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Has anyone successfully grown lemon trees...


mint
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Lemon trees are more susceptible to frost than orange trees and their "cousins".

I'd plant it in a large pot that could be taken inside for the winter.

It can get jolly nippy in the winter.

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We ordered from one of the big french merchants an assortment of plants and whatever the other things are called. (I'm not a gardener). On a Friday evening in mid February, as we were preparing to go on a ski holiday very early the following morning they delivered everything. They had said they would deliver late March or early April! So beware companies delivery dates!

In the alpine valleys at that time of year and that year in particular it was very cold. So the lot was put in the garage in the hope that it would survive our week's absence.

We got home and O/H went through it all and when he could planted. Amoungst this lot was a lemon tree.

 

It was loved and nurtured and as soon as the weather picked up put outside in the heat and was sheltered too. And it grew and was rehoused in a bigger pot. And it would flower and then nothing, not a thing. And we looked after this ungrateful greenery for several years. Eventually I heard a friend say that she fancied buying a lemon tree so I said she could have ours. Away it went one spring a couple of hundred meters from our house, perhaps a little less.  Now this friend loves to taquine me, so when I went round during summer and it was covered in lemons, I thought that she had bought some plastic ones and stuck them on. No, it had born fruit and continued to do so and ever did so. Much fruit.

So I would imagine that it is possible to grow lemons in southernish France, only not chez moi.

 

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We bought a lemon tree at Auchun about 4 years ago.We planted it in a large pot and left it ouside in all weathers.We keep it well watered during the very dry seaon.We give it a little plant food about once a fortnight..It has grown in these conditions well.We know little about gardening so just hope!.It is now around 8 ft. tall and covered in lemons some are yellowing and we pick as required.There are not a lot of leaves for some reason, mainly fruit ,which is hard to understand as I thought the fruit would get most of their sustenance from the leaves as well as the earth.We are on the coast near Beziers so I suppose the climate is reasonably warm.

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Thanks, everyone, for the replies.  Very encouraging....

I love lemons but it seems so hit and miss when you buy lemons, don't you think?  Sometimes, they are full of juice and other times, they are dry inside although the outside could look fine.

Also, I am never sure if they are waxed or not.

I have a very sunny, south-facing spot, high up nearly at tree-top level, so I will have a go with planting one in the autumn.

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Not yet but have peach tree grown from stone (25 fruit on third year) avocado tree is now six feet high!

Neighbours have lemon trees and pomegranites - luckily they hate them so I fill my boots.

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Sweet, if you are really really serious about your lemon tree, there is always the citrus growing forum...

http://citrus.forumup.org/forum-1-citrus.html

Cat - I have always heard that lemon is the one citrus that can tolerate lower winter temperatures than the other citrus, as far as minus 8. Which is why one can grow lemons here where I am, but not oranges or mandarines(although my own potted lemon tree is a disaster, but that is partly because I have no south facing area, and because every winter I dither as to what is the best way to look after it). In the winter, what it needs is LIGHT much more than good temperature.

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Thank you for the input, everyone.

C of C, I will leave it till the spring because it does make sense.

5-e, special thanks for the link:  very informative.

I am very lucky to have a wonderful south-facing, sunny spot for the tree plus I have a large glassed veranda where it can live in the winter.

Gin and tonic, anyone?  With lemon?[:)]

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I really do hope that you do well with it. Ours was on a south facing veranda, sheltered too and was taken in for our very cold winters. Not a lemon did it bear. At my friends she just put it out with the other bushy things and it thrives.......... maybe it was lonely chez nous?[:(]
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I have had a few Lemon trees here but they have not survived the winter outside in a pot on the patio. At the moment I am growing another from a pip and its about 6 inches high. I have also bought a lime tree this year and that is just going to blossom so fingers crossed. I also have an advocado on the go. Its in a pot about 18 inches now. Our dog ate the last one so I hope this one survives now he is older. I will take the citrus trees into the garden room for the winter though this time. [:)]

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We now have a 5 foot lemon tree in a large pot. It was grown from a pip. It is brought in every year as the frost will destroy it.

My parents used to grow lemons near Alicante in Spain, but there was never a frost where they were.

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Our 3 lemon trees in pots love the weather during the summer. Come Late October we put them in an Easterly facing room with patio doors - watered but not feed thru to Spring. Trees provide us with lemons throughout the year.

Peach tree went mad this year and produced 6-7 kilos of fruit ... sadly the rest of the crop was invested with wasps.

I would add photos but how? using an iPad?
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[quote user="Gemonimo"][quote user="Dog"]

 avocado tree is now six feet high!

[/quote]

Well, Dog, if you can tell me how you managed thatI'd be grateful....  mine is only six inches and shrinking!!!

[/quote]

 

It would appear they do not like too much heat or direct sunlight. Otherwise probably sheer luck!

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[quote user="HEZ"]I have had a few Lemon trees here but they have not survived the winter outside in a pot on the patio. At the moment I am growing another from a pip and its about 6 inches high. I have also bought a lime tree this year and that is just going to blossom so fingers crossed. I also have an advocado on the go. Its in a pot about 18 inches now. Our dog ate the last one so I hope this one survives now he is older. I will take the citrus trees into the garden room for the winter though this time. [:)]
[/quote]

Strange your dog eating a tree.

But they do like the fruit. I had a large tree in Zambia with acute hearing. If they all suddenly got up it was a sign that an avocado had dropped off the tree.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Bob, do they need light as well as a frost-free atmosphere in the winter?

We have some storage rooms but the natural lighting level is not great.

Thanks, Bob, and my regards to JT.

[/quote]

My garage has a window, but not with clear glass and with a balcony above it, so there is a bit of natural light. If we have a sunny day in the winter then I put it outside the garage door for a couple of hours.

What I have found is that in the hot sunny summer, the more you water it, the more it grows.

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Thanks, Bob, good tip about the summer watering.

I, too, have a room with a small window at high level and I can certainly put it there so that it will have some light.  This is also a room with quite a constant temperature and it feels warm in winter compared to the rest of the house.

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