Lemon Tree
SeedHead
Posts: 10
I was lucky enough to add a second 6m x 3m polytunnel last year in the hope of turning it into a fruit house. I have always wanted to grow lemons, peaches and apricots. I planted 2 lemon trees in Autumn last year and watched them through the winter, watering little. This year I watched Monty Don on Gardeners World talking about Lemon trees. His advice was "let them dty out completely and then flood the pot" I bought a moisture probe to check when the root ball became dry. This is 6 months ago and whilst the apricots and the peaches call for water at least every week the moisture content of the lemon tree root is so high it is off the scale of the moisture meter. The tree appears to be drawing moisture from the air and feeding it to the root ball. After 6 months of no watering these plants should be dead but instead they are in rude health with glossy leathery leaves.
I am now pondering how to feed them, maybe a foliage feed would be better than a liquid one?
Anyone got any ideas?
Posts
I wouldn't feed anything at this time of year - with low temperatures and light levels, not to mention short daylight hours, plants don't grow much if at all - they just wait for spring - that's the time to feed them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I second that. Amazing, isn't it, how plants sort themselves out. I think the still air in the polytunnel makes for (relatively) humid conditions, suiting the tree perfectly. What heat have you got to protect it from the worst of the cold, without making it too warm? They want low 40s degrees minimum, really, don't they?
H-C
Hortum-cretae ~ I have had the front of the tunnel completely open for the 18 months that it has been there. It's like a bog open ended place sheltered against a vicious South Westerly wind with plenty of air circulating as is the other tunnel in which I grow my peppers, chillies, tomatoes and cucumbers. The average daily temperature can range between 20C and 35C through Spring, Summer and Autumn and the humdity is usually around 80%, not high.
Recently I have sustained a lot of damage to the soil in the peach and apricot tubs, which get watered regularly, by my favourite Blackbird who happily digs out half of the soil and dumps it on the floor. Enough is enough and I have enclosed the fruit house to stop his little tricks. The humidity has increased and so has the general daytime temperature. The night time temperature is unafected and is, as is normal in any greenhouse, around 1C lower than the outside temperature.
After some considerable research and study of lemon trees growing in the foothills of the Italian mountains it seems that the nightime temperatures can fall dramatically to well below -5C and the lemons don't mind a bit. They create their own micro climate, self watering and totaly hardy.
I am looking forward to seeing if the lemons will come to full growth as the 20 or so that have grown this year have all been demolished by my little friend the Blackbird but not any more now it is sealed. Roll on Spring and the planting of limes and olives.
Seedhead, With citrus trees,there's a autumn and winter feed and a spring and summer feed.But how you would do it I don't know.
Also you could get some netting to cover the door.
Last edited: 06 October 2016 10:29:49
Logan ~ I intend to look at feed issues more carefully. I really don't think that a bucket of water every 3 or 6 months will harm the plants after all I did water the plants for the firt 4 months or so of them being in the ground and It does rain in Italy after all. I think that I will give them a bucket of good organic feed at the end of October and then again in Spring. Meanwhile I will research foliar feeding. I am told by an Italian friend who grows lemons that the trees respond extreemly well to a good feed ocasionally and blossom shortly after. He has been growing them for 40 years and admits that the plant is still a complete anathma to him.
As for the netting, simple logic wins every time Logan. I do admit though that I am currently enjoying a warmer place to be when there is nothing else to do but watch nature do its work.
Just for the record, here is an average anual temperature chart for Milan. This is an average temperature chart and therefore discounts highs of 40C in Summer or -5C in winter. An average temperature chart for my tunnel would read similarly
Milan is one of the oldest lemon growing areas in Europe. Fingers crossed for a better year in 2017, without blackbirds
Last edited: 06 October 2016 11:55:13
Brilliant, isn't it, this plants game. Something new every day you're with 'em. There is so much in which to lose oneself, be it small or large scale. Keeps me energised and sane (just, although my other half might disagree!). H-C
I find that daylight hours and light intensity is just as important as temperature when it comes to plant growth.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
That's a very fair comment Dove - Clive
Very good thread, SeedHead. Lots of great info here. I have been struggling with lemon growing for a couple of years and made the mistake of overwatering; nearly killed them after they rewarded me with about 20 lemons. I've learned my lesson and don't over water now but I do feed with liquid seaweed feed in the summer about once a week. Mine are in pots and the best one now has about 10 lemons and is flowering again. I'll bring them into the house, probably at the end of the month, where they will stay in front of a big SE facing window for the winter.