Citrus - Lemon

Lemons are easily grown in both the ground or a large container. For the best fruit production, be sure the tree gets a minimum of 8 hours of direct sun.

• When container grown, we recommend a wine barrel sized pot or container.

  • Use a well draining, water retentive potting soil. We suggest combining our ‘Professional Potting Soil’ with additional ‘Pumice’ for aeration and drainage.

• When planted in the ground, prepare the planting hole with the needed organic matter and additional pumice needed to create the well drained soil environment Calamondin prefer.

  • We recommend our ‘Bumper Crop Soil Builder’, add additional ‘Pumice’ if your soil’s drainage needs improving.

The watering requirements vary with time.

• A newly planted lemon tree will do best when the soil kept consistently moist. This applies to both container grown and ground planted trees.

  • Allow the soil to dry to a depth of 1-2 inches before watering again.

  • Avoiding periods of dryness is as important as the avoidance of water logged soils; both are unhealthy and will delay establishment and fruit production.

• An established tree will do best with regular, though less frequent watering.

  • It is best to deep soak an established tree every 2-3 of weeks rather than shallow, frequent weekly watering common in most gardens.

Citrus, in general, are very heavy feeders and show signs of the need for either additional fertilizer or soil pH adjustments with yellowed leaves.

For containerized trees, we suggest a two pronged plan to keep your lemon healthy and producing.

• Through summer, fertilize regularly with a slow releasing fertilizer like our E.B. Stone Organics ‘Citrus Fertilizer’ or Master Nursery’s ‘Citrus Food’.

• In winter, foliar feed with Maxsea’s ‘Acid’ water soluble fertilizer..

  • This fertilizing technique takes advantage of the trees ability to absorb nutrients directly through the leaves when the plants roots are too cool to work efficiently.

For ground dwelling trees, regular applications of our E.B. Stone Organics ‘Citrus Fertilizer’ or Master Nursery’s ‘Formula 49’ will typically suffice.

If your tree is unresponsive to fertilizer applications, you typically have either a Magnesium deficiency or an issue with your pH. In this instance we recommend applying a soil acidifying product like GreenAll’s F.S.T. or Fertilome’s ‘Soil Acidifier’ to correct and maintain your soil. As the trees recover slowly from this, reapply yearly in the fall and late spring to keep the tree green and producing.