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milehighgirl_gw

Pinch blossoms from baby Meyer's lemon?

milehighgirl
14 years ago

I just bought an Improved Meyer's lemon tree. It's only about 18 inches tall and now has one open blossom and at least 8 more buds. I hate to ask, but would it be best for the tree to pinch off the blossoms to allow the tree to put it's efforts toward growth?

Comments (11)

  • puglvr1
    14 years ago

    I'm not an expert, but if it were mine, I would let it bloom and enjoy the frangrant scents.Wait and see if the blooms sets fruit, sometimes they won't hold the fruit when the tree is young and immature. If they do set, you can remove most of them and leave maybe a couple, but its up to you. When I first bought mine four years ago, I let all the flowers blooms, then by the second year, I let three of the lemons get full size. I think the Meyer is known for being heavy bloomers/fruit setters. Of course you can't tell by mine, lol. I haven't been able to get any of the blooms to set this year, I would get a real heavy bloom, then all the baby lemons would fall off. At least I'm enjoying the beautiful scented flowers...

    Good luck with your new tree!

  • e36yellowm3
    14 years ago

    I agree puglvr, Meyer Lemons seem to know how many fruit they can successfully carry, and drop the rest. But you do get to enjoy the beautifully scented flowers anyway.

  • llatchford
    14 years ago

    I would respectfully suggest that you not do it. I bought a nice Meyer for Christmastime and made the mistake of thinking the same thing- save the plant energy for growing bigger and stronger in the spring.

    When I plucked every last flower off not only did I lose the heavenly scent of those great blossoms, but the little tree began a downward spiral from which it never recovered (despite my best efforts).

    (To be fair, it also was shipped to me with a nasty case of scale, with which I have had no previous experience.) From what I understand, Meyer lemon trees are very, lets say, particular about getting too much attention.

    After this catastrophe, I let all of my other citrus flowers fall off themselves, and the little fruits that replace the flowers also fell off on their own accord (with one exception, my Moro, which I think I mercifully plucked the little fruit off to save the plant, which had begun showing signs of stress).

    Best of luck!

  • meyermike_1micha
    14 years ago

    I would probably say it's depends on what you would like.

    Personally, I buy them for the blooms no matter how small they are. I love the fragrance.

    Believe it or not,they still grow.Some grow with fresh growth along with flowers...Beautiful.

    But if all you want is growth, that may be a different story for you...:-)

    Think of this...They still grow huge in the wild, and no one is picking off their blooms in the process...

  • chuck_in_montreal
    14 years ago

    I say let it bloom. I never pick them off and currently have about a dozen (in various stages of growth) on my 2 ft Meyer lemon.

  • milehighgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you all. I guess I wanted to hear that I could leave them. I'll let the little tree decide what it can handle.

  • tobybul2 - Zone 6 SW MI
    9 years ago

    I have the same situation. But based on your comments I will leave it alone too. Last season I had 6 lemons off it. This time is has even more flowers. I'm also air layering one of the branches so well see how that goes. My tree is on a south-facing wall so it gets sun all day. Well, whatever sun that comes out in this cold winter.

  • poncirusguy6b452xx
    9 years ago

    I let my Meyer bloom and set fruit and the flowers were odorless. Oh well at least I got a lot of fruit coming. Both trees are starting their growth spurts and it looks like I will get a lot of grow thonce the night time temperatures break the single didget range

  • tobybul2 - Zone 6 SW MI
    9 years ago

    Will fertilizing it offset the energy it expends?

  • poncirusguy6b452xx
    9 years ago

    No! but it will give it food for thought. Unfortunately the thought will go to producing flowers instead of growth. My Meyer lemons are producing fruit and flowers but they seem to be putting their energy into leaf and stem growth