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asrar_gw

Normal growth or Am I too kind ? meyer lemon

Asrar
9 years ago

Thanks to this forum to help me for so far success in growing my first meyer lemon in north of europe zone 6. After 3 months care of this plant with usage of 4-1-3 fertilizer, it got bunch of flower and couple of new leaves. I am watering it when soil is dry about an inch above.
I read somewhere here that a good growth sign for lemon is when new baby leaves are redish brown but in the picture my LM leaves never been redish and they grew 3 cm in 3 or 4 days and noticing a lot new buds and growth signs on many places. Hope everything is on right direction ? Asrar
Thanks again.

Comments (10)

  • johnmerr
    9 years ago

    I'm not sure if the reddish brown color of new growth happens indoors, or if it is only in full sun. Your leaves look very healthy; so I would just keep doing what you are doing.

  • Asrar
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Ah, what a relief. Bundle of thanks. For a month my tree is only in direct sun from 6 to 14 out in balcony.

  • houstontexas123
    9 years ago

    its looking good.

  • Dtunesgw
    9 years ago

    The tree looks good to me. My lemon(unknown variety) is inconsistent in having red leaves. This spring when it first flushed the leaves were a dark crimson until they got to about 2cm long then slowly greened up. The later growth never got as red but still has a little tinge. However, for the first few years I don't remember the leaves being very red, if at all.

  • Asrar
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for all replies. I posting update also so you can gues the growth rate. One more thing ! Do all meyer lemons have pink/purplish shaded flowers ? Do they help to tell if meyer lemon is improved or not ? I read all meyer lemons now available are improved. But is organic meyer lemon and how fruit size changes ? Sorry for funny questions ... :) Have a good day.

  • BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
    9 years ago

    You are right, all Meyer lemons everywhere are now all "improved". No one grows the old regular Meyer lemon as it was a symptom-less carrier of a citrus disease called tristeza.
    In the 1950's a tristeza virus-free one was found in California by Don Dillon of Four Winds Grower nursery. By 1975 it was certified and released as "Improved Meyer" lemon. It's the same lemon as the old one, it's just a tristeza disease free one. Both have purple flowers.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Meyer Lemon wikipedia

  • starloc
    9 years ago

    If sourced in Europe it would be probably a Meyer lemon as there seems to not have been the same improved variety here in the same way, it may be, but I have been told that it wasnt sold here to the same extent due to home grown cuttings.

    Many nurseries across many areas of Europe just take cuttings of there own trees that they have used for years, some may be the improved Meyer, but not all will be as I dont think there was as much of a problem here.

    New growth on lemons are not always green, flowers not always purple tinted either,

    2 out of 4 Meyer lemons I have are green new growth and the other 2 purple new growth, no idea why, maybe a tree was just incorrectly marked at some time and people took cuttings from it.

    I have other some lemon trees with green new growth and purple flowers,
    Some with purple new growth and purple flowers,
    Some with green new growth and very large bright white orange tree style flowers,

    Many of them from the same they supplier, sold as ornamental lemon tree, made in Italy, no variety on them

    I asked the supplier and I was told they were supplied as ornamentals and not a fixed variety, the white flower green growth one would be a `oranage flowered lemon` and always had green new growth and white flowers

    I think many plants in Europe seem to be marked like this, just as ornamental

  • Asrar
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Starloc thanks for your time :)
    I agreed with you, i went to the same seller where I got my meyer lemon from, and same variety of meyer lemon was giving white flowers :) and mine is purplish.
    Can one eat fruits from ornamental citrus plants?
    Here is the link of supplier and may you can find any plants health organisation stamp or logo which can tell if it is improved meyer lemon or not. Maybe some expert can help here.
    http://www.citrusplants.info/plants/meyer-lemon

  • johnmerr
    9 years ago

    By the mid 1940s the Meyer lemon had become widely grown in California. However, at that time it was discovered that a majority of the Meyer lemon trees being cloned were symptomless carriers of the Citrus tristeza virus, a virus which has killed millions of citrus trees all over the world and has rendered other millions useless for production.[4] After this finding, most of the Meyer lemon trees in the United States were destroyed to save other citrus trees. A virus-free selection was found in the 1950s by Don Dillon of the California company Four Winds Growers[5], and was later certified and released by the University of California in 1975.[6][7] To help distinguish it, this release was called Improved Meyer lemon.

  • BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
    9 years ago

    So I was just wondering, if there are still old regular Meyer lemons being propagated in Europe, are they also infected with Tristeza virus?

    Did Europe never have a tristeza virus outbreak?
    Was the virus only ever a problem in North America?
    Or are they still infected?
    Does Europe have any quarantines on transporting citrus trees?

    If there are still tristeza virus infected Meyers out there, then that's another very good reason that most Citrus Production Areas, in the USA are under Quarantine for imports and exports of citrus trees.

    I just was not aware there were any non-improved Meyer lemons out there. Interesting.

    This post was edited by BarbJP on Thu, Jul 31, 14 at 16:59

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