General Question

occ's avatar

How can I help my lemon tree to grow lemons?

Asked by occ (4176points) October 30th, 2010

I have a small lemon tree in my backyard in San Francisco. I bought it last year and planted it in a large container (it’s the kind of small meyer lemon tree that I’ve seen growing in containers). I was excited to see that it has lots of flowers this year, but so far none of them seem to be turning in to lemons. The backyard does not get a lot of light since it has buildings on all sides, but I put the container with the lemon tree in the sunniest part of the yard.

Is there anything else I can do to make my lemon blossoms turn into lemons? Pruning? Fertilizer? Or is it just not going to happen because the tree doesn’t get enough direct sunlight?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

8 Answers

YARNLADY's avatar

The flowers have to be pollinated in order to grow fruit. If you don’t have any insects to do the pollination, you can do it by hand. Type how to pollinate citrus trees in your favorite search engine.

After they are pollinated, feed them twice a year, water once a week and that should do it.

Coloma's avatar

I think sun exposure is key.

Most full sun loving plants such as tomatos need at least 6–8 hours of full sun to produce.

If your tree needs 8 hours of sun and it only gets 4, well…..sort of like trying to keep a fish out of water. lol

occ's avatar

Thanks, Yarnlady. What kinds of insects pollinate lemon trees? there are a ton of spiders and spiderwebs in my garden, which leads me to believe there are lots of other insects for the spiders to feed on…but I’ve never seen any bees there.

occ's avatar

Ok, I pollinated it myself today with a q-tip. We’ll see if any lemons grow!

Response moderated (Unhelpful)
LuvToRite's avatar

There r so many things you can do. I had a lemon tree and I daily checked on it
pollinated it and gave it simple loving care. Sometimes I sang to it when I was
really bored and after a few weeks I had ripe crimson lemons blooming in my garden!
You dont have to sing to it , thats just plain weird but you should read about it collect
info and try to see what , is the best food water and ingredients you can give it.

Coloma's avatar

@LuvToRite

Thats not wierd…plants are living things and they too respond to energy vibes and TLC.

I have some of the biggest plants ever seen for their varieties and I always talk to my plants. lol

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.

This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.

Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther