Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 14, 2010 8:25 pm I bought a dwarf lemon tree a few months ago and it's looking really healthy and is about 60cm high. It's COVERED in little lemons at the moment and I'm not sure what the best thing to do? I'm not sure if the little tree could support that much fruit/weight? As the plant is still quite small am I best to pull them all off so the tree can concentrate on growing bigger rather than fruit? Pull a bunch of the little fruit on so the remaining fruit has less competition and less likely to break the tree? Leave it go and see what happens? Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 2Oct 14, 2010 9:03 pm Yep, pluck them off. Such a young plant It isn't fair on the little stems and branches to bare fruit The little thing hasn't got much in the tank being so young and small so please help it Feed the soil. Don't use those citrus and fruit chemical fertilisers. Make sure the tree is in good organic soil, make sure it is mulched with straw all around it to 100mm thick Use Seamungus, molasses, Seasol, and blood and bone (apply when it's raining ) all through the year in no particular order Chuck in zeolite with the potting mix next time you replant it. Also mix in straw and coir peat/coco peat. In two or three years, let it fruit and it will bare well The crops will ebb and flow from heavy to light crops from year to year Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 3Oct 14, 2010 9:05 pm If you leave it, most of the fruit will drop off anyway but not before using up so much energy, you will get poor crops on it for many years to come after it is ready to fruit. Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 4Oct 18, 2010 10:32 am Thanks Fu, Pulled them all off the other day..that tiny tree had 22 lemons on it! Couldn't believe it. So I guess I'll keep pulling them off till it gets a big bigger/stronger. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 5Oct 19, 2010 2:23 pm I've got a variation on this. I bought & recently planted quite an advanced lime tree, it's about 2m high and quite bushy, and also covered in little limes. I guess I should pluck them off this year so its roots develop better? And is it ok to leave some on next year, maybe just thin 'em out? I also have a very very sick lemon tree, but that's another story... crappy tree frost argentine ants profusion of scale insects drought Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 6Oct 19, 2010 7:30 pm englyn I've got a variation on this. I bought & recently planted quite an advanced lime tree, it's about 2m high and quite bushy, and also covered in little limes. I guess I should pluck them off this year so its roots develop better? And is it ok to leave some on next year, maybe just thin 'em out? I also have a very very sick lemon tree, but that's another story... crappy tree frost Argentine ants profusion of scale insects drought and easy to fix All symptoms of a sick soil It starts in the soil. Other things will pick on a weak plant. Where you have ants, you will have pests. Treat the area with a Bifenthrin based ant killer, then look at treating the scale and dare I say it but there is a time and place to use systemic insecticides and this maybe it. Also get onto http://www.goodbugs.org.au/ for a natural solution Rub chalk, or talc or lime into the stems and the ants don't or generally don't cross it unless they have other acess. Get rid of them and you get rid of the other things Get organic compost down. Then layer a thick straw mulch over a wide area under them. Use molasses and seamungus. Spray Seasol over the foliage. Maybe take a look at a foliar feed of Zinc and Manganese Pluck off any fruit from a sick or young tree. Over all it isn't just about the root system, it is about the overall maturity of the plant. If it is advanced, it may very well be ok to fruit but lets give it a rest this year hey Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 7Oct 20, 2010 12:37 pm Thanks Fu! It's got the organic compost ready, we haven't actually planted it yet as it was so sick we were afraid to, so we temporarily planted it still in its bag, until we can get the pests sorted. It's taken us several goes to get rid of the ants (there were a LOT and they laughed at ant powder, surface spray etc) so I declared war the other night with ant-rid and it seems to have worked. I really don't want to spray with insecticide as the thing is covered with flowers and I don't want to get the bees by mistake. Now it's had some water and is looking a bit happier, and after I get rid of that scale (I have the white oil ready), we'll plant it properly. I'll keep the good bugs in mind for general control when the poor plant isn't completely under siege. I'll have a try with the talc too. Re: Advice on my Dwarf Lemon tree 8Oct 20, 2010 11:22 pm Can I suggest not using white oil. I'd be using Eco Oil instead because the White oil is a petroleum oil. It can only be used a few times a year really with out harming the plant and if it gets hot, white oil can cause leaf burn and damage to the stems in extreme cases. Lets go with a plant based oil and you can then use it more often and for other uses like reducing the instance of Citrus Leaf Miner. Plant the poor thing in the ground It will thank you for it Hi , I'm currently going through this now within the Whitehorse council which has a similar set of restrictions. We're having to make compromises with our floor plan due… 3 30668 Hello. I just bought a few acres in Habana, Mackay, and my horses seem to love hanging around under this tree. I would like to name the paddock after this tree. Can… 0 9517 |