Lemon tree instructions

[Chuck]

Personal experience. I believe about half of what I see on the internet. I have been in a garden for over 60 years. I used to live in San Leon which is a little south of Bacliff around 20 miles south of Houston. I had a citrus and fig orchard there for a number of years. Plus I have lived all over Texas and have always had a vegetable garden and fruit trees of some sort.

The bottom of your tree looks better than I thought from the earlier picture. It looks like it will receive adequate ventilation. I would however remove all of that lower growth. And grab those ripe lemons off of the ground before the rats get them. You might also judiciously remove other limbs from the tree so as to remove some of the weight from those limbs being held up by those 2x4's. If a big wind comes up those boards will not stand there for long and there is a good chance that severe damage could occur to your tree. Just remember to do all of your pruning in February.

What to do with all those lemons. Lemon juice is used in a lot of things, pies for instance., in salads, on fish, in sauces and stir frys. Just get a good squeezer and collect all of the juice you can and freeze it. And you will make tons of friends by giving away some of them.

 

[AsiaCS]

Does removing the lower growth fall under pruning? So should that wait until February? Are gardening shears what you're supposed to use for that kind of thing? I'd hate to inherit this lovely tree from the previous home owners and accidentally damage or kill it.

It's pretty cool that you used to have a citrus and fig orchard. I assume you personally used the stuff you grew. Come up with anything creative?

 

[Chuck]

Does removing the lower growth fall under pruning? So should that wait until February? Are gardening shears what you're supposed to use for that kind of thing? I'd hate to inherit this lovely tree from the previous home owners and accidentally damage or kill it.

It's pretty cool that you used to have a citrus and fig orchard. I assume you personally used the stuff you grew. Come up with anything creative?

All you need is a good pair of shears or if the limbs are to thick use loppers. Anytime you cut or remove parts of a plant it is called pruning. And wait until February because if you prune it now it will start to grow new growth and new growth is very tender. You might and probably will have a freeze or a heavy frost and that will damage the new growth and in turn harm the tree itself. In February it is in the middle of winter and in the Houston climate you will not have any new growth.

When I had my orchards and garden/farm back then it was mostly commercial. I had 20 acres and 1/2 of it was dedicated to paste type tomatoes which I contracted out to processors. The rest I either ate or sold at the farmers market. I also grew peaches which you also might think about growing. There are a lot more low chill hour peaches now than when I grew them.

 

[AsiaCS]

Awesome! Thanks for all the info, Chuck. The lemon tree thanks you too.

I didn't realize that certain tomatoes were for paste. It makes sense, in retrospect. Are some peaches sweeter than others? I mean some types, not between individuals.

 

[Chuck]

Awesome! Thanks for all the info, Chuck. The lemon tree thanks you too.

I didn't realize that certain tomatoes were for paste. It makes sense, in retrospect. Are some peaches sweeter than others? I mean some types, not between individuals.

Yes, some varieties are sweeter than others. In fact some are so sweet that you can barely taste any peach at all, just sugar.

 

[Pat]

My area is too cold for a lemon tree outdoors I would like to have a mini lemon tree that I can grow indoors. I have seen pictures of people starting lemon seeds in bowls as decoration. Would those plants grow as a house plant or would they need to be planted outside to continue to be healthy?

 

[Chuck]

My area is too cold for a lemon tree outdoors I would like to have a mini lemon tree that I can grow indoors. I have seen pictures of people starting lemon seeds in bowls as decoration. Would those plants grow as a house plant or would they need to be planted outside to continue to be healthy?

One can grow lemons indoors quite successfully. A miniature lemon however is not really miniature as they can reach 10 or 12 feet tall. One keeps them a miniature by pruning. They also have normal sized fruit.

 

[AsiaCS]

By the by, are lemon trees supposed to have thorns? My husband swears up and down that there are thorns on the tree. Given that I've never picked any and he's not known for making stuff up, I'm inclined to believe him. Is that normal?

 

[Chuck]

By the by, are lemon trees supposed to have thorns? My husband swears up and down that there are thorns on the tree. Given that I've never picked any and he's not known for making stuff up, I'm inclined to believe him. Is that normal?

Yep, and hurtful ones at that. The tips of the thorns have a mild toxicity to them that makes getting pricked by one sort of feel like an insect sting but not as bad

 

[AsiaCS]

Whoa. Had no idea! Thanks, @Chuck. We'll grab some gloves.