You will have trouble... and some problems.. trying to make a Meyer look like a "tree"; it is by nature more of a bush. I would give it a little leeway to be how "it wants to be". In the front of my house I have a Meyer side by side with a Persian lemon; the Meyer is half the size and produces 10 times the fruit. My field Meyers (we now have 21,000) are mechanically pruned and each tree is 2 meters by 2.5 meters and 2.5 meters high; they produce between 300 and 400 fruits per year at a commercial size of 3 per pound.

Thanks John, and ahh man I would love to see some of those trees! I Grew this one as a cutting and its about thumb width towards the base, and it's a good 3.5-4 ft tall. I completely understand, about it wanting to more naturally grow a bush shape instead of the tree shape. This is why I wasn't afraid to do some bud rubbing when it started growing branches to low on the plant. I knew that it would take time, but the desired shape would eventually come. Ive seen pictures of potted lemon trees grown into this shape, but I haven't been able to find much information on how they achieve/maintain this shape. I'm wondering if I should prune these branches back to keep it bushy and not have long leggy branches growing from a tall leggy base if that makes sense? I included another photo to give you more of an idea of its shape/height.

Well, my first principle is I prune off any branch that is growing in a downward direction; and most that are crossing the center... allows light into the center of the tree.
In general, when you prune you create new growth in the direction of the last node you left.

I don't believe I have any branches crossing one another. I'm wondering if its ok to have so many branches coming from one bud. I found a picture of someone that seems to be experiencing the same thing I had, with almost too many branches sprouting from a single location. Is this normal of citrus?! What would you do if this was your potted tree? Rub off most of these branches if not all, or allow it to really bush out? To me this seems like to much. I'm trying to figure out when I should prune my plant to achieve to desired lollipop look. If I don't shorten these branches before they grow longer, im afraid the top will get to lengthy.

I would probably take off most of the sprouts, leaving the strongest in the direction I want them to go. That is an unusual number of new limbs; it makes me wonder if perhaps you have some sort of viral or insect block in the higher up branches, which could explain the leaf loss and also the lack of new growth on the higher limbs.

That is indeed some prolific back-budding, but I think the new growth will thin itself naturally. You could always selectively prune as John mentions.

Josh

That last picture is of somebody else's plant that I found online, that I thought was experiencing some of the same issues mine has with multiple branches. My plant is the one you see in the first two pictures. I drew arrows pointing to the new sprouts growing from the central leader where three bare branches exist already. I know the plant is actively trying to replace it's lost leaves. I'm wondering if I should thin these branches out and shorten them, while also removing these sprouts off the central leader? Included another photo of my plant. As you can see, I think it has all the established limbs it needs. Possibly too many?

And another photo

I wouldn't touch it until it has re-leafed itself completely.

Josh

Thanks for the help Josh and I'll take your advice and let it do it's thing. It was a fear of wasted energy by growing undesirable branches that had me thinking I should prune/rub. But I'm making the mistake of thinking and acting as though it's a healthy plant, but with a total of 2 leaves it clearly is not :-/ huh?!

Thanks again Josh, GreenMan, and John for the help! Any suggestions or comments given are always greatly appreciated!! Included a picture this time of the mother tree I got my cutting from. Got 7 nice sized lemons this year of it.

Hello....I love the Lemons on that one..

I was thinking too...If you focus on fertilizing your plant properly at peak growing season, most likely spring and summer, you will have your plants in prime condition by the time fall and winter rolls around...

That's what I do..I feed feed feed to encourage lots of healthy root growth so it will support lots of leaf growth.
A fattend up very healthy plant also withstands pest attack.
Most likely your leaves will hang on as mine do through the toughest seasons.
It makes all the difference in the world if you focus of beefing up your trees before less prime growing seasons come..

Good luck...

Here is one of my Lemon Meyers after a very long winter and still going. The leaves are holding well....Playing with my new camera..

Mike

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Tue, Dec 17, 13 at 20:03

Mike,
Maybe it is the light; but those flowers don't look like Meyers.
Nice tree anyway. I doubt I would have citrus if I lived in the Northern climes; but then I wouldn't live there... after a million years of evolution, it is probably no accident that my body temp is 98.6F!! BTW, I just put my first 2 books on Christmas special prices at Kindle e-books, if you like to read.

Nice new camera, Mike! :-)

Josh

John...Hook me up to that link will you? I'd like to see :-)

Thanks John..Yup, it is a Meyer..But because of lack of warm sun, the flowers always bud out white...I am grateful that at least the fruits come and last right behind them..Believe me when I tell you I wish I could offer them more than 3 to 4 hours of sunlight a day:-(
I get so jealous when I see many others able to offer up a fine serving of direct sun even at this time of the year..

By the way, I think I have some evolutionary process to go.My bod temp has been that of a lizard all day...

Would love to live a bit closer to the equator!

Have a Merry one!

Mike

Mike,

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GK5EN48

is a link to my author page.

Thanks MeyerMike those are some beautiful plants. I love how bright green and healthy the leaves look. I ran out of Foliage pro, so im hoping now that I have a new bottle I can get my plants back looking right. I took the last of the 7 lemons off the mother tree.

Should I go ahead and give it a little fertilizer to hold it through the winter?! Never been that good at getting and sticking to fertilizing regiment. Inherited a lot of my plants from my dad, so its been trial and error trying to figure out which plants like what and when.

Also Johnmerr I think your right about the insects. I keep finding a thin webbing going from branch to branch, but so far can't find the culprit. Do ya'll believe this sound like Spider Mites? Been looking beneath the two leaves left and can't find any sign of them if it is.

Thought about taking a piece of clear tape and pressing it too the branches and trunk to see if I can catch what I haven't been able to spot with naked eye so far. I'm thinking it wouldn't be wise to spray anything on it cause it's new growth is really small and fragile still. Any suggestions guys?!

Thanks again in advance, ya'll rock for taking the time to help people out on this board.. It's GREATLY appreciated by all that visit I can promise!!

Not good I got them on the mother plant as well whatever they are.. Anybody got an idea?!

Red spider mites. Treat accordingly.

Patty S.