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  • From: Nan Sterman <Talkingpoints@PlantSoup.Com>
  • To: gardenwriters-on-gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Lemon tree, not very pretty
  • Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 23:26:54 -0700

I'll take a shot at this since I live in citrus country.

25 to 30 years in the same container strikes me as way to long for any plant. I say go ahead and top prune, root prune and repot in fresh soil. The plant should recover but if it doesn't, it sounds like you're not going to lose much.

Let me add this anecdote

For the last three years, I've had a tangerine in a 15 gal nursery container. It is a pretty tall tree. In the pot, it stands about 9' high. I've been waiting for just the right spot to plant it in and all the while, watering it regularly with my patio plants.

This year, for the first time, it bloomed and I was very excitedly anticipating the fruit.

As our first spring garden tour approached, my husband expressed his displeasure at the sight of the tangerine in the ugly pot at the base of the stair. I reluctantly agreed to his moving it but said that if he did so, it was his responsibility to make sure he moved it back.

Need I say more? He completely forgot. It was only when I noticed brown branches amidst the other trees in our little citrus orchard and went to investigate that I found the dried out tangerine standing there, not watered during two weeks of intense heat.

Mind you, the leaves were all brown and withered. instead of letting him trash the tree (after a good tongue lashing) I had him move it back to where I could water it regularly. It has been about 6 weeks now and about a week ago, we noticed leaves sprouting all along the trunk and lower branches of the tree. Dear husband breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Moral of the story. Citrus are incredibly hardy and resistant. Lemons are among the most vigorous citrus, tangerines among the least so if my tangerine recovered from total drought and neglect, your lemon could recover from a good pruning and fresh soil.

Good luck!

Nan


I'm supposed to know something about container gardening, but living in
northern Pennsylvania, I'm just a tad weak on citrus.

I have a variegated lemon tree 25 - 30 years old, about four feet high
from the soil line, growing in a 20 inch terra cotta pot. For years it
was full and beautiful, producing many lemons that were indescribably
delicious. The last two, maybe three years though it has been very
reluctant to put out new leaves except at the very top. I've cut back
some of the old wood lower down, to see if it prompted leaves, with no
luck.

I think I'm taking care of it pretty well. It goes outside in full sun in
summer, gets top dressed annually with compost, watered regularly (which
is at least daily, sometimes twice daily in summer), fed weekly with
15-30-15 to compensate for the frequent watering. This spring I switched
over to a higher nitrogen fertilizer. Still no new lower leaves.

I'm thinking of giving it a severe pruning, maybe by half, root pruning
it, and repotting. But I've never done this with a large citrus and don't
know how it will react.

Does anyone have more tropical experience than I do? Or, maybe, does
anyone know Tovah Martin's email address?

D

I
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Nan Sterman Plant Soup (TM)
PO Box 231034
Encinitas, CA 92023 760.634.2902 (voice)
Talkingpoints@PlantSoup.Com 760.634.2957 (fax)

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