# Lemon & lime



## *Andi

Alright ... the local garden store has my number ... 

They had both lemon and lime trees today... so I got one of each for the greenhouse. (I couldn't help it ...) I did pass on the $80.00 lemon tree from the farmers market but I did not pass on these...


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## goshengirl

I'll be interested to hear how you do with these. What planting zone are you in? I've been so tempted to try a patio-type citrus, but was afraid it would need more attention than I would remember to give it, given that I'm in zone 6a.

They sure do look healthy. Can almost smell the lemons and limes now....


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## Bobbb

Enjoy.

Have you thought about growing outdoors? Considering that, under the right conditions, they can grow lemons outdoors in Canada, you should be able to do the same. I'm thinking that a south facing espalier set up with the tree attached to heat absorbing rocks or bricks might do the trick.















While on topic, here he is talking about his greenhouse full of citrus fruit.


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## *Andi

goshengirl said:


> I'll be interested to hear how you do with these. What planting zone are you in? I've been so tempted to try a patio-type citrus, but was afraid it would need more attention than I would remember to give it, given that I'm in zone 6a.
> 
> They sure do look healthy. Can almost smell the lemons and limes now....


I'm in zone 7ish ... and the leaves do smell.  But now I must learn what they need in my area. I will repot them this fall.

Now is the time to learn "what they like" ...


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## rawhide2971

Good for you. They take only a little work and you will be surprised at how much fruit you will get.


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## siletz

We got a mandarin orange and Meyer lemon last fall. We brought them inside over the winter next to a south facing window. We enjoyed oranges around Christmas time and are looking forward to our first lemons. They're outside now and will stay there until next fall. They have been a lot of fun and not too much work so far. I bet you'll be glad you splurged!


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## rawhide2971

My "Satsuma" has fruit on it for the first time this year and I am tickled. Thats a citrus that is not so commonly known buts pretty common down in Louisiana where I was born and my mom's family still lives, and are small and you simply eat the whole thing, like a plum.....so I am looking forward to seeing how they come out. Like anything else its the fun of growing them makes them worthwhile but I do think in a SHTF situation having citrus would be a good thing.


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## PrepN4Good

*Andi said:


> They had both lemon and lime trees today... so I got one of each for the greenhouse. ...


Oh, you lucky thing, you!!! :congrat:


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## *Andi

:woohoo:

My lemon tree is in bloom ... What a surprise, when I went into the greenhouse this morning to find ...


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## *Andi

And my lime tree looks like crap (not growing, droopy leaves ...  )Sooooooooooooo ...

I went ahead and repotted it, It looked a little root bound and I hope the larger pot will help. (Plus I upped the amount of water)

:crossfinger:


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## Tank_Girl

Did you know that in a lot of Asian cooking the use finely shredded lemon leaves?
Yes I know there is a variety of ****** lime tree where you use the leaves but you can also use the leaves off plain old lemon trees.

Just a little bit of trivia for you.


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## *Andi

Just about ready ...


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## camo2460

Very nice, what happened to the Lime tree, the last time you posted it was drooping?


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## *Andi

I repotted and they are loaded...


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## crabapple

Thanks, Andi.
A friend has lost a few citrus trees here in 7b-8a of South Carolina.
Bobbb thanks for the youtube.

The gravel on the ground & southern facing stone wall is been in use for centuries, when growing fruit trees.
Flat flag stone was used at the base of a tree to hold heat & moisture, as well as mulch to hold down weeds.
But I never thought that this trick would work so well in cold Canada.


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## camo2460

Wow those are beautiful trees, nice job.


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## rawhide2971

Well it's predicted for a freeze here in Sunny SC so my trees will be making the transition to inside the basement,  and I have fruit on all of them so its going to be baby sitting time until I can pick the fruit. Also going to dig up some of the Bananna trees to make sure I have some to replant in the spring. All indications are that its going to be a rough winter so I am not taking any chances this year. Most if the time I just cut them down to ground and cover them with paper and pine straw....don't think I will take the chance this year. :dunno::crossfinger:


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## *Andi

I have kept mine in the greenhouse, all year round. As soon as I have a little time I plan to repot the one lemon (which I should have done before) then the one that has fruit when I harvest.

I put both the bananas in 5 gallon pots last month... So I will see how that works out.


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## Meerkat

*Andi said:


> And my lime tree looks like crap (not growing, droopy leaves ...  )Sooooooooooooo ...
> 
> I went ahead and repotted it, It looked a little root bound and I hope the larger pot will help. (Plus I upped the amount of water)
> 
> :crossfinger:


 Our lemon and orange trees are doing ok so far. We bought them last March. Kept in greenhouse till this spring, back in greenhouse now. I have 19 lemons on the table now. We didn't get enough sun on them so they didn't turn yellow but still taste good. We cut down some trees, so now have plenty of sun and plenty of work to clean up. But it will be worth it for the sun to available to our plants.

We got lots of lemons and oranges, they had tiny little pea size fruit when we bought them. Paid about $40 for each I think, forgot.

I hear they like to dry out a bit between watering's. You may want to wet the leaves in the mornings or check the nutrients. We used an organic citrus fertilizer on ours. Citrus likes Mangenese and magnesium.


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## rawhide2971

I envy you guys that have a hot house, but my unfinished basement does a fair job of keeping things going. Only problem is as the trees get bigger the pots get heavier and they take up more room. However its a small problem compared to the pleasure I get from having them and enjoying the fruit. I am getting my first Satsumas this year and am anxious to see how they taste.


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## redhorse

I wish I could find some trees like that! I ordered some a few years ago, but they were sick little sticks that failed to thrive. 

Literally, they were about 1 1/2 feet tall, dry roots, two leaves. They were so stressed/poorly started that they never stood a chance. I'd love to find a citrus tree for sale that was already thriving.


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## jsriley5

Can't wait to get moved and have a actual green house of my own. need those trees then all I'd need is a tequilla tree and I"d be all set for the end of the world


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## Meerkat

redhorse said:


> I wish I could find some trees like that! I ordered some a few years ago, but they were sick little sticks that failed to thrive.
> 
> Literally, they were about 1 1/2 feet tall, dry roots, two leaves. They were so stressed/poorly started that they never stood a chance. I'd love to find a citrus tree for sale that was already thriving.


We got ours at Lowes .

They were in 5 gal. containers and already had small pea size fruit on them. Here they are now ,they didn't get enough sun but still tasted good. Next year they will be better because yesterday we took out more trees that kept them too shady. Now they are in the greenhouse till spring. Also in 20 gal containers now.


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## redhorse

Meerkat said:


> We got ours at Lowes .
> 
> They were in 5 gal. containers and already had small pea size fruit on them.


I've never seen them up here  Too bad the shipping would probly be outragous, or I'd have you ship me up a few.


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## Meerkat

redhorse said:


> I've never seen them up here  Too bad the shipping would probly be outragous, or I'd have you ship me up a few.


 Red, heres a number you can call if nothing else get information from them. I googled orange trees and 'Willis Orchard came up, shipping is 25%, so a Valencia orange tree costing $39 shipping would be 17.50. This tree will produce this coming spring. Valencia is more weather hardy and its sweeter to me.

Heres phone number too in case you want to call.it was on the website.

I-866-586-6283

If you decide to grow orange and lemon trees up there, you may need grow lights in mid winter to keep them going ,ask them.


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## redhorse

Meerkat said:


> Red, heres a number you can call if nothing else get information from them. I googled orange trees and 'Willis Orchard came up, shipping is 25%, so a Valencia orange tree costing $39 shipping would be 17.50. This tree will produce this coming spring. Valencia is more weather hardy and its sweeter to me.
> 
> Heres phone number too in case you want to call.it was on the website.
> 
> I-866-586-6283
> 
> If you decide to grow orange and lemon trees up there, you may need grow lights in mid winter to keep them going ,ask them.


Thanks for the info Meerkat, but that is where I ordered them from the last time. They were terrible, right out of the box. I did get my money back for store credit, but I really wanted the trees


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## Meerkat

redhorse said:


> Thanks for the info Meerkat, but that is where I ordered them from the last time. They were terrible, right out of the box. I did get my money back for store credit, but I really wanted the trees


 LOL, sorry I picked the wrong one. I just went to the first one that popped up. What are the odds?


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## redhorse

Meerkat said:


> LOL, sorry I picked the wrong one. I just went to the first one that popped up. What are the odds?


No problemo 

No, if only they would sell them at the local green houses or Lowes.


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## crabapple

I have been on 4 garden/fruit blogs & heard bad things about that nursery & two others that are connected some how, but say they are not connected. All their product is less than what you could grow yourself.
D***'s garden had a thread on them that was so bad from mad customer that the nursery threaten to sue D**e's garden.
It has been a few years, but the thread may still be up.
I use Petals from the Past for my fruit trees.
The plants look great & a fig had figs on it, as well as blueberry bush had berries.
I do buy from Lowes from time to time.
No Citrus as of yet.
It looks like Andi & meerkat did very well with their trees.
Thanks for sharing.


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## *Andi

redhorse said:


> I've never seen them up here


Come spring ask lowes if they can bring you in a few... They will at my local store, so it may be worth the try.


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## Meerkat

crabapple said:


> I have been on 4 garden/fruit blogs & heard bad things about that nursery & two others that are connected some how, but say they are not connected. All their product is less than what you could grow yourself.
> D***'s garden had a thread on them that was so bad from mad customer that the nursery threaten to sue D**e's garden.
> It has been a few years, but the thread may still be up.
> I use Petals from the Past for my fruit trees.
> The plants look great & a fig had figs on it, as well as blueberry bush had berries.
> I do buy from Lowes from time to time.
> No Citrus as of yet.
> It looks like Andi & meerkat did very well with their trees.
> Thanks for sharing.


 Thanks, leave it to me to bring up the worst site online.:scratch


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## redhorse

Thanks Andi and crabpapple, I'll try both of them and let you know. I had no idea Lowes would consider taking orders.


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## redhorse

Meerkat said:


> Thanks, leave it to me to bring up the worst site online.:scratch


No biggie  Thats why we have the forum. Share ideas, reviews, the good, bad, and ugly etc :beercheer:

At least you know not to order from them now!


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## goshengirl

Red, I got a Meyer's lemon and a Meyer's lime at Lowe's here (southern Ohio). They were originally $25 each, but ended up half price in the clearance section pretty fast - that's when I bought them. Given how poorly the sold, they might not come back again, but you can always check. I didn't get any blooms this year - they're probably too young to produce - so I can't give any reviews on the fruit.

There's a plant vendor in Athens called Companion Plants. They have a lot of medicinal and culinary herbs, etc. They have a hardy orange that's native to Asia that grows fine in zone 6, overwinters without any special attention (the owner grows plenty of them in the ground at his own home). The downside is that the oranges are very sour, but he says people have used them in a bbq sauce. I got one (still really tiny!) and figure I could try sweetening them up a bit, or if nothing else, using the peels in vinegar for a homemade cleaning solution.  Their website is: companionplants.com


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## redhorse

goshengirl said:


> Red, I got a Meyer's lemon and a Meyer's lime at Lowe's here (southern Ohio). They were originally $25 each, but ended up half price in the clearance section pretty fast - that's when I bought them. Given how poorly the sold, they might not come back again, but you can always check. I didn't get any blooms this year - they're probably too young to produce - so I can't give any reviews on the fruit.
> 
> There's a plant vendor in Athens called Companion Plants. They have a lot of medicinal and culinary herbs, etc. They have a hardy orange that's native to Asia that grows fine in zone 6, overwinters without any special attention (the owner grows plenty of them in the ground at his own home). The downside is that the oranges are very sour, but he says people have used them in a bbq sauce. I got one (still really tiny!) and figure I could try sweetening them up a bit, or if nothing else, using the peels in vinegar for a homemade cleaning solution.  Their website is: companionplants.com


I'm on the Companion Plants website. Wow, they have an awesome selection.

Did you go to the greenhouse itself or have you ordered from them also?


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## goshengirl

Actually, neither.  They've had a booth at the herb festival in Wheat Ridge for a few years. Both last fall and this fall I've picked some stuff up from them a the fair. But I'll be making a trip to their store location this coming spring (rather than getting a bunch of stuff now to overwinter). Their selection of mints (among other things) looks heavenly.  If you decide to go there, maybe we can meet up for some plant shopping.


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## redhorse

goshengirl said:


> Actually, neither.  They've had a booth at the herb festival in Wheat Ridge for a few years. Both last fall and this fall I've picked some stuff up from them a the fair. But I'll be making a trip to their store location this coming spring (rather than getting a bunch of stuff now to overwinter). Their selection of mints (among other things) looks heavenly.  If you decide to go there, maybe we can meet up for some plant shopping.


I'll keep that in mind for spring! Sound slike a fun shopping trip. I'll warn you though, I'm liable to be there all day lol.


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## *Andi

The one lemon tree that didn't fruit this summer was showing signs of bloom so I thought I would repot it before it does... what I didn't note on the new growth was all the little thorns!

Ouch! :gaah:

Something I will be sure to watch from now on. lol


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## Meerkat

*Andi said:


> The one lemon tree that didn't fruit this summer was showing signs of bloom so I thought I would repot it before it does... what I didn't note on the new growth was all the little thorns!
> 
> Ouch! :gaah:
> 
> Something I will be sure to watch from now on. lol


 Thats the truth, those thorns are nothing to play with.


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## debbluu

I bleed every time I pick my Meyer lemons. It has big thorns. But the lemons are so juicy.


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