My landlord planted three seeds from a store-bought lemon 7 years ago. It stands in my front yard and bears wonderful lemons.

I'm surprised the seeds from a store-bought lemon would produce lemons! And in just 7 years! Lucky!

Kathy, I didn't have much luck with a Meyer in Orlando, but my Persian lime did really well for about 10 years. Then it declined and I ended up taking it out last year. Probably a combination of bad soil, one too many freeze and general neglect.

The Flame grapefruit keeps on bearing oodles of fruit a year even tho no one in the house eats grapefruit!

Kate

I don't want to wait for seedlings to produce fruit, I am getting too old for that. :o) But thanks any way.

Hi, Kate, good to hear from you. My Persian lime is doing really well, but I want a good lemon. We don't eat grapefruit either. lol

My Meyer lemon is loaded with fruit, as is my neighbors. Wonder why yours is declining? I bought one on dwarfing root stock, maybe that makes a difference? Certainly the trees I have with that rootstock are doing much better than my other citrus tree.

Mine was not grafted, maybe that is the reason. Thanks

Hi Kathy

Some of my neighbors Meyer lemon trees didn't do well either, I don't know where they got them. Mine is having a good crop of lemons even after a lot of harvests, there is still more left.

My red lime is also very productive

And some of the calamondin harvest yesterday that I gave it to a friend

I also have a dwarf key lime that is doing very well. In my experience, I had a pink lemon that grew very robust but very little fruit and not very good, I had to take it out. In Arizona I had the lemon Lisbon and it was very productive, it was a very usable lemon, I was very happy with that variety.

Silvia

Hi Silvia, is your Meyer lemon tree grafted? Do you think a Lisbon lemon would do well here? No one has said what lemon trees grow best in Fl.

Katkin, you should try a ponderosa lemon. I'm just wondering if you moved you Meyers lemon if it would do better in a different spot?

Kathy, my Meyer tree is grafted. This info is taken from the book Florida's Best Fruiting Plants.

Cultivars Dozens of cultivars have been selected. Several are suitable for dooryard planting in Florida. 'Bearss' and 'Avon', both selected in Florida, are excellent choices for the home garden. 'Meyer', a cultivar discovered in China in 1908, is thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. It performs well under Florida conditions. 'Ponderosa', which may be a lemon x citron hybrid, produces a large, lumpy fruit and is occasionally grown in Florida. It is somewhat cold sensitive. 'Villafranco' was the leading commercial cultivar in Florida at one time. 'Eureka', a California cultivar, and 'Lisbon' a Portuguese cultivar, are often planted in Florida, but have not proven entirely satisfactory.

I hope that it answer some of your questions.

Silvia

I live in Central Florida and the nursery a few miles away has a Ponderosa lemon planted in the ground and it was bearing a great crop of fruit last time I was there. Did not appear troubled by pests or disease. I had a variegated Meyer lemon tree that died after 1 year. Whatever pest attacked it also attracted ants which seemed to further it's decline. However, the grafted mandarine orange on flying dragon (think that was it) rootstock did fine. I have been tempted to plant a Ponderosa Lemon in my yard, since I have moved and someone else is enjoying the mandarine oranges.

I have a Ponderosa lemon tree and it produces lemons each year but I have to agree it is cold sensitive and has suffered damage when I forget to protect it, however it still seems to manage making a few fruit even when it gets damaged.

Lou

Since I am further south then most of you I don't get the frost damage often. Maybe I'll give the ponderosa a try if the Meyer dies. Thanks to all for your info. :o)

I planted a Meyers lemon tree last year in Ft Myers
Is doing very well looks even too healthy has had no particular care No lemons yet but hopefully in a year or two

I have 2 Meyer lemons, one huge tree in the ground at the house I rent and a dwarf grafted 4 year old in a large pot. The one in the ground is next to a retaining wall so it has great drainage. The one in the pot wasn't doing well or producing until I repotted it in a very loose easy draining potting mix. Perhaps yours is suffering from soggy roots?

Also, I wouldnt give up on it so quick... My potted Meyer has been on the brink of death several times when I was first learning to care for it and now it has dozens of lemons and is continually flowering!

I have a 3 year old Meyer lemon tree, not sure if it's grafted or not, got it at a big box store. The first year I picked off the buds so it could develop its roots. The next year had a bumper crop of lemons. This year, not so many, but I have two large bags of lemon ice cubes frozen from the juice that will probably last me into the summer. It's covered with flowers right now, next year will be a good one. Going to have to prop up the branches so they don't hang on the ground or break. It's planted in soil so hard I had to use a pick axe to dig it up, but it does get fed and watered occasionally.