A Mini Update On Some Lemon Trees
A long long time ago (over one year at least, which is a long long time by Steemit standards at least!) I made a POST about some gardening I had been doing at the time.
In this post I included this image of some lemon trees I had begun growing from seeds that I got out of a store bought lemon:
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaGcL4HeihKdofa44tqR1Z99vVWy1Qw3saFYspxDj4P3p/image.png)
I originally planted these because I had been watching some YouTube videos about how to get citrus trees to grow from their seeds. Having planted some seeds with little success as a child I saw that the seeds are actually encased in a membrane. I learned that if you remove this outer membrane you can quickly get the seeds to germinate in a wet paper towel and transplant the seeds after that.
So I tried it out and to my surprise after only two weeks I had successfully germinated ALL of the seeds I had attempted! I took those seeds and planted them, after the winter I took the image you see above. The seeds had grown into some tini trees.
I was recently reminded, by a comment in this post I discussed above that I have never provided any updates over the past year and a half since its publication about the progress of these trees. So briefly today I will do just that! I will let the pictures do the talking!
The first image is that of the very same pot that I showed all that time ago and the second is of one tree that I transplanted into its own pot, as an experiment to see whether the tree would grow more quickly then the remaining ones which stayed in their original pot!
Well you can see from the images that the trees have indeed gotten larger, and spread out to have quite a bit more leaves over the past year and a half. Additionally you can see that the tree that I separated really hasn't grown any more quickly then those that remained in their original pot.
What surprises me the most about growing these trees is just how slowly they get taller. Some Websites have convinced me that the trees should grow to a size in which they are capable of bearing fruit after 3-6 years. I can say that my lemon trees here that I have taken pictures of are almost 2 years old. They don't look as though they will be capable of producing fruit any time soon! They seem so tini and generally unorganized!
So I pose to you Steemit community, what suggestions do you have for how I can improve the growth rate of these trees?
Should I separate them into bigger different pots?
Is there a special soil that would be recommended for the trees?
The internet specifies that the soil should allow for adequate drainage and that the trees don't like a lot of water (I can confirm this, as these trees seem to grow best when they are kept pretty dry and watered only occasionally).
Are any of you growing your own citrus trees? Any knowledge you can share would be most appreciated!
Your lemons looks super healthy. I just moved mine back indoors, and they work quite well for my bonsai hobby, because they are slow growers and the new leaves are very petite.
![20171028_120035.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmbFF8eE1MtgqggRbbwDmW4NaqbawhmDcjWsvoZ1LT7qnd/20171028_120035.jpg)
The one in the back is a lime tree, and it has even smaller leaves, but more thorns. Mu'fav. Have you tried picking a leaf off? Heavenly scent.
These look great!!
We have a few lemon trees here in Germany, but every winter (now again soon) we have to bring them inside, because outside it is too cold for them here. I guess I can tell you only things you know already anyway: these plants grow best in a warm and sunny environment. The soil shouldn't become too wet (but also not really dry), and is preferred not to be too dense (you can mix the earth with expanded clay or small stones for a better drainage). If you want to make it perfect the soil should contain humus-rich garden soil, compost and peat (a third of everything).
I like these trees because the flowers really scent fantastic.
Thanks for the tips man! Yeah I have been trying to keep these trees appropriately watered, I don't have any clay stones, perhaps I should invest into some of those along with a taller pot.
The flowers are what I am looking forward to!
Humus? I love humus. Didn't know lemon trees love it too. Though I prefer tahini.
I guess you love hummus, but not humus ...
If I never tried it, how would I know :P
I just checked out the link you shared mate, you have a nice array of veggies, just love it!
Concerning the lemon tree, if you want it to grow bigger, you must either use a bigger pot or plant directly in the soil. Cutting out some leaves and small branches from time to time also make the plant grow bigger!
Thank you for the tips man! Appreciate it! It seems the consensus here is I really need a taller pot! So I will get one soon.
I will buy a bottle of Tequila tomorrow , the day any one of your lemon trees bears a fruit , I will crack the bottle open and we will toast to your first lemon:)
Well buying it now will allow for some added age to your tequila bottle! These trees sure aren't going to produce fruit any time soon!
Rofl
They look just fine to me for being 1 year old. But I have some bad news for you. These plants will probable never produce lemons, but some weird citrus fruit possibly unedible. Keep them happy & alive and updtade us in 6-7 years again 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
We will see what happens. I am aware of the wierdness of growing citrus and what they can end up. To get the same plant one must graft.
Cool :D time will tell maybe you get some delicious surprise who knows!
You will be among the first to know man.
Just be patient and make sure to feed it when it asks. My lemon tree is doing great:
Great work,,,,
Yes but do you have any suggestions for these trees?
directly my no idea in this tree.
but i really help you aftre some time .
Well thanks anyway!
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Well if you want to improve growth you have two factors : sunlight and nutrition. You should first make a quick research what the optimum light cycle(daynight) cycle is for citrus plants. Then you can go ahead and make your own compost to gain top quality nutrition, that you have control over so you know no bad stuff is in there, and that should do wonders for your plant. Although your plants look pretty healthy I'd say.
good luck with you gardening :)
Thank you for the advice :)
You're welcome :)
love how green they are! Plants tend to only want to grow as tall as their roots can grow deep. my lime tree does not want to bear fruit. its about 3 feet tall but i bought it when it was 2ft. i have it in a 5 gallon bucket. it produces tons of amazing smelling little white flowers though
Well right now they aren't even close to as tall as the pot is! I should perhaps think about getting a bigger pot?
OH MAN! If I could get to amazing smelling flower stage for my lemon trees that would be FANTASTIC! I don't even need the fruits (Id love them... but I don't need them).
yours will be more rewarding than mine. growing from a seedling. thats great. I tried to do that once with an orange seed. i wanted to make an orange bonsai tree. but i went out of town and since the pot was so small, the dirt dried out too quick and the thing died. that was 2 years of work like yours. thing about those citrus trees is they LOVE SUN sun sun sun.
Man, that's a bummer. Sorry to hear!
They have their priorities straight!