You can grow a Meyer lemon tree from a seed and start producing fruit in 4 to 6 years. Try this fun project and enjoy the fresh scent of lemon leaves while you watch your tree grow. Here’s what you need to know to grow a productive citrus tree from seed.
Meyer lemon trees are easy to grow from seed. But you won’t find a package of lemon seed at the garden centre. Citrus seeds are only viable for a short time. You must plant your lemon seeds as soon as you harvest them from fresh organic lemons.
Meyer lemons aren’t actually lemons. They are a cross between a mandarin orange and a yellow lemon, that originated in China. Meyer lemons are one of the sweetest lemons available, with a tart sweet flavor that is much sweeter than regular lemons. Since they share some genetics with oranges they tend to have larger lemons with a globe shape. They’ve been growing in the United States for almost 100 years, originally brought from China by Frank Meyer, an agricultural explorer for the US Department of Agriculture, in 1908. They grow with a bush or dwarf habit and are adaptable to containers. What I’m telling you here about Meyer lemons applies to growing other citrus fruit from seed, as well.
If you are in Canada, choose organic citrus fruit from the grocery store. Nonorganic fruit may have been irradiated. Radiation damages the seed. Another fun seed to try and grow is a date tree, just make sure to take seeds from fresh dates.
If you live in warmer climes where citrus grows, use seed from fruit from a tree growing in your neighbourhood. This will be acclimatized to your growing conditions and give you the very best start.
This winter I receive a gift of Meyer lemons from Angi of Schneiderpeeps, all the way from Texas. The organically grown fruit was freshly picked, and the seed germinated within a week of putting it in potting soil. There was such vigour in that box of lemons that I’ve been passing out Meyer lemon starts to my friends. I was blessed by this generous gift since meyer lemons have low availability in Canada.
Fresh lemon seeds will germinate between 20C and 28C. I’ve had good success germinating citrus seeds indoors without additional heat.
Plant fresh seed
Begin by rinsing the seeds in cold water to remove any sugar or fruit pulp that may cause mold or inhibit germination.
Plant the seed ½ inch deep in potting soil. Cover the seed. Water it. Keep the soil moist.
The seed will germinate in 2 to 3 weeks. Keep the plant soil moist but not wet, in order to avoid damping off the disease. Once the baby lemon trees have 4 true leaves, allow the soil surface to dry between watering but don’t allow the plant to dry out completely. The soil should still be damp when you poke your finger an inch below the soil surface.
Twins!
Normally citrus will grow true from seed. Occasionally, some citrus varieties produce multiple seedlings from one seed – a phenomenon called ‘polyembryony. If this happens, one seedling is the result of pollination and may grow a completely new hybrid plant. The other seedling is an exact clone of the mother plant. With those Texas Meyer lemons, which are a cross between an orange and a lemon, I’ve gotten twins coming from one seed. If this happens to you, let them grow out until they each have 4 leaves and then carefully separate the plants and pot them up separately. Mark them so that you can identify them. You won’t know if you have a new variety of citrus until the trees mature and produce fruit, which will take 5 years or more.
Transplant
Once the lemon trees have 4 leaves, transplant them into 4 inch pots with good drainage holes. Don’t cull your seedlings just yet. A lot can go wrong between now and when they start to produce fruit. If you have the room keep 4 to 6 plants until you see how vigorous they are and whether they have complete blossoms.
Continue to water regularly. Once a month add 1 tablespoon of magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) to ½ gallon of water and water with that. Do this more often if you see that the leaves are yellowing, a sign of magnesium deficiency.
Soil pH and fruiting with lemons
Lemons like the soil slightly acidic with a pH between 5.7 and 6.5. You can acidify the soil by watering with leftover, cold tea or coffee once a month. Soil should be well drained and light, not compacted. If your tree looks stressed, try replacing the soil with fresh potting soil. Peat moss can be too acidic for citrus, preventing the plant from up taking the nutrients that are available in the soil, yellowing the leaves, and preventing flowering or the setting of fruit. Soils that are too alkaline prevent the plant from taking up nutrients from the soil, which results in yellowing leaves and deficiencies, too. Keep the soil pH in the plant-happy range and the plant will be able to optimize the available nutrients.
At the end of the first year, transplant them into 6 inch pots. And then as they grow, increase the size of the pot gradually until your lemon tree is in a 10 to 12 inch pot. Once the tree is 4 to 5 years old, and 4 to 6 feet tall, you’ll see its first white blossoms. Congratulations. I bet the song “Lemon Tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet” will start to go through your head.
Here in BC, Canada, a fruiting lemon tree is around $170 so you are saving about $15 per year of growth by growing your own tree from seed. If your tree becomes root bound you can prune the roots to keep the height controlled.
Humidity
Citrus leaves will drop if the humidity gets too low in winter. This is a problem if you are heating with wood and the tree has a sudden change in humidity levels, such as when you bring a tree indoors after it’s been outside on the patio all summer. To prevent shock and leaf drop, keep the humidity level at 45 to 50%. You can increase humidity by using a humidifier, or by keeping a bowl of water next to the growing citrus, in a heated room or by putting the tree in a humidity tent.
How to prune the roots on a lemon tree
After all the fruit has been harvested from your lemon tree, gently remove the tree from its pot. Using a bread knife cut off about 1/3rd of the length of the roots. Replace 1/3rd of the potting soil with well composted but bug free manure or worm castings. Repot in the same pot. Then prune about 1/3rd of the branches to reduce the stress of the tree. Taking the top from the central leader will encourage side branches to develop, so don’t be afraid to cut into the trunk of the tree.
Hand pollinating indoor lemon trees
A lemon tree kept indoors requires hand pollination to allow it to set fruit. Citrus flowers have both male and female parts. You don’t need a second citrus tree to cross pollinate. Citrus trees are self-pollinating. Citrus trees will fruit, even if you only have one tree, provided that you pollinate the blossoms. If you are growing your tree indoors you won’t have bees to pollinate the blossoms.
You can hand pollinate the blossoms by using a soft paintbrush with a fine tip. Gently brush the male anthers, at the tip of each stamen, of the lemon flowers. The anthers encircle the sticky female pistil in the citrus flower. Immediately take the pollen to another flower and brush the female pistil parts of the flower, in the centre of the ring of male anthers. Take up more pollen from another blossom and fertilize the female parts of another blossom. In this way, you will help your citrus to set fruit.
Not all fruit that sets will actually remain on the tree. There is often fruit drop. But citrus trees bloom for a long period, even while they are setting fruit, so you have a good chance of getting mature fruit with hand pollination.
Lemon trees aren’t like apple trees that bloom once in the spring. Lemon trees can have blossoms and fruit at every stage of maturity, all at the same time.
Sometimes a lemon tree will produce male-only flowers. These are the blossoms that have the circle of male stamens with the anthers on the tips, but no central pistil. These blossoms won’t be able to produce fruit, but they will produce viable pollen. Hopefully, you’ll find other complete flowers on the tree that will produce fruit.
Outdoor pollination
You can put your lemon tree outdoors on a deck or patio once the nighttime temperatures remain above freezing. Once outside the sweet smell of the lemon leaves and flowers will attract many pollinators and your fruit set will increase. Sunshine will also increase the fruit set and improve the condition of your tree. Be sure to continue to water your tree outdoors and beware of the expected nighttime lows. You’ll want to bring the tree indoors before the nighttime temperatures drop below freezing. Citrus trees can be damaged by frost.
Lemon leaves and flowers have a refreshing citrus perfume that is an asset to your home and garden. The fruit is lovely and can be grown year round in the greenhouse or indoors. All this benefit for the cost of a seed that you were going to toss in the compost. What are you waiting for?
Growing a lemon outdoors
Meyer lemons thrive in USDA Hardiness zones 8 to 11. They thrive in full sun or about 8 to 12 hours of sunlight a day. If you don’t live in Florida, Arizona, Texas, or California you may want to grow your lemon tree in a pot and bring it into a sheltered spot in the winter. Be sure to give it lots of airflow and nitrogen fertilizer so that it will grow and begin bearing fruit as soon as possible.
How to prune a Meyer lemon tree
When you grow a Meyer lemon from seed the central branch will grow upright but there will be no side shoots to encourage flowering and fruiting. To establish side shoots, cut the central branch and prune the tip from any short side branches that grow. This will encourage more branching to support the fruit. Each place a cut is made, two shoots should come from the cut to thicken the tree.
Meyer lemons flower over a long season, and produce fruit, though the dominant time for fruiting is the early spring. The best time to prune is early in the plants life before fruiting begins. To manage a mature potted Meyer lemon, prune up to a third of the roots and branches to keep it form overgrowing its pot.
How to grow a Meyer lemon in containers
Meyer lemons are well suited to containers. Pot up the plant to a larger container as it matures. It should produce flowers 5 to 6 years after you plant the seed. Prune and repot Meyer lemons after the fruit is harvested from the mature tree.
Getting a Meyer lemon from a nursery
The University of California, Riverside, created improved Meyer lemon tree clones that are virtually virus free. If you want to try grafting clonal meyer lemon buds onto your seedling root stock trunk, genetic clones are available in the USDA citrus clonal protection program. Can you find meyer lemons at the plant nursery? In some areas meyer lemons are sold as potted plants. They are well suited to living in pots, so don’t be afraid to get one and keep it on a sunny patio or balcony, giving it needed winter protection according to your climate. Once mature Meyer lemons are hardier than regular lemons though they are frost tender. They are hardy in USDA zones 8b to 11.
So what are you waiting for?
Once your trees start producing you’ll have lemons growing year round. Plant those lemon seeds.
Here in London Ontario, I rarely see Meyer lemons in the stores. Farm Boy stores carry them once in a while. To prevent spoilage, I put them in the fridge. Not sure if that was the right thing to do. If I put the refrigerated lemon seeds in potting soil, will they grow? I love the taste and smell of the Meyers. Don’t know where else I can get them or even a plant? I have not seen them in nurseries. If anyone knows of a place in London/Kitchener/Toronto/Windsor, I would appreciate hearing…Many thanks, Mimi
what about the few trees growing without thorns as to the others having thorns > Thank you for the reply
A few things I thought seeds from citrus fruit did not necessarily produce the same type of fruit as they are from mostly grafted tree stocks ? and I have been growing like 20 plants from seeds from Meyer lemons, they all have taken and are about 12 – 16 inches tall, I was growing these to be root stock for a Meyer lemon cutting for grafting? and should fruit much sooner. I see in all the plants (trees) out of 20 trees (Seedlings) about 4 of all the trees do not have thorns can you tell me why ? or the ones with thorns are they returning to the original root stock? The root stock could turn out to be a lumpy bumpy lemon with tons of seeds ? But, no one will know until 5 years down the road? until first fruit sets., if left alone. I would like you comment on this, if you know ? Why should I graft if you say these plants will produce Meyer lemons!
Meyer lemons are hybrids between oranges and lemons. Like all seed raised fruit trees you will have some cross pollination and you might get an awesome fruit or you might not. If you graft onto them, you will get what ever fruit you graft.
If your lemon tree has both smooth and thorny branches it has been grafted. The thorny branches are part of the root stock. If you carefully trace them all the way down to the base, you will see that these branches originate below the grafting point. If a tree does not get pruned for a long time, it is possible that the scion ( top part of the graft which is Meyer lemon) could have died off and the rootstock took over . If this has occurred, most if not all of the branches will be thorny. It is always best to cut off any thorny branches way down at the base as soon as you notice them. To keep them from taking over. That being said it is possible that flowers from the root stock (thorny branches, could pollinate any flowers on the Meyer lemon branches and then you would have a new variety which is a cross between the rootstock variety and your Meyer lemon . Hope this answers your question and helps!
I live In central Florida and bought nursery grown pink grapefruit tree about 5 years ago but it is still about 4 feet, it just will not grow. It does give about 3 to 4 grapefruit. What am I doing wrong.
Check the pH. When I had a few (citrus, curryleaf) plants that would not grow for several years, they took off like magic with coffee/tea to lower pH. Good luck!
Thanks for the good information. I have a Meyer lemon tree that has given me good juicy lemons for the last 7 years. I moved to the hill country in South Central Texas and we have many deer that enjoy eating the leaves. Any suggestions to protect the leaves? A fence is not possible at this time. I have a netting over it as a temporary solution. Another tree grew out of seeds from the mother plant hope it grows well and gives me fruit. Thanks
When I lived in AZ. deer ate everything I planted. I got soap slivers from a local resort and started putting them in all mt gardens the deer didnt like the smell they went away. You can always buy bars of soap and cut them up. I’m a little on the cheap side–and resorts throw away those little pieces of “used” soap .Carol
maybe a sprinkler with motion detection and infrared. they are noisy, maybe?
I’ve planted seeds from a Meyer lemon but not sure if it was organic. Have I wasted my time and energy? Should I start from scratch with an organic lemon even if not a Meyer (I read Meyer was a better choice for indoor growing because of its smaller size) Please advise!
Tks Diane
No nonorganic is fine. The concern is that nonorganic may have been irradiated which can prevent germination. But if your seeds germinated they are fine.
Just curious but, why would “organic” lemons not be irradiated?
Hello. About 5 years ago, my son and I planted a lemon seed. The tree is about 9 feet tall now! We live in the mountains in Pennsylvania, so it remains in a large pot and stays indoors until the warm summer months. It’s a big bright beautiful green tree, but never gets flowers, so it never blooms. Is there something we did wrong, or is normal and not all lemons are created equal?
Hi, one of the paragraphs above refers to something called polyembryony. Not sure I spelled it right, but I bring it up to say that the last sentence in the paragraph says that it could take 5 years to produce fruit, so maybe your tree is maturing a little slower than others. I wouldn’t get discouraged yet, there’s a chance your tree just hasn’t had the time it needs to fruit, and with any luck, you’ll see fruit this coming season or the next. My tree is only 2-3 months old, I’m almost embarrassed to call it a tree right now, but hopefully it’ll mature very quickly.
Good luck to you.
I transplanted my lemon tree into a 5gallon bucket. Is that too big? It’s sprouted 3 new leaves in 1 week of
Transplanting.. seems to love the big bucket.
Thanks for all your info- out here in Alberta
I grow a few types of citrus in my back garden on Vancouver Island, with varying success. The main challenges are frost and overwatering. The plants require winter protection, even in the south island, and obviously yours will in Alberta.
Overwatering is not a problem if you have a really sheltered site and can grow the plants in the open garden (a few people here do this successfully, though I have no open site that’s sufficiently protected), but for plants in pots overwatering is a concern. It is wise not to use too generous a pot size for the growing plant. Using a big pot for a small citrus might seem a good idea, but these plants do not like soggy roots, and if a small plant finds itself in lots of soil, the soil may remain wet for several weeks. Eventually the roots can start to rot, which can be fatal.
I transplant each spring, if the plants have grown well the previous year, but only to a pot one size larger.
Now that you’ve transplanted into a 5 gal container I’d leave the plant where it is, especially if it looks as though it’s thriving, but be careful not to overwater, and avoid leaving the pot in standing water.
I have 3 little Meyer trees grown from sprouted seeds that I found inside the fruit (3 of the 12 originals). I can’t remember how long it’s been but at least 3.5 years. The littlest is 6” tall and I thought it had died so in a hurry, one day, I planted a ‘baby’ spider plant in with it …. well, it revived and they both are growing, especially the spider plant. The second is about 7” and has branched at the bottom with tiny little leaves. The third is almost 14” and doing well.
My question concerns bugs. The largest is infested with those teeny tiny scales … little ‘suckers’! I keep peeling them off but of course they return … help! Does anyone know the most effective way to deal with them?
Thanks for your help. Oh, only the branched tree releases the most lovely lemony fragrance when I touch the leaves.
Cheers from Vancouver, BC
Hi Laurel,
Yes, scale insects are a pain. We are just across the water from you in southern Vancouver Island, so have much the same climate as you. And the same bugs! We’ve found the following steps help:
1) For a bad infestation we set up the hose to create a gentle spray over the plants and go from leaf to leaf rubbing off the insects by hand. This can be tedious, but, if repeated two of three times over the space of a couple of months, can be pretty effective. It’s also more pleasant to do that using an oil to wipe off the leaves, which I’ve found to be no more effective than water.
2) Citrus don’t like wet feet, but do like to have a morning mist. We’ve found that a regular spray with the hose (but not so much that the soil is always wet) helps to control the insects. Literally a couple of seconds of light spray is all I use. There’s no need for this if the leaves get damp anyway, through rain or dew, but it does seem to help on hot summer days. Don’t spray in the middle of the day though, or the sun may scorch the leaves.
3) Our citrus spend as much time outside in the sun and rain as we can manage. They live under cover from early December to mid-March, and the rest of the time they are outside in the suniest place I can find (though occasionally I need to drag them into the garage if a frost is forecast). Three years ago we had quite a lot of trouble with scale insects; two years ago they were less numerous, and this year they are almost completely absent; we think that the combination of gentle spraying and outdoor living has provided an environment that the plants like and the insects do not.
4) Like all plants, the healthier the plant the more likely it is to be able to fight off attack, so anything you can do to encourage strong growth will help.
I have about 12 seedlings growing in pots from a large inground tree that produces Hundreds of lemons every winter.I have enjoyed nurturing them along but my question is does anyone know when you can actually put them in the ground in Florida? A couple of them are nice and tall others are shorter but seem healthy with a varigated leave color. I am grateful for your article as it has helped With the whole process. Thank you
I used “organic” lemon seeds from the grocery store one year to grow 7 beautiful trees.
I gave two of the best to a ag teacher whom I thought would help me learn more on the trees. He passed on so … I had 6 left I gave one to a neighbor and he stopped coming by the salon so I don’t know about that tree. The ones that were left froze on one 1st freeze here in Texas. Very sad day for me I had taken care to wrap them BUT I should have brought them indoors. I may start myself a Meyer lemon tree this year thanks for the information. The steps I got were to take the seeds put them in your mouth go to prepared bucket with good soil and put one seed in each hole cover. Keep moist by day 14 you will have trees!
I’m adding this so you know my disappointment…I grew them for 5 years!
Is it legal to transport these seeds to foreign countries?
You would want to use fresh-out-of-the-lemon seeds or they won’t have good germination.
I planted a seed from a fresh lemon I got at a restaurant, in rich garden soil mixed with jiffy seed starting formula. It is been approximately one month, and I have two bright vibrant green stems. The first has 3 to 4 leaves on it and is just under an inch high, the second started poking through the top of the soil approximately one week ago, and has 2 to 3 tiny tiny leaves beginning to be visible. I wish I could attach a photo that I just took, I would like more information on how to care for them, I have had them out on my back porch this entire time, to allow them to have the benefit of the warm weather and Full sun light. Can I bring them in for the winter time? And can I allow them to grow a little bit more before transplanting each into a separate pot?
Yes, you can leave them in the pot together over the winter and transplant in the spring. And yes, you can bring them in the house. But don’t put them where they will get harsh heat like a woodstove. They like to be on the cooler side in winter. And don’t water until the soil surface dries.
I planted a sprouted seed and that has been 3 weeks ago and nothing has peeked from the soil…help
I started a Meyer lemon tee from seed about two years ago.
It has grown straight up no branching it’s about 5 feet tall, is this normal do I need to prune the top off for it to branch out.
P/s I just noticed it is putting out some branches down on the bottom about an inch from the dirt. This plant is in a big pot
I would like to see the answer to this question. My 1 1/2 year old tree is about 2 feet tall with no branching. It lives outside in Florida, so it’s sunny and humid here all the time. Do I need to do something to encourage branching?
It should branch naturally as it gets older. Those leaves it has on the top will be the beginnings of branches in year two and three.
I have 4 very healthy lemon plants started from seed last summer. Sat in window all Saskatchewan winter. one plant is near 10inches tall the smallest maybe 4/5 inches.
Should I repot them yet or wait till it warms up a little more,
Then I can put outside for summer and bring back inside in Sept/Oct.
Any advise helps.
I LOVE watching them grow.
Also told that some from seeds will not produce fruit???
Julie
how long did it take for anything to break thru the soil?
2 to 4 weeks for me.
planted 12 seeds Dec 2016. now have 12 trees in separate small pots doing very well. its been lots of fun watching them. Patience is required, but well worth the time to see these mature. Spokane WA has very cold winters, so this has been challenging.
lemons that i buy in food stores are they meyer lemons or some other, how to know?
if they are meyer lemons can i plant their seeds and how long do i have to wait to get some lemon fruit
First of all, you can plant any lemon seed you get whether from meyer lemons or another lemon. If they are meyer lemons they might be labeled. Generally 4 to 6 years after planting you should see flowers.
I would like to know if my lemon tree can be rotated? The leaves remind me of a ficus and I know they will lose their leaves if rotated.
I rotate mine nearly ever day as they grow to the sunshine
This PDF file contains a list of citrus that produce polyembryonic seeds:
http://redwoodbarn.com/PDF/Whichcitrusfromseed.pdf
I take care of a university biology department’s greenhouses, and I’ve grown citrus that have come true from seeds, and to do so I only keep the polyembryonic seedlings. If a citrus seed produces more than one embryo, almost always (there can be exceptions) the resulting seedlings will be identical to the parent tree. Embryos that are identical to the parent tree are “nucellar embryos”; embryos that are not identical to the mother tree are “zygotic embryos.” For example, it is possible to have a seed that contains two nucellar embryos and one zygotic embryo. I believe that, more often than not, if the seed is polyembryonic, the zygotic embryo will fail to develop. You can look here for a very simple and incomplete explanation:
http://www.ultimatecitrus.com/pdf/tncitrus.htm
And in this paper’s introduction for a much more scientific explanation:
https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/106/4/533/107349/Polyembryony-in-non-apomictic-citrus-genotypes
The above paper notes that the following citrus types DO NOT produce nucellar embryos: “citron, pummelo and clementine cultivars and some mandarin hybrids.”
Finally, Wikipedia has a good explanation of nucellar embryony:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucellar_embryony
Thank you. That’s awesome information and very helpful.
Hi, thanks for the great info, I live in Atlanta GA and my 7yr old son and myself started our Myer from seed and moist paper towels. After about a month we moved them to a 2-4 inch seed starter pot. In Jan 2016, After about 4 months I moved the to a larger pot because they had out grew the smaller one. Now theyve been outside the entire summer on my deck in a shaded area and they seem to like it. But one however seems dwarf compared the others. I water them once a week unless it rains and I’ve probably given them fertilizer 3 times in 8 months. I still dont know why the dwarf wont grow? And when do you think I should bring them in? How do you think they’ll do inside after this long summer?
I have a seedling that is dwarf as well. It may just be genetic. The dwarf seedling is just a slow growing citrus.
Thanks for the great info. You mention that here in BC the Meyer Lemon tree is $70.00. I found mine here on Vancouver Island as well as an orange and lime, at Canadian Tire and Rona for under $30.00. They are nice healthy plants, but I am still going to grow from seed as well. This information you have given us is wonderful. Cant wait to see those seedlings pop up!
If only I lived on Vancouver Island. Lucky you!
My lemon tree seedlings are one year old and I would like to know how many tsp
To give of slow release fertilome in their six inch nursery pots?
So this may be a dumb question. Can I plant multiple seeds in a pot till they bloom leaves? Or is it better to do like one seed in little styrofoam cups till they bloom leaves? I’m new to all this and we just aquired property in south Texas and I’m starting my garden and would love to have lemon trees! Thanks so much!
That’s exactly what I do. I plant my seeds in pots that have other plants growing so I don’t forget them. Then when they have 4 leaves I transplant them into individual pots.
I started my lemon tree 6 months ago. It Is 18″ tall now and looks So spindly. Should I top it?
It sounds like it might need some more light.
Wow mines are 8 months old now and only about 10-12 inches.
Same here! I planted mine Mother’s Day weekend last year, and had 12 seedlings. I took 6 of them to my parents in July…those ended up dying when they were on vacation. However, now it’s February and I still have 5. 2 are 10-12 inches, 1 is only about 3-4 inches but seems to be healthy, and 2 are 6-8 inches. I was concerned about the amount of sun they were going to get over the New York winter with my West and North facing windows, so 3 weeks ago, i bought a Click and Grow and have them under the light for 16 hrs a day and they have really sped up! I mist them daily (sometimes a few times a day if I can), and water them once a week, more or less. They have not gotten very tall, but the stems are a lot woodier/thicker/heartier than they were–I think this is normal, but not sure. I’ve kept them all in the same container (a 10″ square, 5″ deep ziplock to go container). I’m about to separate them and actually came on here to find out what size containers to get, as well as info what type of fertilizer to use and when to use it. I’m having fun with this and am eager to see how they all turns out (if they bloom and set fruit in a couple of years–this is an exercise in patience!). These will always be indoor plants because I live in an apartment in the city without private outdoor space.
I live in Toronto, Canada, and have found it difficult to find Meyer lemons! I bought one from Loblaws here locally it the fruit is literally orange in color and the taste is bitter and tart. Not sweet at all. The smell is that of Mandarin. I think I got duped.
Is there anywhere to buy organic Meyer lemons fresh in Toronto or buy seeds? Although I heard they have to be planted wet.
In my experience they are not sweet. They are more like a lemon in use and flavor. I don’t think they are meant to be eaten in the way a mandarin/orange/nectarine/tangerine would be, but for cooking or recipes, or cleaning. Hope this helps. I got mine at a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods here in New York. Good luck!
I have a Meyer Lemon tree in a large pot. Right now it has 3 large lemons and 3 smaller ones. The larger ones have been on the plant for at least 3 months, if not longer. None of them are turning yellow. They’re all as green as a lime! Not sure if I should harvest them or not? HELP, please!!!
Lemons can take 9 months to ripen on the tree. And they can have flowers and fruit on the tree at the same time. If they are getting adequate sunlight they will ripen when they are ready.
I’m so glad you have been able to use the citrus in so many ways! The tree the grapefruit came from was grown from a seed many years ago and it produces the absolute best grapefruit. I can’t wait to see how this experiment turns out for you.
It’s been totally fun. I keep thinking how much I missed by not planting seeds from food before. I could have a whole orchard just from all the seeds I’ve thrown away.