What should I do with my lemon tree?

sb44

DaftyDuck wrote: »

I have a small citrus forest down here in Kent, even some Aldi ones. Citrus are certainly prone to losing all their leaves, and it's difficult to judge whether it's too much, or too little water. Both have the same effect. Lemons tend to lose leaves rapidly on water stoppage, but regrow when it starts "raining" again... it's the way you force them into flower. You can control the timing of flower, and hence fruit, to coincide with your good weather. Kumquats tend to be more extreme, losing leaf and life simultaneously. Limes don't like losing their leaves at all.

If the shoots on yours are low down, it is likely to be the rootstock. I'm generally a saver of plants, and a Scrooge, so I'd normally tend not to throw any plant out (as my garden and wife will testify), but in this case I'd make an exception.

The problem is the rootstock is unlikely to be a variety that's worth growing, even if you do know what it is... and it may well not be grapefruit. That leaf shape is common amongst Citrus; Seville Orange and Tahiti Lime are growing like that outside right now! If it was a Meyer Lemon, it's possibly growing on its own root (not grafted), so you would end up with a replacement lemon. However, the change in leaf suggests it was on a grafted root (as does the dieback and described regrowth, to be honest).

There's a google docs of leaf form Click Here that has many of the leaf forms in photos.

So, you'll spend a good long time cultivating this bush back to life, and it might turn out to be a grapefruit - and on its own rootstock it will be a tree before it fruits - say 20 feet in size, in ten years time or so! :eek:

Start again, with a known plant, and keep your fingers crossed.

You might be in cheap luck, as Lidl were selling lemon trees last week - smaller ones in boxes, but they were less than a fiver...

Thanks for your advice.

What about it I take off the shoots, would that give it a chance of growing on the lemon graft or was that the reason they started growing on the main stem, because the lemon is dead?

DaftyDuck

sb44 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice.

What about it I take off the shoots, would that give it a chance of growing on the lemon graft or was that the reason they started growing on the main stem, because the lemon is dead?

If there is any life in the graft, then removing all the shoots from the rootstock is the right ting to do; they will sap the growth of the weaker graft if you don't.

If, as I am suggesting, you don't grow the rootstock, there's nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Growth from the rootstock is increased by a dead graft (nowhere else to grow) but there might just be some life left... are the stems at the top of the main trunk green or brown (scrape a TINY bit of bark) ...what do you see? Green is obviously promising.

sb44

DaftyDuck wrote: »

If there is any life in the graft, then removing all the shoots from the rootstock is the right ting to do; they will sap the growth of the weaker graft if you don't.

If, as I am suggesting, you don't grow the rootstock, there's nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Growth from the rootstock is increased by a dead graft (nowhere else to grow) but there might just be some life left... are the stems at the top of the main trunk green or brown (scrape a TINY bit of bark) ...what do you see? Green is obviously promising.

Not much green if any.

I will take those shoots off and stick and give it a few weeks, if nothing happens then I will bin it.

Then again, I just had a thought.

I have 4 tiny lemon plants that I have grown from seed (aldi lemons so haven't got a clue what variety they are), once these are a bit bigger would it be worth trying to graft part to the rootstock? If so, how big do the babies need to be before doing this?

Ta.

DaftyDuck

Most commercial lemons are hybrid, so you won't likely get a decent lemon tree. However, the flowers will still smell delicious, and you may get something worthwhile. May... but probably not. No reason not to try for the fun of it.

Year-old or more for grafting, so next year... plenty of time for your tree to recover, and also time to buy anothe from Aldi next year...

sb44

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Most commercial lemons are hybrid, so you won't likely get a decent lemon tree. However, the flowers will still smell delicious, and you may get something worthwhile. May... but probably not. No reason not to try for the fun of it.

Year-old or more for grafting, so next year... plenty of time for your tree to recover, and also time to buy anothe from Aldi next year...

Thanks for the advice, I think I may stick to just seeing what comes of the little ones and save my money next year.

As you say the flowers should smell nice when the plants mature.

Ta!