Here ya go docgipe - I'm not so good with close up, but this picture will give everyone the right idea. I still do like to play bee, but I think you're right - even when I'm not there they manage to pollinate by themsleves.
Chantell, lots of luck with your new plant! You're going to love it.
NICE pic...love it!!!
Yea! There is the story of citrus polination. Meyer sex on DG for all to see. Not to shabby either. With a little continued effort you could get dangerous. LOL
I'm relatively new at close ups too. Maybe I shall drag out my camera and see what I can do. My lemon tree is pushing dozens of bloom. Will a yellow infant lemon blush if caught in the act?
Thanks Chantell :-)
docgipe, not sure but it'd be interesting to find out. Dozens of blooms? I'm jealous. I've been fighting the mites all winter and so I'm excitied to get a few clusters. Hopefully it's outside for good now and the spiders will take over where I left off. Or if not for good, then just a few more times dragging it in and out.
Macros are my favorite of all shots...love em, love em....simply fascinating the plant and insect world up close and personal!!
Mother Nature, God or evolution in most plants has provided a gazillion more male spores than needed. From that vast army of male spore only one need be successfull. When observing the bee one sees a rather clumpy spore gathering insect. Many more spore get attached to the bee than the bee actually specifically gathers. Then the bee continues to gently move about the flowering world and moves some spore around in process losing some and gathering some more. Considering the fact that the female receiving surfaces needs only one spore the whole affair is quite accidental. Yet most flowers are serviced by a bee, some by the wind, others by other animals bumpping about to set the polen free, and finally the wind. With all this many flowers are designed to grow the spore above or in close association with the female needed contact. Many plants need crosses from other plant members in their same family. This makes life more difficult for life to be continued. Citrus has an easy life by its original design or evolution over the years.
All of the above is to sugggest if you are playing bee make your contact movement of polen very gentle. A soft artists brush is very considerate. Your would herein be trying to be bee and the soft hair on the bee is indeed hard to duplicate. I have caused damage even using a soft artists brush.
Doc - you're amazing...always glad when you "come on in" and chat with us for a bit! BTW I'm now the proud mama of a gal size jug of black strap molasses - SEE what you do?!?
As an aside.............that molasses makes a good sticker too. Two tablespoons per gallon of foliar spray for any purpose. When it rain washes off the plant it goes to the total soil goodness with no real values lost.
Can't believe I missed this thread until now. Meyer's Lemon is one of my favorite topics. I've been trying to grow one for at least 7 years, and I'm having my most successful year yet. I'm just about ready to pick 3 huge lemons. (I've had lemons before, but never this big). I started a thread on the recipe forum about suggestions about how to enjoy them, if anyone wants to check that out, or add their own suggestion. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/947278/
Welcome to a reasonably good thread. If you get that lemon out for the good old sunshine this summer and trim back the new growth and any unwanted growth you will be seeing more fruit set each year now. My tree was a fruiting beast right from the start. Others I am aware of had to grow it on a year or more to get fruiting started. Three to five is about right for a tree your size if you like the big fruit. My tree is about your size. I experimented this year and let it have seven. Three were large while the others became smaller. I will go back to four or five this year. Right now it has dozens of blooms. More bloom will show up as the year goes on. The fruit that sets outside on my patio seem to be stronger and better growers than those setting now.
Cindy, that's a great thread you started on using Meyer lemons. Thanks for pointing us over there. Can't believe how active it is in just one day!
Alrighty...thought I give ya'll THE report...LOL. My babies arrived yesterday and since it's so nice but the sun's not beating down I put them on the porch for some fresh air. Improved Dwarf Meyer to left, Dwarf Kumquat in the middle and the Michelia Skinneriana I'd already rec'd to the right. Soup can at base of lemon for size comparison. Both Citrus were purchased from ebay seller 930sheryl http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190289416374&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D190289416374%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1 - who will hopefully be listing some more items!!! Good size, as you can see, on both of these. I am very pleased - quick ship and careful packing - also VERY quick to respond to messages!! Banana Shrub, as you know, was from Almost Eden.
she doesn't seem to have anything else listed (or else I can't find it--lol) but she is close by in Louisiana so thanks for the link!
Debbie
=)
She just got more in so I believe she'll be listing more items...I'll check with her and ask
Chantell--finally got my last one of the two new ones potted up today. I'm soooo slow--lol
dmj, that's a beautiful plant - is that your new one? Did you order it from eBay? Very nice!
One more comment I'll throw out, for years I lived with those huge thorns, and then I read somewhere to just clip them off, which I did last summer. I can't believe I didn't do it years ago, the plant seems to be surviving fine without the thorns. Couple of new ones have since grown which I have to clip.
nope E36--Home Depot
Thorns? Thorns on which plant? Showing my ignorance here, I know.
Lemons have or will develop thorns on the plant. They are nasty suckers too. Some clip them off.
My improved meyer lemons have very few--it's mostly the older varieties of citrus that are really thorny.
Hmmm....see now...I didn't know that...sad, huh?
And what did I forget when unpacking my order from Almost Eden....yikes!!!
Ok...I understand grafting but this - "3-on-1 Dwarf Citrus Tree Pick oranges lemons tangerines" at only 3-5" high???? Seriously? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160321103961&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123
Beware anything that does not have an actual photo.
Yeah I know. I was just trying to figure out how they successfully graft something that small.
For those of you who grow Meyers Lemons in pots, how long have you had yours in pots and what do you do to keep them alive from year to year. I had one in a 20" poty for about 3 yrs before it gave up the ghost. I want to get another one but I want to know what I did wrong before I do. I kept it on my patio in full sun during the spring and summer and pulled it back under the patio in the winter. How low of a temperature can they take? Would I have been better off putting it in the ground in zone 8b?
Thanks for your advice.
I've had some of mine (2) in pots for 17 years (the regular Meyer Lemon)--they are in really large pots (at least 30 gallons for the oldest). I use Epsoma citrus-tone for fertilizing and gradually upsize the pots. They've been just fine to 26F and they are in full sun year round. The two I just got on Feb 12th--can't get to the others right now, thunderstorm. They are already in 24" pots across the top, mulched and settled in, these were taken late yesterday. I use moisture polymer crystals too and Pro mix potting soil (really light weight) and then I seldom water them other than rain and sprinkler until August + September (which are unbelievably hot and humid here).
and the other new one
Thank you, DMJ for great photos and helpful hints. I was surprised and pleased to find Epsoma citrus-tone at an out of the way nursery in northern VA of all places!!
all the Epsoma's are at HD here
Guess it's not a hot seller in zone 7...LOL
still kinda early up there for ya'll, no? They only stock this stuff early spring down here--you have to buy everything you are going to need for the year before they ship the patio furniture in, then back to school stuff in August. lol
they definitely DON'T carry it all year--have to go to a more expensive specialty nursery and its hit or miss or what Epsoma products you will catch at any one of them...
I hate that!! It's like Super Thrive or Fish Emulsion...grab bottleS of it while it's on the shelf...b/c you'll be paying shipping come fall or God forbid winter....ugh
yep, that's what you gotta do...grab it when you see it in quantities like they'll never be for sale again. And then what gets me is the check out clerk looks at you strangely (like that's never happened before--lol) because they don't even realize they only get one shipment of the stuff in per season.
exactly!!
Yes...........that is the way it is here too. Strange but the store folks only off load the truck and stock the shelves....sometimes at the same place while other times I swear they hide it. The merchandise is sent in by corportate buyers....sometimes in weird amounts and timing too.
DJM1218, thanks for the information...I just have one question about your large pot.
I have no concept on gallon size. When you say your largest one is in a 30 gallon pot, what are the dimensions of that pot in inches? I'm trying to figure out if I put mine in a big enough pot over time. When I purchased the tree, it was in a regular 5 gallon pot. I planted it in a 24 " pot. It stayed in that pot and did well for 2 years, then it started to decline. What did I do wrong or what should I do next time? Should I have put it in a larger pot after 2 years or did I put it in a pot that was too big to begin with. If I remember right, the leaves started to curl on it.
I know that's more than one question, I just want to get it right the next time as I love lemon trees.
its dark outside--I'll measure those pots tomorrow afternoon; I kinda guessed at the gallons by setting a 3 gallon black pot next to it--but I could be way off. I gradually worked mine up--the older ones about every 2 years but at some point it stays where it is.
Debbie
