careful with things like that. like you said one feed and it’s probably good to go. I grew Meyers a very long time ago, and that commercial citrus food size and taken care of by the package still destroyed and killed it almost overnight.
I have to admit there’s nothing quite like a good venison steak!
Just put some rusty nails in the pot😂
Another great video. Thank you.
Thanks! You are too kind!
Great tips, thank you!
Thank you Virginia!
Hi Doc. New Zealand here. I have a Satsuma tree in a 40cm diameter pot that is now about 4 years old. It has produced fruit every year so far, albeit not too many. It has been neglected and now needs to be pruned, so your video is a great help. Thank you Sir.
I’m so glad to hear that!
Satsumas are delicious! I’m kind of jealous. I’m really glad it helped and let me know how it goes in the future. Oh, and Howdy from Texas! I wish you all the best!
Great VIDEO! Thank You so Much.🍋🍋🍋👍
🤗 it was my pleasure, and thank you for the kind words. I hope it helps you out!
I love this video thank you
I'm so glad you liked it, and I hope it helps you out too! It was my pleasure to share.
If you have any questions at all, I'm always around to help, so just ask!
Thank you sir!
Thank you for taking the time to say so. I hope it helps. I appreciate you!
Good video good job
Thanks so much. You are very kind. I’m glad you liked it!
Great points and video...subed. My Myer lemon tree survived in pot during the cold snap last March with temp down to about 19F in SC, but not my budding fig trees with tip damages here and there. This was just a normal winter here so I decided to put it in ground near brick wall facing south-west. Apparently, the new normal set in when the temp got down to 10-12F last December during the powerful Polar Vortex hit here. All my Satsuma, Kumquat and Myer lemon got hit bad with all the leaves dropped and branches turning brown. I am hoping that they will come back in April from the main trunk...Heck, when life gives you lemon, just wait and hope...
About your point of pruning these citrus trees to size for maintenance, it is a great suggestion...but if you have quite a few trees, that is a lot of work...I am not talking about pruning per se, it is about trying to cover them up for protection. It was hard to do so with cold wind blowing more than 20 mph...My Satsuma tree grow to 14'x14' over the last ten years which provide me over 500 fruits a year. Hard to prune it down, well, I can do it now as most of the branches probably dead by now. If these mature citrus trees can take the cold like 10-12 F, I am not going to do anything different...If not, I will find something else more cold hardy to grow.
Thank you for subscribing. I truly appreciate that. And I absolutely love hearing about your experience as well during that time!
Over the years I’ve never had citrus in the ground, although my father has live in trees, that’s kind of a loose term for them because they’re not very big, they did get hit by the same polar vortex.
One came back out of the three, and that year alone and the snap freeze we just had an early December that should’ve come either not at all or in late January February, has me a bit scared to plant them out.
There are some really great cold hardy varieties out there, and the taste is different, but excellent from what I hear, but for me in my house, I want to go to the things that people are familiar with and will eat and that we use. So I kind of stick to the basics.
in my new garden area I am expanding into, I want to build a small greenhouse, proceed starting and overwinter my citrus. I’m so gun shy now with the weather the way it’s been so chaotic that I don’t want to risk losing those plants.
I really do hope they grow back, if you’ve got any age to them at all, I’d say there’s a pretty decent chance. But it’s still painful to wait and watch like you said. Especially given how much fruit you got off of them before, it could take a while before you get back to that point.
Thank you so much for this comment, like I said, I always love learning with other people, struggle with or things they overcome in particular. I really do hope they grow back for you, and I’d love to find out if they do!
I am Binge watching since I some time today! I have had my tree for about a year purchased it a 2 years but haven’t gotten any fruit yet.
Lol thank you! Typically it’s two to three years before a lemon Will fruit. Mine were two years old when I got them and I got fruit that first year. How big were yours when you planted them?
@@TexasGardenDoc about 3 or 4 ft!
Thanksss 💕💕
Thank you for watching!
again a useful video - I will try to find an equivalent soil here or probably I'll mix it selfmade
Thank you!
If you can mix your own it’s well worth it. The soil I used for my other pots was my home made seed starting mix and it worked very well!
I've got a Meyer Lemon tree growing in a crab boil pot and it has huge lemons starting to turn yellow.
Fantastic! Mine are just starting to get the first hints of yellow this year too!
I'm so happy to find this. I love lemons and use them alot. Always wanted to grow them but didn't think it was possible to du on my balcony. Does this method work for other lemons too? Thanks for the tips.
Sarah that’s Awesome! It should work just fine on most traditional citrus (limes, oranges, etc) the only difference might be the size and depth of the pot as it can be specific to the variety of citrus you are growing.I hope they do well for you, and they are some of the tastiest lemons you’ll ever have!
Well done Bro we I n tropical Caribbean sun an rain start planting some in containers
You are in an ideal spot, I’m jealous! Best wishes to you and thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate you!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks bro
My pleasure!
Fruits and in particular citrus can be grown so many different ways. What’s your go-to way to grow citrus? Have you planted a Meyer lemon and been successful growing it in containers! Let us know so we can all learn from each other!
Wow a sweet lemon! Doc we don't get below 30 degrees out here. Recipe for ginger tea: 1 inch ginger, i/2 tsp. cloves. 1 cinnamon stick. Simmer in water for 5 minutes. add lemon and honey as desired. This is an expectorant.You have skills there
I’m gonna have to try that recipe out! Right now the allergies are so very bad that an expectorant would be helpful.
Yeah yeah brag about the BEAUTIFUL weather in Cali! Lol
Another beverage I’ve found quite helpful is about 4 oz hot water , 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoons of cayenne, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of raw honey, and about half a lemon (and yes that sweet Meyer lemon is delicious! Drink it hot it’s calming, tastes pretty darn good, and also is a bit of an expectorant
@@TexasGardenDoc Ooh! I'm a save that one. It's been in the freakin' mid 90's the last few days. Today, the 70's.I'm impressed that citrus can be born in Texas. Re: Cali? A bunch of sorry liberals (I swear they all moved here) as few. Santa Barbaran's are home grown like me.
Lol. Yeah it was high 80’s today. Was 90’s last week here. Its way warmer than it should be right now. Between that and almost no rain (we are about 8” behind right now) what should be a great spring garden is bolting to seed and struggling.
Cactus & palm soil is well draining & that's what citrus trees thrive in. I've had tremendous success with this mix. I also add my fertilizer on top of the soil so it doesn't get washed away when watering. I have over 40 trees growing in pots and they are doing great. I also add a layer of compost on top of the soil to attract worms and fertilize the trees.
Warrior, great advice! I do lightly amend with fertilizer on top of the soil this year after topping up with a little compost. My understanding is this maintenance dose, rather than washing away, will be washed down into the roots where the plant can use it.
Thanks. So much! I’m jealous of the number of trees you have though! Are they all citrus or varying varieties?
@@TexasGardenDoc I have 5 avocado trees in th ground Lamb Hass, Reed, Bacon & Fuerte, Eureka Lemon in ground, Washington Naval in ground & the rest in 15 gallon container trees of different varieties (Bears lime, Mexican key lime, Guava, Tango, Clementine & many others that will eventually be planted in the ground.
I just like to make sure where they will thrive in my micro climate here in Southern California.
Oh man now I’m SUPER jealous! Good on you! I’m struggling to grow avocados here, but I really hope I figure it out! It really doesn’t take much frost to hurt them. I’m pushing the limits in my zone to grow outdoors. I’m hoping i might build a poly tunnel or green house some day for those types of trees.
I love hearing from someone like you with that kind of experience that is so specific to fruiting trees. Thank you so much!
Can you do a follow up video about how you pruned it
I certainly will! I actually didn’t prune it at all this year because I wanted to see how it would grow, up this fall i I will be pruning it to give it some for. And some accelerated growth!
I love your content ❤
I’m growing my own herbs this year, I’m tired of buying from the store. Do you mind sharing a good soil or soil mix for herbs? I’m buying a planter raised bed.
Thank you!
Hi there! I completely agree with you! I’ve always grown a few herbs, cilantro, rosemary, basil, and oregano, but last year I started adding more. I find they do pretty well in my garden soil, in pots it might dry out a bit too quickly though, so I would say a raised bed mix would work well.
I almost always start my herbs, and most other veg, in my seed starting and potting mix. Here’s a video on how I make it.
How to Make your own Seed starting and potting mix to make your plants thrive!
czcams.com/video/V4Cb-PcYL0Q/video.html
What I like about doing it this way is that I can control the ratios. For a potting mix that is going to be more permanent, I think I would add less peat and replace it with compost, probably by about half. So half as much peat and replace the half you took out with compost.
I would also suggest doing half as much vermiculite and replacing that half with perlite. It will help with water retention, drainage and aeration a lot more.
You could take your store bought raised mix and add some things to it in small ratios to fine toon what you want as well. For instance add a little vermiculite if it already has perlite and add about 1/3 more fine compost. It might be a bit easier to do it that way for pots.
I hope that helps and if you have any other questions let me know!
I bought Meyer lemons at Lidl, so I'm trying to grow the seeds.
Very good! There’s a CZcamsr that stopped making videos many years ago, that liked to grow different types of citrus from seed. He got some very interesting results! I wish I could remember the name of his channel because he had really great videos.
From what I understand, Meyer lemons do not grow well from seed. The Meyer lemon is a grafted tree on a different root stock. They do this because the Meyer limit itself typically does not flower or fruit when grown from seed.
However, I have never done that before, so I can’t save my own experience if that will be the case. I wish you all the success with it, and if I can help in anyway during the process, just reach out!
2" of gravel or rocks in the bottom of the pot will assist with drainage and help prevent root rot.
That’s always a great addition to a potted plant. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s something that I didn’t mention so I’m glad you mentioned it here!
Hope my lemons will fruits soon
How long have you had them?
❤️
Thank you!
Hi , Loved the information in this video. Where do I find the seed starter mix composition?
Hi there, I’m really glad you enjoyed the video! Are use the pre-bought mix in one pot and my own in the other. I can’t tell much of a difference a few years later that’s how either is growing, so I believe that homemade mix will work just fine!
You can find the full length version of the video at this link: czcams.com/video/V4Cb-PcYL0Q/video.html
There is a condensed version of the video on the channel is well posted right after that one. I think it’s only a few minutes long so if you know hurry and just want basically the recipe that one’s easy to watch as well.
Let me know how it works out for you, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out I’d love to help if I can!
you could put rocks in the bottom to help drainage
Rocks are definitely a good way to make sure that water drains easily and the holes don’t get clogged. You are correct, thank you!
Hello, I’m just now subscribing to your channel.
I have a real interest growing my own food, or at least as much as I can. What part of Texas are you growing in? North Texas or south Texas or a high mountain region? I think I’ll probably start growing in the Northeast. Any suggestions
Hi there! I’m in the southeast gulf coast region of Texas, so think near houston.
North East has a lot of possibilities! You can grow lots of cold hardy things like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc pretty easily. Onions and garlic give you lots of options as well! When it comes to spring time, depending on what part of the north east you can grow all the great spring and summer stuff, like carrots beets, of course tomatoes and zucchini. If your warm season is short you’ll want to try to start your spring crops early indoors with seed, but pretty much you can grow a little of everything!
There’s no better time than today to start growing something. Try new things, experiment! You’ll be surprised at the things you can grow and never thought you could!
Best wishes to you, and I wish you lots of success!
Got lazy about it and used a lot of very expensive ferti-lome potting soil, mixed with some fertilizer. It has really taken off since planting. I tried to mention my fear of catching HBL AKA Citrus Greening (living in FL) but CZcams flagged my comment and deleted it... for talking about catching a plant illness. One thing I love about the Meyer is it doesn't attract weevils like my ponderosa lemon.
Wow! Yeah I’ve seen some very benign comments get automatically removed by the sensors. It’s so strange how that works!
I’m glad this one got through! It sounds like that potting soil was a really good mix, I’m glad to hear how they’ve taken off for you. What kind of fertilizer did you use on a curiosity?
About the only thing that I have to struggle with from time to time are aphids, but they’re pretty easily controllable as I still keep my plants pretty small.
My lemon and lime (very small) have just arrived by post. Not sure if they are Meyer - I live in south-east England. Your instructions are really helpful and timely. I can overwinter them in my greenhouse - that's arrive in October.
Very good! Just get them in some good soil and and I would say go with some light fertilizer maybe one time going into the winter. Being in a green house I would say use some kind of seaweed or kelp liquid fertilizer (like Neptune’s harvest) its much more mild and you are less likely to over do it. Will you be leaving them in pots or planting them out? I’m so jealous! In Texas it is very hard to find lime trees as most places can’t ship them to my state, but I’ll find some eventually! Congratulations and best of luck! Let me know how it turns out!
@@TexasGardenDoc I was surprised to see lime in the catalogue. it came from The Nederlands. No mention of Meyer. Too cold in winter here to plant in ground. Even if above freezing, wind chill can do the damage. I’m envious of your hens. mr fox killed my girls a few years back - electric fence failure. I now live by the sea and will investigate making my own seaweed fertiliser before buying. Collected horse manure yesterday (no straw). I’m on clay too - horrible. Will watch the rest of your informative videos as I’m new to raised beds. God bless.
Honor, I know the pain of losing hens to the fox. We had about 25 or so a few years back. In one week I lost all but one rooster to, fox, coyote, hawks, and opossums....that’s why these are in a run, the others were free range. Yes it makes sense it would be too cold to plant out in the ground, but with some preparation you should have a beautiful potted tree in a few years! Oooo your own seaweed fertilizer would be amazing! All those minerals in there too! Do let me know how that works out! The clay soil is tough but mine is doing a lot better this year than last. Although my garden has been mostly drowned because it rained for 3 months straight, and now the heat is extreme. I’m hoping fall will bring better things!
One time I had PTSD, and was "diagnosed" with bipolar. Amused, I asked what made them think I had bipolar. The doc said because I can't sleep (was a travel nurse and worked all 3 shifts) and I talked fast. Duh! I live in New England! Well, these videos talk faster than me, and with my 💉 injury, this fast talking makes me crazy!
Lol. Yes, this video particular at the end really got a little out of control. I do talk quite fast sometimes, but in this case, I had film the end of the video four times, and each time the camera had died somewhere in the middle. I was running out of daylight and time, so I charged it for about 40 minutes took a deep breath and just went for it! Lol.
I’ve gotten a comment like that on this video so many times, and to this day I wish I just found a way to hold off of it later!
Hi I got Meyer lemon from Costco last week. Should I keep in the same container until next spring or should I transfer to a bigger pot now before winter? BTW, I like the way that you answer EVERY questions and comments. Thank you for your time.
It’s my pleasure!
I would say it’s much easier to keep it in the pot if you just purchased it. It should be just fine until next spring. It’s much easier to move a smaller pot around during the winter months for sure. I think you’ll have no problems doing it that way. Just be very aware of the amount of water it gets or doesn’t get. Those nursery pots can dry out quickly. With citrus, and meyer’s in Particular, you don’t want to over water them. If you follow the two knuckle rule you should be just fine. Best wishes!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thank you very much.
Absolutely!
Hi transforme your wonderful lessons I have one Myers’s plant and one regular one.
My both lemons have flowers but they fall off still are in the same pot I got from nursery are on my balcony I water every day or every other day is this the reason and when should I fertilize them
Thanks God bless
Hi there!
It could be a couple of things that are causing that. My first thought would be if it’s still in the original pot It’s probably long run out of nutrition from the soil. If that’s the case, you wouldn’t want to be fertilizing once every month or so lightly with the organic liquid fertilizer that is well-balanced in nutrients.
The other thing could definitely be the water. When you water each day, do you stick your finger into the soil to check to see if it’s still moist? if not, you might start doing that. Citrus does not like to stay constantly wet, and it definitely does not like to be very wet. That can cause leaf drop. Let me know about those items and we can probably get you set up and running really well!
My lemon tree survived the great freeze of 21, I thought for sure it had succumbed to that bitter winter without power. I have yet to get any fruit, nary a flower.
That’s amazing they survived! The only reason mine did is a drug those big pots into the house. That’s very interesting you have seen a flower yet. I know the weather has been really strange this year for a lot of people…hmmm frozen last year….baking this year….go figure. Anyway, mine set flowers and fruit really early because of how warm it was in the spring. Luckily I have a place to put those pots where they are protected from really strong sun and heat mid day. They are actually doing pretty good, but I only left a few fruits on this season since I want to get more growth out of them.
Has it been extremely hot this year where you are? That could be the reason for no flowers and fruits.
Did not know you could grow lemons in a pot :-)
You can! They are growing very well too. Last year I allowed myself 4 lemons and pinched off the rest. This season I allowed myself 2 on one plant and removed the rest. Huge difference in growth for the one without fruits. I just can’t stand it though, I love them and I have to have them!
Ok, the tag says my tree can stay in its original container 2-3 yrs. It’s about a quart in size. The tree is maybe 12 inches now.
Also the spots were dark in nature. Then the leaves turned yellow/green and have recently started dropping off (the yellowish ones) I do have some new growth coming on.
Do you know what kind of lemon it is specifically? I have a 1 year old like that is in the same size pot, I just purchased it, and it is about the same height. In the spring I plan to pot it up as water is very difficult to control in smaller pots especially those with nursery soil in it.
Based on the fungicide you used it sounds like you are ok and that the plant is starting to turn the corner. I’d be careful not to overwater. They are good with some moisture but they definitely don’t like staying soaked all the time, and ease back on the fertilizer a bit. If you start to see the leaves turn lighter colors in the future it may be tile for a very gentle fertilizer.
I think yours are going to be ok. I’d re-treat in spring with the daconil and begin fertilizing again at that time. Once in the spring and 2-3 more times throughout next growing season.
You certainly can pot it up now if you like, but based on the size I’d say it’s ok for another season. Just watch for signs of tress and any roots trying to poke their way out of the bottom of the pot. If you see that, I’d pot it up for sure.
Hope that helps!
💕🕯✌️Thanks!
My pleasure. I’m glad you liked it!
Nice video! What is the problem if my lemon tree is losing leaves after I brought it inside for the season? Thanks!
Thank you you’re very kind, and I’m glad you liked it as well!
With the leaves are still green when they fell off or were they a different color? When you brought the lemon in, had already gotten pretty cold outside? And if so, how cold did it get?
Leaf drop can usually be from a couple of things but it’s almost always from stress on the tree. The most common ones would be lack of fertilization, too much water, too little water, and sometimes rarely cold, will cause them to fall off depending on what the temperatures were like. I’m assuming it’s been fairly mild where you’re at before bringing it in.
Just let me know and we’ll try to figure out what the cost might be!
Thanks for all the info.
Subscribing you, please keep your content consistent (meaning, videos uploaded regularly)
Best wishes from India 🇮🇳
Thank you abc! Boy I wish I could right now, but 70-80 hour work weeks and waiting in the ‘end’ to film the results takes a bit! I have several videos mostly filmed and hope to have them edited and up soon.
Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to comment! I’ll keep at it!
@@TexasGardenDoc you can call me Sam. I wish you give us a tour of all the veggies and fruits in your garden, someday.
Not a bad idea Sam! Im currently in the process of relocating the garden for the fall. Last year I had a lot of trees creeping in overhead and there isn’t enough light now and my wife and I don’t want to remove too much shade from around the house, so it’s off to a new area!
I’ll definitely give a tour of the garden soon, especially to show the location it’s in now versus where it’s going. Great idea, thanks!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks. Please do a full compilation video. Stay safe. Amen.
Same to you, thank you!
I bought my meyer lemon tree a few months ago, and it's exploding. There are several new buds and baby lemons all over the place. They cut off all the low branches for shipping, so it arrived looking like a big leafy lopsided stick, and it still kind of looks like that but it has grown several short branches, but I think it's pretty happy here. I just bought a worm farm, so I'm fast approaching the need for an intervention. Anyway, thanks for the tips!
😂 you crack me up!
That’s awesome! Work farm is next on my list as well. I’m relocating the bigger portion of the garden and I’m too impatient to wait for the works to find it, so worm bins it is! Where are you thinking of getting your worms? That may be the weirdest question I’ve ever asked anyone,
@@TexasGardenDocI'm either going to go through uncle Jim's worm farm, or under the neighbors basketball hoop because I live right on a river. I am putting in flooring in the basement, so as soon as I get that room done I have the bin and the bedding etc. If you have any wooded areas near you, look just under natural mulch if you would rather catch them than spend a bunch of money.
@@TexasGardenDoc you can also get red wigglers from fishing shops. They breed really fast, so you don't have to start with too many :)
Jim’s is where I was thinking of getting mine. For some reason all the bait shops here have their worms dyed a bright yellow. I mean all of them! Used to have just plain old worms back in the day!
In my current garden I went out to the woods and took a piece of bent rebar about 6” long and put it in a drill and spun it on a tree root, they came running to the surface!
I added them to my garden in 2020. Worked like a charm!
Good luck with the basement work and the worm farm too!
@@TexasGardenDoc thank you!! You too!!
We planted 2 Meyer lemons 20 yrs ago, the one in the sunny spot would give up to 700 lemons, some grapefuit size. The one in the shade never took off, grew only to 4 ft high. Citrus in Texas are plagued with a fungus, crinkled leaves, blossom end rot. We just ignored, since we still got lots of lemons. Finally the big freeze took all the leaves. The end.
You aren’t wrong about that! One of the reasons I decided to grow mine in pots was the freeze. Plus I have a creeping shade problem in my garden area and knew I’d have move the whole thing so I wanted them mobile. I’m hoping to have most everything moved to the new garden by fall. It’s quickly approaching though so only time will tell!
Excessive heat in Phoenix last year killed all my citrus, even with a good shade cloth. Had a mister but maybe overwatered.
We struggled to last year pretty badly with heat. Where I keep mine stay shaded pretty well during the summer, but I was having to water it every single day just to keep it going. It dropped most of its fruit and a lot of leaves, but I was able to get it through.
Arizona has a whole different story though! It’s so dry there. I imagine it’s really hard to keep things watered, it’s possible it was watered, but it’s probably more likely the heat stress just was too much for it.
That really stinks. What all were you growing?
@@TexasGardenDoc lemon, lime, oranges. Had six trees. Should have moved them into the house but did not have enough lights. This year I have an orange and about to buy a lemon. They’ll be inside if it’s that hot again. All last year and this year are the dwarf type.
That is truly heartbreaking! I’m glad to hear that you have a little bit going now and plan on getting some more though.
It seems like every year we’re having to adapt more and more to changes and temperature, water and insects. And all the years and I’ve been gardening I’ve never had years that were difficult!
Thanks for your vidio, I've been given a lemon 🍋 and lime tree I've brought them indoors for the winter. They are healthy and have fruit, could you please let me know what to use instead of blood and bonemeal.
They are now in their second flowering, Looking forward to your suggestions.
That’s great! It’s good that they are so healthy as well.
If you don’t want to use blood and bone meal, I’d suggest liquid fertilizer of either fish emulsion or fish and kelp (seaweed) either of those should do pretty well for them.
I hope that helps!
Can you post more videos please , especially since you live in Texas an have over 2,000 subscribers/ friends.
I subbed .
God bless you and I pray your ok .
J thank you for the encouragement! I actually have several videos filmed in various stages at the moment. I have a few that will be out soon, unfortunately the others are waiting for things to grow or be tested. Since I like to show the full process sometimes It takes a while. Plus work takes up LOTS of my time as most weeks I work 60 to 70 hours. All excuses though lol!
Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know, I’ll do my best to keep the, coming!
What about a video on ur chicken coop?
I’ve actually filmed a view videos on the coop and the chickens. We unfortunately lost Nugget about the time I was going to edit them, so I didn’t finish them as I was afraid it was too soon for my son. However it’s been several months now so maybe it’s time to revive them! Thanks for the comment, reminds me I have several videos that I thought might not be interesting to people I could post!
We're trying a lemon in a pot this year on our patio, and we set it up with good drainage, but I am a little worried that we get too much rain for it... any recommendations for the North Texas rainy season? Usually, things get really soggy here between April and June.
Hi there!
I’m in the same boat here when it comes to rainfall in the spring months. Well, I say that usually I am! This weather here in Texas has been so crazy for the last couple of years is hard to say. Lol.
What I’ve done to make sure that they don’t get too much rain water is a force what you mentioned first very well drained soil. Secondly, I don’t put any saucers underneath the pots. I like to control the water myself, and this will allow it to drain out more freely.
I don’t think I’ve ever pulled the plants under cover, or covered them during rain, because the soil does drain really well. But I suppose if he gets that bad, you could throw a piece of plastic over the top if you’re afraid it’s getting too much water. And if the soil drains well enough though, I don’t feel like you need that, but it’s definitely an option.
I hope that helps if you have anymore questions don’t hesitate to ask!
I just received my Meyer Lemon and it's all over blooming. So I guess there is no time to repot it and I have to wait till next early spring. I'm already curious how it taste 🙂
That’s fantastic! Yes, they were all blooming very heavily right now. All three of mine have small fruit set on them already! It is probably best to go ahead and wait until you harvest the fruit in the fall, to repot it. But it’s not a huge deal breaker if you do it now as long as you’re very careful with it.
They are so very sweet and so very good. You’re gonna love it!
Greetings again thanks for the video, I am wondering if adding Coco Coir Brick for Plants would be helpful in water drainage for a Meyer lemon,,,, have you ever tried that ? if so what proportion would you suggest ? I need to transplant one of my Meyer lemos as it is not draining well. I thought one part Perlite, one part coco coir, and one part peatmoss ,, do you think that would work or would the peatmoss hold to much water???? thank for suggestions
That’s actually a great question! If you look through my videos, I do a thing on making homemade potting mix. That’s pretty much what I use in one of the pots for this video.
The best thing to know about retention items in soil preparation’s is this, it’s separated into three groups, nutrient, water, retention, drainage.
Perlite is for drainage, but both peat, moss and cocoa are for water retention. It’s best not to have more than a third of your mix made of water retentive materials. So it might be better to just choose either Pete Moss, or the Coco Coir. You can put sterilized soil in for the other third or use a well rotted, compost that you’ve made or purchased. That should make up a pretty good mix.
How is the Meyer lemon doing now after a year? I'm here in the DFW area and thinking of trying one of these.
It’s doing very well! I could t stand it last year I just wanted a couple lemons! So I let both of them take 2 lemons each all the way to ripe. Since I didn’t get the overall growth I wanted because I did that, I did only minor pruning in the early spring late winter and pulled all the fruit on one….and left one on the other (I just couldn’t do it! But it’s proof positive. The one with no fruit has already doubled in size from the beginning of the year and the one with the lemon has only put on half is much growth. So this winter they’ll get there first shaping prune. Honestly they are doing great! I did bring them in and or protect them at any sign of freeze over the winter too
You should definitely give it a go!
I treated the fungus with Daconil
Ok so, I’m my experience Daconil is typically best used in the fall when leaves typically start to fall off of most plants. I actually don’t use it at all. However my father does, and everytime he does, the leaves will turn color and fall off. Typically they start to grow back shortly after, so that may explain the leaves falling off.
If I not mistaken, spraying that in the fall and spring is best and should help keep the plants disease free for the most part throughout he season.
I believe all Meyer Lemons are grafted. Keeping the sour orange with the thorns cut is helpful so they won't drain the energy from the grafted tree. Do you find that to be true too? My Meyer Lemon nor my Grapefruit tree has thorns but the non graft has huge thorns, so I keep them cut down to the graft.
It is 100% correct that all Meyer lemons are grafted lemons!
I personally have several branches on these two lemons that do have thorns, however they did grow above the graft. Technically that should not be so I’m not entirely sure why that is, but I only cut those back off for shaping. It does stand, however that anything that is growing below the graph will be taking some nutrients and energy from the plant so I would say in most cases unless you’re just looking to help shape it and you don’t mind the thorns it’s definitely worth removing those branches
Hope that helps!
I'm in zone 5. Do I have to grow this in a container and how soon after they are planted do they bear fruit?
Hi there!
In your zone I would definitely consider containers. Your shorter season and cooler temps during the winter would be rough on them.
They typically will fruit around 2-3 years of age. Although that can vary.
It’s also difficult to know exactly how old the plant is when you get it so I’d say 2 years is a good average to expect fruiting.
I hope that helps!
I've never grown citrus before. I live in West Texas where our Summers are brutal. Can these handle our full sun? I know I'll need to grow in a pot and bring indoors for winter.
It’s always exciting to start growing something new in the garden or around your home, so congratulations on that!
West Texas sun and heat can be absolutely brutal!
I know for me the hottest part of the summer will scold the plants, particularly the leaves, and it can even feed or damage the parents of the fruits. I try to make sure mine gets some very good quality shade in the late part of the afternoon and late day. That seems to help quite a bit. I was just something similar, particularly if you’re growing them in pots.
What’s the citrus gets up to eight big enough size, what usually happens by planting it in the ground or a very large pots, a little scum scald on the leaves and fruits won’t hurt anything, same for frost. However, in pots, they tend to dry out really quickly, and the temperatures change really quickly, so I definitely recommend shade during the hot parts of the summer, and like you said, bringing them indoors once it gets too cold for them.
I hope that helps if you have any other questions along the way, just reach out I’d love to help you out if I can!
Nice video. I am currently trying to grow key limes plants/trees from seeds. Right now, they're very small (about an inch tall) and the growth seems to be stunted. The organic soil is well drained in the pot and it gets plenty of sun in my southern exposure window sill. Any suggestions on how to activate the growth?
Hmmm. Well I know there are several fruiting plants that not only take a long time to grow from seed but also to fruit. For instance olives. From a seed it can take many years to grow and fruit, but from a cutting it’s around 3 years. I honestly don’t know about key limes specifically as far as rate of growth, but if they have several leaves, maybe a light organic liquid fertilizer would help. Say like a fish emulsion. If you don’t have several leaves yet I’d be careful with them with any kind of fertilizer though. How long have you been growing them?
@@TexasGardenDoc Thanks for your reply, and sorry for the delay. I'd say I plamted the seeds about 1.5 months or so ago. I neglected to write down the date, as I expected them to grow easily like they did the first time I planted key lime seeds. I did the same thing and they grew with no problem. They are small. One plant has onlt two leaves. The other, three.
No worries! I’d say that this doesn’t sound too far of from what I would expect. Are you having extreme heat or maybe unusually cooler temperatures right now? If the temp is good and it’s getting enough sun I’d say just watch it for a bit. Be careful not to overwater after you get those first good leaves. For now you’re probably ok though as you’ll want a bit more growth before the roots are starting to establish well.
down in san antonio, could I plant meyers lemon outside and could they cause issues to irrigation lines with their roots ?
Hi there!
You can plant them outside, but I really do recommend pots if you can do it. The main reason is even in San Antonio. You can still get freezing temperatures that can slow or stunt the growth when they were young. If you have a way to protect them during freezes in the winter until I get to a large enough size, then you certainly could grab them outside. Once they’re big enough a little bit of freeze damage in that area won’t hurt too much.
As for the roots, most people recommend not to plant them directly over water pipes, or within the range of the canopy of vegetation. If you do have a weekend pipe union or say something like a septic system roots can quickly become a problem with those. I’ve never personally experienced a problem with it, but I would try to avoid it if it all possible.
I hope that helps if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!
How do you get rid of leafminers on my Meyer lemon or do I leave the plant alone?
Hi there!
I’ve had only minimal issues with lease motors over the years. However, typically what I do is, I remove the affected leaves as soon as I see them, and if I see any evidence of them anywhere else on the plant, I will spray them, with a homemade pesticide, mixed with a little soapy water, and that usually does the trick. Any organic pesticide will work, that is good for plants and healthy for you. I hope that helps, and if you have any questions, let me know!
My hubby just bought me a Meyer tree at Walmart.....24.00
That’s a very good price! They seem to be very hard to find where I am. When you do find them locally they’re usually about $30 so I think that’s a heck of a good price!
It may not seem so good, but the Meyer lemons that I planted in this video, were purchased online because I couldn’t find them anywhere else. They were almost $70 apiece!
I hope your new Meyer lemon grows very well for you, and you have lots of lemons this fall!
Great info as I'm about to repot my Meyer lemon which needs a bigger pot. It hasn't fruited yet so hoping this will help. Sad about the kid in the background dragging the 2 chickens by their tails 😢
Lol. Those are the two roosters, they both respect and trust him. What he was actually doing was stopping a fight before it started. He was the only one who was able to keep them from fighting. Thanks for your concern though!
@@TexasGardenDoc Ahh that's ok then. I was a bit worried for them (big chicken fan an animal advocate here).
Wanted to ask if the repotting can be done in any season? It's mid winter here in Australia
No worries at all! I’ve considered cutting it out because with no context it is easily misconstrued. Unfortunately as they got older he wasn’t their to intervene with the conflicts. Although one did not die directly from a fight, he did pass shortly after.
I always free ranged my chickens until a few years ago so multiple roosters weren’t a problem. I should have found a way to deprecate them but wasn’t able too… we are also lovers of the chickens! You should see the lengths we’ve been going to to keep them alive in this horrible heat!
Depending on how harsh your winters are, you might wait until spring. If you still have plenty of freezes ahead it might be a good idea. City’s is pretty hardy and can handle a lot of stress but freezes and transplanting may put it in danger. I think if it was me I would either do it in the fall or early spring.
I hope that helps!
When reporting in a pot do you have to block the drainage holes.
Hi there!
That’s a great question! You definitely do not want to walk the drainage holes. Citrus has one of those plants that does not like to have its roots sit in water so you wanna make sure that it drains well and only water when necessary.
I hope that helps and if you have any other questions, just let me know!
I'm having a hard time. I have a Meyer lemon plant with one skinny stalk and it is not branching out at all. How do I make it branch?
Hi there!
That’s very interesting. Typically the problem I have is too much branching which causes and decision on my part as to where to prune.
How old is your lemon, and where is it planted? Is it in the ground or a pot? Does it have any leaves on it and how do they look?
I think with that information we can probably get you on the right track!
wha size pot do you have?
The ones in the video are about 15” in diameter and a little over 12” tall. I’d say this is a good and manageable size for a few years, but depending on what you are wanting out of your tree, it would likely need to be potted up after a while. Hope that helps!
Hi I'm getting a Meyer lemon tree and I have felines I the smell of citrus is offensive to but the lemon tree must stay in the house any advice
That’s very interesting. So they highly dislike the smell of the citrus. Well, the good news is, they won’t be messing with the plants. Usually that’s the biggest problem with having plants in the house and feline friends running around. Although I’ve never tried to grow citrus in an enclosed space, the smell of the Meyer lemon doesn’t seem to come off the plants too strongly without agitating them. On a very hot day you can definitely smell it more than others, but other than that, unless I walk up and brush the leaves around, you don’t get too much of it.
I think it might be easy enough to just keep them out of the way in an area where the cats don’t hang out, however, I would imagine that a sunny spot in your house is very popular with them as well. I would say you might just have to experiment with it . Find a spot you think will work that’s out of the way of the cats, and see how they react.
Not a great bit of help, I know, but that’s a tough one! I hope that helps!
Once you plant the lemon plant. How long does it take to get lemons.
Hi again!
That really depends on your plants specifically. I’ve seen plants that are a year old put on fruit. Although, it’s pretty small and usually sparse. I would say most start to put on fruit and earnest after the second year.
A lot of it comes down to what you want to get out of the plant initially. For instance, if you’re looking to get growth because the plant is pretty small, say under 18 inches. I would say to remove any fruit that forms the first year. You can leave one or two, I always do that because I just can’t stand it and I want the fruit! It won’t hurt anything but it might slow down the initial growth of the plant.
Just keep in mind that fruit trees are perennials and you are growing them for the long-term. so if you don’t get a whole lot of fruit the first year or two, that’s OK just keep taking care of it and watching it and it will produce for many years to come.
I really hope that helps and if you have any other questions just let me know!
I'm needing to transplant my Meyers lemon in a larger pot but it already has some tiny lemons . Will it do well in a clay pot or plastic pot? Should I wait to transplant later or can I do it now? Most of my leaves are yellow and fallen off. it is about 12" in a 1 gal plastic pot which is the one I bought it in last summer. It gets full all day sun when we get it, and I live on the south Texas coast, Rockport.
Hi there! It sounds like you have a big decision to make!
If you already have lemons on it, I would recommend not repotting it, if the lemons are a decent size. If they are very small, have just been pollinated in producing now, if you’re very careful with it, you should be able to pot it up.
However, I suspect that the size of the pot may not be the problem. I have one lemon, one orange and one lime in their original 1 gallon pots from when I purchased them over a year ago. The lemon is about 3 feet tall, the orange is about 2 1/2 feet tall and the lime is about 18 inches tall, and they are all doing very well. I would say that it’s not a bad idea to go ahead and move it to a bigger pot as soon as you can, but I don’t think that is the issue causing the leaves to yellow.
Do you see any roots trying to make their way out of the drain holes in the bottom of the pot? Can you easily lift the lemon out of the pot? If you can and you can see roots around it, that will tell you if it’s root bound.
Oh, I would say that one of two things is probably more likely the case here. Yellowing leaves on a lemon can be an indication of not enough water, or too much water. They can also indicate if it doesn’t have enough nutrients in the soil but it’s in , causing the leaves to yellow and fall off.
I would say try adding a good organic liquid fertilizer, something like kelp or seaweed and fish, and see if that perks it up. Also, if you’re watering it every day heavily, I would use the finger test method to determine if it needs water. If you can stick your finger all the way down to the last knuckle into the dirt and not bring back any real dirt sticking to your finger that is moist, it’s time to water.
Also, a clay pot could be good for you, as it can indicate as to how much water is actually available in the pot, because you will see the dampness of the pot, but also if the roots do grow pretty strong, it does have a decent chance of breaking it as well. I find that my citrus does pretty well getting some shade during the hottest part of the day here as well. You’re much further south than I am, so I would suspect that yours could probably benefit from something like that as well as you were probably much hotter where you are.
Give that a try and let me know if that helps. It will take several days maybe even a week or so to see if that is the issue. But you should see some improvement pretty quickly.
I hope that helps and do let me know if it works or not as well. If not, we can start trying to figure out what else it might be!
Thanks for this. I bought a Meyer dwarf lemon three years ago, and kept up potting it. It never really did well, because I made a mistake to up-pot it too quickly. It is only now that it is reviving itself in the sun, and has had two weeks without significant water, to completely dry out. The leaves regained their green color. But most of the flowers dropped a while ago. Is there any hope of down-potting it?
I would say don’t down pot it. More room is better than less room. What have you been feeding it? I’d suggest a seaweed or fish emulsion liquid, no danger of over doing it. If the leaves are finally back to that lustrous green color and smell of lemon when crushed, you’re on the right track! A little organic liquid fertilizer maybe twice depending on the length of your growing season, and you should be rewarded next season with sweet amazing lemons! Make sure it’s getting enough light and protect it this winter and you’re all good! Patience is key! Thanks for the comment! I love talking to everyone!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks for the reply! I fed it neem seed meal (6-1-2) so it's done ok this season. I'm in zone 7b so I need to bring it indoors for winter. I'll give the liquid fertilizer a go. Please continue to post videos, at some point you'll get the blessing of the algorithm gods and get a lot more subscribers. You deserve it!
Thank you so much for the kind words! I have plans for lots more videos, work unfortunately can make it difficult just to keep up with my small garden at times!
It sounds like you are on the right track for sure! I hope next season you are flush with lemons! If you care to or have an account, find me on Twitter @TexasGardenDoc and send me a message or photos of your progress, I’d love to hear from you!
@@TexasGardenDoc sure thing!
What part of Texas are you in? I’m in the north central area
Sounds like your around the DFW area then. I’m just north of Houston!
I have two myer lemon trees. This last summer, the grass hoppers ate most of the leaves. I wonder if it will come back?
Peggy, that’s horrible! I had a fairly hard time with what I believe is called the Aztec grasshopper. I’ve never seen them until late 2020, and the last two years they’ve been pretty bad. I did make some homemade organic insecticide. I guess you would call it, it worked pretty well to keep them at bay. No ill affects the plant either. I’m hoping to get those videos up soon. They just take so long to edit and test and make sure everything works right. In the meantime, to answer your question yes, they should come back or the stem still green and supple or are they feeling very brittle in or they turning brown? If they’re still green, you have a pretty good chance of them coming back around.
I hope that helps and answers your question. If not, feel free to ask anything else you need to hear. I’m not an expert on citrus, but I have seen quite a few different problems with them that I can probably help with.
@@TexasGardenDoc thank you so much. This was helpful.
Awesome! Like I said, if anything else comes up, let me know. I’d love to help if I can!
How many hours of sun do they need to fruit?
I think some how your comment got double, but just in case between 8-12 hours. However, I have fruit in my potted lemons with much less than that, but I live in a pretty warm climate with relatively mild winters. I hope this helps!
Once you have grown it in a pot for about a year, can you transplant it to your yard without any issues?
You absolutely can! You can also continue to grow it in a container as well. Although after a few years you may want to pot it up to something bigger, like a 25 gallon or even 50 gallon pot.
Just make sure that when you go to transplant it out, that you dig the hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the pot it was in and add a good well drained soil to the bottom and sides to give it the best chances for lots of success.
I hope that helps!
Can you tell me about heat ?
Hi there!
Yes, what is your question I would love to try to help!
👍🍋👏
Thank you!
Can you grow Meyer lemon in tropical climate?
Absolutely! You just have to make sure that you have a good fertile soil base. The well drained part should be pretty easy in a tropical climate. They like to be damp but not wet. If you find that you are getting too much water you can always grow in pots like I did to make sure that you can move or protect it.
My lemon leaves have turned yellow. Why? Thanks
So this is going to be a n answer that is true, but might not help too much. Yellow leaves either mean too much water, not enough water, not enough light, not enough nutrients, or too much nutrients. I know that sounds like a non-answer, but it’s true. MOST times it happens it’s due to water though. If it’s still damp about 2-4 inches down in the soil it’s probably good and doesn’t need water. Biggest mistake made in this case is watering a little every day instead of when it needs it. Citrus definitely needs water but over watering is very easy to do. It’s a fine line but once you get the hang of it you’ll see a big difference! I hope that helps! If not let me know I’d be glad to try to help figure it out!
I bought a Meyer this spring and am struggling, it has gotten spots on leaves like a fungus, I treated it and it seemed to help, now the leaves are dropping off. I water once a week or twice a week it sits on my screen porch. I’m in zone 7b and it seemed to get worse in full sun. I fertilize with a citrus fertilizer once a month. Not much new growth all summer. Is that normal? And how long do I leave it in the little store pot?
Hi there!
When to transplant it out of the store pot is really dependent on the size of the pot and plant. I’d recommend potting it up as soon as possible. If it gets root bound it will struggle pretty quickly.
How did you treat the spots? We’re they dark sooty looking or lighter in color. What did you treat with.
I had a problem with aphids earlier this year. I treated them with a home made insecticide and it worked well but they kept coming back. So I started using a higher pressure shower style sprayer on my house when I watered and would blast the top and bottom of the leaves every other day and I’ve had no problems sense.
The reason for the leaf drop could be too much water, not enough water, or being root bound, or over fertilizing. Sun can also play a role in that.
I don’t like to use the citrus fertilizers because every time I use one by the instructions it kills my citrus. I only use a little blood and bone meal once a year and liquid fertilizer (like fish and sea weed) a couple of times a year.
Are you using the finger depth method to check if it needs water? I find when they are in store bought pots they are always too low on water but that depends on where you live really.
Let me know about some of these things and we will see if we can figure it out together!
I use 100% neem oil for pest and disease, and jobes citrus spikes , chicken manure from my chickens, and 511 and it seems to be doing good...they don't like Wet feet so twice a week may be too much
That’s great you have the pest and diseases under control! Twice a week could be too much depending on your rainfall. Here, during the summers, it might not rain for two weeks at all with temps near 100, it definitely needs that and more during those times. However, it can rain for a week straight as well, in which case that well drained soil and no extra water will keep it growing great!
Great now I want a damn 🍋 tree. 🤦🏾♀️😁
Lol Laron! Sorry about that! I’ve been wanting a lime tree for ages, but because of the Ag laws here they are difficult to find online, and locally they are also not easy to locate. So my lemons are my stand in for REALLY wanting a lime tree!
@@TexasGardenDoc I’m in Texas as well and I was on the website looking at the lime bushes… it that a local or state law with lime trees/bushes?
It’s a state law. So I don’t know all the ins and outs, but basically there is some sort of restriction that keeps most citrus from being grown in one state and shipped to Texas. Occasionally I can find some things, like my lemons….which I now can’t buy from the same place, and every now and again I’ll find a key lime you can buy from out of state. Coincidentally, the only limes I see around me are all key lime. Which I will take but I’d rather have what most people call a Mexican lime. It’s much bigger and tastier IMO. Locally, meaning from a supplier in Texas, if you can find it you can buy it.
Moon Valley Nurseries have shops in Texas, but I can’t seem to buy from their website for all of the above reasons. There is one pretty close to me that I haven’t been able to checkout yet.
There are several Texas growers near me too, but even though part of my business is landscaping, they won’t let me buy just 1 or 2…which is frustrating.
What part of Texas are you in?
@@TexasGardenDoc wow that’s so frustrating to have to go through just for some lemons and limes! But they look so pretty and I’m sure once they get growing andvv cvs producing good fruit it worth it. I live in Dallas. I’m new to gardening so I haven’t visited many nurseries quite yet. Any recommendations?
You’re just to my north! Very cool!
It is a little frustrating. But I’ll get it eventually!
I haven’t been in DFW area for a VERY long time, so I’d not have any local suggestions off the top of my head. I have heard that there used to be and hopefully still is, some really awesome farmers markets though. This is a great time of year for someone to be selling potted plants and trees. You can also search the web for either the master gardeners club in your county or the Ag extension service for the same. A lot of times they have great plant sales and all of its grown by local master gardeners in your area!
The other thing I’ve wanted for a long time were avocado trees. I finally got them last spring! Then I killed them…sigh. One night of frost I forgot to cover them and they are gone. I’d have limes too but everybody buys them out so quick I can’t seem to get them! One day….
I’d definitely check them out. They are almost always really great people and they know all the great local spots!
Thanks so much for commenting and interacting, it’s the entire reason I started this channel, so thank you!
7:54 it’s a pot with holes in it!! What better drainage do you want?? 😐
I think it’s a little bit more than about holes in the pot. If you overwater it, you’ll have problems. It’s also about the soil as well, if it’s not free draining and you have standing water, you’ll end up with a lot of issues.
I hope that’s the question you’re asking, if that timestamp it talks about the difference between a pot and in the ground. The ground has much more surface area in a pot and therefore if your soil is not good in the pot. It doesn’t have any worse in the water.
OK It's two years later. I just got my tree and container. As for the soil, is there anything that you would do differently? Are there any companion plants in the same pot or near by. Ty
That’s great news!
The soil I used has been fantastic. I haven’t had any issues with it at all. I topped up the pots slightly both years with about a half inch of leaf mold, compost, and I also have added a bit of worm castings just a handful, to the pots as well. Other than that I’ve pruned a few times, and fought aphids a few times, but nothing too serious. As for companion plantings nothing that I’ve done intentionally. Lol I did have basil growing in the main pot that I used in the video since it’s close to my door I left it to use fresh rather than having to go all the way out to the garden. So I really like that! I didn’t see any detrimental effects at all. In fact, it may have actually helped keep the aphids down this last year, but I’m just speculating that. As far as anything else that is around it I have two other Meyer lemons , a small orange, a lime, and miscellaneous flowers. I find all of them together, help to bring the pollinators in close, which is a good thing. I will say that I’ve had to pick and choose fruits over the year to remove from the plant, particularly on my orange, so as Not to stress the plant so much to allow it to produce more higher quality fruit. I’ve done the same with the lemon as well.
Hope that helps, and I’d love to hear how it comes along for you, as everything grows up!
@TexasGardenDoc Ty, I'm looking forward to trying it. I'm working on a food forest that's handy cap accessible. Including beekeeping .
That is a really great and huge undertaking, that’s awesome!
Are you just now getting started? Whereabouts in the world are you? I’m actually starting something similar, but I’m much smaller scale. I’d love to see how this turns out!
@TexasGardenDoc It started as an edible landscape and took off from there. Tree crops for permanent agriculture. By J.Smith pub in ~1930S. Later, it expanded by Mollison.
The rest would take a while. Start with perennial food plants. Look up when you plants for overhead wires or plant dwarf trees. And call 811 so you don't dig up something dangerous.
Water or sewer lines.
We're located in Eastern NC Zone 8a (old) . Our first forest was honey/maple syrup forest in NH.
Yes, a forest designed for honey production.
Very cool! So you were in a very similar zone that I am. I’m a little bit higher number zone but not by much!
This is going to sound fake but I HIGHLY recommend ditching the pine bark or whatever bark there is in the soil mixes. Yes, the bark does add drainage for up to maybe a year if it's a hard wood bark. However, after months in the pot, thr bark will slowly begin to decay. You may think it adds nutrients, and to an extent it does. However, this is a slow process to break down wood or any other organic material. When organic things decay, they eat up oxygen in the soil and can create a sludge in the pot. What happens then is if you don't have enough drainage besides for the bark, the drainage now turns into a sludge and robs the soil of any oxygen it has after a few hours. Soils with organics in them also have a super annoying trait to them which is the soil level goes down every year a bit and it's just not healthy for the plant either.
What I found, and yes I'm still experimenting with the nutrient balance and soil specifics because I don't want anyone to think I'm close to perfect, is that using soils that have 0 organics in them are the way to go. In some sense, it is a mirror of hydroponics with a twist. The organics, the Fertilizers and compost, all go ON TOP of the soil with a layer that has them slightly mixed since water doesn't travel between different surfaces that well. What's the reason? The soil is home of roots which desperately need Oxygen. The nutrients is on top for the feeder roots and with each watering, including liquid feeds, can go to the lower roots without disrupting the Oxygen supply. The soil I use are usually mixes of Sand, Vermiculite, Pumice, and Perlite depending on what's available. The more sand, the more water you need and the heavier it is. Hence I use some vermiculite.
My lemon is currently in 50/50 coco coir and vermiculite which was my older mix and I plan on switching it to sandy mix as soon as the lemons ripen up. I could really tell the difference in root health between plants. No root rot or ever worrying about overwatering, not even during a hurricane.
The trouble that you may have is since the sand has no nutrients besides silica, you need to fertilize for all the nutrients. So next year, I plan on using some solubar and Gypsum as well as liquid feeds.
Just a thought, it's definitely not for everyone.
Matthew, this is a very interesting idea. I don't use any bark in or on top of my soils though. You are right it turns to sludge in pots and robs oxygen, but it also robs nitrogen as well during the process of breaking down. I do use wood and such in the very bottom of raised beds, knowing they will subside dramatically over time. Also, in my regular on ground beds I'm always planting in fresh compost on top, as the seasons pass by the lower layers are being visited by worms and such and help dramatically with the aeration of the soil as well as lowering the chance for compaction.
As I was reading your comment I thought, this is a lot like aquaponics, and then the next line you said it! So we are both inline with what you are thinking about.
The soil mix I use is similar to yours, except that when adding sand, I'd have to buy it. I've tried it in the past here and the heat from the summer and the fact that our sand has clay in it leads to a weird drying out fast and compaction.
However, I do like this concept you are working on. I also thing that homemade amendments for the soil nutrition is the way to go! My personal ideology with traditional gardening is we don't feed the plant, we feed the soil. However in Aquaponics we feed the plants.
I love this concept, I'd love to talk more with you about it and hear how things turn out!
@@TexasGardenDoc I should point that my goal isn't actual aquaponics or hydroponics. I'm actually very much focused on microbiology and full area of nonliquid and liquid nutrients. So I will use fertilizer with microrizzhal fungi and compost in the top layers and I do want them to populate the inorganic places as well. It's just that I don't put organic materials there to begin with. The idea is for the nutrients to come from the top 3-5 inches of soil, not like from the bottom of the pot. This is mainly for pots. I have nothing against using compost, just against using straight compost in pots. I have tried using 50/50 miracle grow to compost...nothing survived. I then tried coco, Vermiculite, and worm castings and that seemed to work better, but again it wasn't great and I grew a tomato so that doesn't truly count.
My best success, at least so far, has been 0 organics in the body of the soil with the mix I wrote about; Pumice, Sand, Vermiculite. Since pumice is hard to get and still heavy, I may substitute some of it with Perlite since it also doesn't break down.
Getting the nutrients correct is really difficult and we still need holes at the bottoms of course. With my tomatoes, I made several terrible errors. I didn't harden them off and Mt seedlings where pulverized and one I started WAY too early and was kept in a tiny cup too long. I had to buy a lot of transplants which I always don't like to do. The best plant, my Big Zac from seed, did pretty well considering it had 2 other plants in the same pot.
Overall, it's kinda clear I had a lack of nutrients in the Boron, Potassium, Calcium, and Phosphorus departments.
So I guess the basic idea I'm going for is a non-organic soil with all the elements of regenerative agriculture when it comes to pots.
FYI: when growing in raised beds or in the ground, it's very different. I would still use Sand because Sand is cheap and great drainage, but you should be able to use much more organic compost and leaves because of much more biological worm activity and other things. I allow my pots to have slugs, worms, pill pugs. They never bothered the healthy plant parts. Dead stuff? They ate. Healthy green they didn't really touch.
@@matthewkheyfets1309 Oh yeah, no I totally get it. In fact what I do in my beds isn't dissimilar at all! I add the fungi as well, using home made inputs and only added about 3-4" of straight compost on top each season. Unless I'm starting a new bed in which case I have a vermiculite and perlite mix with sustainable peat moss and compost mix. But after the first season It's basically compost only for me.
I love what you are doing here!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks! Seems like we are on similar wave lengths here 😅
I was thinking in the future imof starting a CZcams channel as a side dig. Currently have 0 tech skills and have to focus on my own monies. Maybe one day we can do a collab or something idk. Friendly contests. 🤷♂️
@@matthewkheyfets1309 I love it! It'd be great to have someone close to my area as well!
So I I have a meyers lemon tree in its 2nd year. The tree is lush and about 4 inches tall. It is in a large pot however no flowering or fruit. It is driving me crazy. Any suggestions?
Hi there!
It really should’ve fruited the second year so that’s puzzling. How did you come about the tree? Did you buy potted, or did it come as some other type of air root, which is not very common for citrus, or some other way?
Being only 4 inches tall after two years it’s also a little bit surprising. I would expect in that time, especially if the pot is big enough and the soil is good, it would be about 2 feet tall or more. Since you say it’s lush, it sounds like it’s very healthy , so it doesn’t seem to be a nutrition issue. How much sun does it get, and where are you in the country? Are you subject to cold in your area? And if so, how do you protected?
This was a little bit baffling, but I think I know the answer those questions we can probably figure out what’s going on. It’s not usually concerning, as the plant seems to be doing very well, but it would be nice to get some beautiful lemons!
@@TexasGardenDoc thank you for your reply. I bought it from Home Depot potted. I almost didn’t buy it because it was very small and only had 5 leaves on it. I am sorry, the plant is 3 to 4 feet tall. I do fertilize it but I am afraid I might kill it if I keep on doing it. Hopefully you will have some suggestions.
@@TexasGardenDoc I bring the plant inside during the Chicago cold. I did re plant in a new pot this summer
@mariebiggane7602 OK that makes way more sense! So I have a few different citrus that I bought from Home Depot that are now just over two years old. They have just now started to bloom, at least my orange has, but the lime and the Myers lemon have not bloomed yet. I’m thinking it may just have to do with the type of root stock that was used to produce those plants or their relative age is younger than it looks when we bought them.
It sounds like you’re not fertilizing way too much unless it’s very high nitrogen, which would make sense if it is because the green leaves are very lush and there are lots of them.
However, I do know that you can over fertilizing kill a Meyer lemon very easily since I’ve done it before! 😂 that’s why I tend to use organic liquid fertilizers now because it’s very hard to over fertilize with those.
I would say this next year you should expect fruit, but it sounds like you’re doing everything right.
@@TexasGardenDoc Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate it.
Hi, two days ago I purchased a Meyer Lemon Tree. I watched numerous videos and read several articles about the care of a Meyer. However, I cannot find anything about repotting a Meyer in a 20 gallon grow bag. Is this possible? Or does it have to be a plastic or terra cotta pot? I'm a little confused.
You can absolutely plant it in a 20 gallon grow bag. You will be subject to the same issues of a regular pot, temperature swings and water, things like that. The only down side I can really see though is that size bag is very heavy (it does give lots of room for it to grow though, moving those kinds of bags overtime make them start to fall apart faster. And that’s a lot of solid and roots to deal with if the bag falls apart after a few years. However, you still have the same issues with plastic and clay as well, so I don’t see much real difference
Thank you for the info. I did not consider the grow bag falling apart after a few years.
I hope it helps, but I don’t want to discourage you from experimenting either. In a few years the lemon should still be a manageable size. Citrus can be pretty resilient as well. I say give it a go and see what happens. You can always repot later if you need to. All pots fall apart at some point, and I’ve seen a few videos of people potting up from 25 gallon clay pots, so it can be done. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Ok. Next year, I plan on repotting it. So I will keep you posted...This is my first attempt at growing citrus. I'm excited. 🤗
It’s well worth it! I’m now growing limes and oranges as well and will be experimenting myself! Best success to you and I can’t wait to see how it does for you!
the reason why there are less transported is because of the thin skin, they are very vulnerable.
That makes complete sense! It’s one of the other reasons why I think so many homegrown vegetables, particularly things like tomatoes and cucumbers are so different than what you find in the store. Everything that we buy commercially has to be shipped multiple times and move multiple times, so thick skin is definitely a plus in regard to that.
Great insight thank you so much for sharing that!
Why are zhe chicken caged up like they are?
Hi there!
The last time we had chickens prior to these was about eight years before. They were all free range and had run of not only our property, but all the properties around us. Unfortunately in that timeframe, this is no longer.’out in the woods’ and it is more like a neighborhood. Back then we kept about 30 chickens, and due to predators, we would get down to 5 to 10 a year and re-hatch more to keep the flock going. As neighborhoods moving around us, the normal predatory animals look for somewhere that still has woods and trees and secluded places. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much my place!
On cool fall nights and through most of the spring time, at night, you can hear the hundreds of coyotes around us. The foxes have also moved in in a very large number as well. That’s when we stop raising the last round of chickens. I went from 22 to one morning when I left for work, to get home around 6 o’clock, and find that I had only a single rooster left, the rest of a flock had been slaughtered!
So to make a very long story short, when we decided to raise chickens again, we decided against openly free, ranging do to the predators. There are eight chickens, and they have 100 ft.² of space, including an extra 50 ft.² of coop, so they have plenty of room on a daily basis. However, we do allow them out to scratch around, but in a very supervised way.
That answers your question!
My Meyers lemon tree doesn't have thorns....hmmm
It doesn’t? Everyone I’ve ever had does. Not when they’re small and young, but certainly within a year or two
In another YT video another creator said that if you grew a lemon tree from a seed they will not give fruit. Is this true?? Why? I have 8 seedlings that are tiny but growing very well and I'm trying to grow them for fruit. Why does that statement not make sense? Please Help! I want my trees to give fruit.
Hi there!
Most of that statement really depends on where the lemon you got the seeds from. I would say I’m most cases you will get some kind of citrus from those seeds. Unfortunately it could take 5-10 years or more to see that come to pass. A lot of lemons we buy from stores are either propagated from cuttings or are splice onto a different root stock to provide certain traits.
Another example of this is an olive. You can grow olives from seed but it may be 40 years before it fruits. However growing an olive from a cutting could produce fruit in 3-5 years.
The other issue is that depending on how this lemon was grown (by what method) the fruit you get may not come in true to type. In other words, you may get something that looks like an orange but tastes like a,lemon (there are many ways this can play out).
There are a lot of channels out there telling people to grow your own lemon from seed. It definitely can be done! What they don’t tell you is the info above.
Now having said all of that, you should keep growing them! There is a channel out there…gosh I can’t remember his name…I’ll see if I can find it, where he does just that; grows from seeds. He states a point I totally agree with and that is, you will most likely get some kind of lemon, it may be delicious! It may be different tasting, but either way it’s a lemon and it’s really a neat and exciting thing.
Now if you are looking for a more traditional lemon, and to know exactly what you are going to get, see if you can find a discount lemon at a big box store. Over the next few months their leftover plants will be discounted big time.
I hope that helps answer your question. If you have more, I’m always here and I’d love to help!