Delicious fruit, sweetly fragrant flowers and Leaves for Tea, dwarf Meyer lemon trees are a great fruit tree to grow. You can grow Meyer lemon trees in pots indoors and outdoors for big beautiful sweet lemons!
You know when those wonderful catalogs roll into the mailbox in winter and you’re looking longingly at those dazzling photos of luscious plants? Well, we were drooling over the vivid pages and stopped at the dwarf Meyer lemon tree loaded with fruit.
We wanted to get one, but wondered, do those dwarf citrus trees really produce fruit like that…? Are those pictures of tiny trees loaded with lemons real?
We now know that it’s TRUE! They’re great little producers of the BEST TASTING LEMONS EVER!! BUT… they do have some basic needs that must be met or else they won’t fruit or the fruit will fall off as ours has this season. First, let’s meet the Meyers.
What Are Meyer Lemons?
The most popular indoor-outdoor citrus tree is the dwarf Meyer Lemon tree. We now have two, that Coleman got me for birthday and Christmas presents… favorite kinds of pre!
Born in China
A hybrid native citrus fruit of China, Meyer lemons, Citrus × meyeri, are a sweeter, less acidic variety of lemon. With smooth, bright yellow skin sporting a hint of orange color and flavor when fully ripe, the dwarf Meyer lemon tree can fruit indoors or outside, in pots or in the ground in temperate zones, 8-11.
Why Are They Called Meyer Lemons?
The Meyer lemon tree is named after Frank Meyer who imported the first plants from Beijing in 1908. Thank you, Mr. Meyer! The Meyer is a cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon, which likely accounts for it rounder shape, sweeter taste and hint of orange flavor and color.
The Meyer lemon is a cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon.
Improved in the USA
Once banned for spreading disease to other citrus trees, the University of California began working to improve the Meyer lemon tree around 1975. Fortunately they succeeded so that the ban was lifted and we can all enjoy this delightful lemon plant, with scant concern for disease.
Growing the Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree
FERTILIZER – When to Fertilize Meyer Lemon Trees
- WHEN: After 2 years, 3x / year, best between April-September,
- TYPE: High nitrogen good for citrus fruit
FRUITING – When do Meyer Lemon Trees Bear Fruit?
- Can bear fruit year round, but especially in winter
- How long before Meyer lemon trees Bear Fruit?
- 1-2 years for grafted Meyer lemon trees
- 3-7 years for trees grown from seed, without certainty of quality
- Can continue bearing fruit for up to 30+ years with proper care
FRUIT TASTE, TEXTURE and APPEARANCE of Meyer Lemons
- Round, smooth-skinned
- non-acidic, mildly sweet lemon flavor
- sizes vary, can be small to full sized large fruits
Meyer Lemon Growing Conditions
- OUTDOORS: USDA Hardiness Zone 8-11 (can be hardy to temps above 20℉ / 6.7℃)[1]
- INDOORS: Can grow and fruit indoors in large pots; best in cool room with humidifier
- POLLINATION: Self pollinating – no mate required
Disease and Problems With Meyer Lemon Trees
- DISEASE
- Citrus tristeza virus
- Root rot – from uneven or too much watering
- PESTS: Citrus thrips, more likely indoors away from natural predators such as spiders, lacewings, and pirate bugs
- FRUIT NOT YELLOWING – causes could include not enough fertilizer, maturity or sun
- FRUIT DROPPING OFF – causes can include:
- Natural thinning for optimal fruit quality
- Uneven watering
- FRUIT SPLITTING – caused by uneven growth due to extreme weather changes[1]https://homeguides.sfgate.com/baby-meyer-lemons-dying-88686.html
- LEAVES
- YELLOW LEAVES – needs water or fertilizer
- CURLING LEAVES – Cupping or curling leaves usually means too much water
- GREEN LEAVES FALLING OFF – some leaf loss during flowering and fruiting is normal, however, excessive loss could be due to a number of common issues, such as root rot, spider mites, or nutrient deficiency.
SIZE:
- REGULAR: 6-10 feet / 2.5 meters
- DWARF: 5-7 feet / 1.8 meters
- SOIL: keep soil moist (but not wet) in well drained sandy, loamy soil.
- SUN: Direct sunlight is best for a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day
- WATER: Not drought resistant; prefers humidity, rain and moist soil.
PRUNING:
- PRUNE –
- at over 3 feet tall, as needed
- after last fruit is harvested
- LIGHTLY prune dead or extended branches moderately to even out
- NIP BUDS and/or Fruit
- remove all but one bud per cluster may produce larger fruit
- prune marble sized fruit clusters to 1-2 fruits
- REPOT: in spring
- LEAVES: save the pruned leaves to dehydrate for tea!
RELATED: see this avocado leaf tea recipe that includes lemon leaves or lemon balm
Hard to Clip Those Blossoms Though…
We have a hard time pruning off the buds because we love the flowers for their beauty and incredible aroma that sweetens a room. So we prune the fruit instead.
It would be interesting to do a case study of two similarly thriving trees side-by-side and see which one produces the better fruit: the tree whose buds were nipped or the tree whose fruit was clipped. Maybe we’ll try that next time we have two blossoming at the same time.
However, that said, for our plant that’s struggling this year, the one fruit left upon it is certainly growing large and beautiful. It’s like the tree is giving it’s one “child”, all that it has to give. We will repot it in spring in a larger pot with fresh loamy soil and more attention to fertilizing it as well.
RELATED: Check out espalier fruit trees.
Meyer Lemon Tree Fruit
How Do Meyer Lemons Taste?
Delicious Meyer lemons are the sweetest, mildest lemons we’ve ever tasted. Less acidic than the typical lemon, Meyer lemons are not sour and have a hint of the sweetness of an orange and can grow as large too.
Prolific Fruit for a Tiny Tree
When we first wrote this article, our first Meyer lemon tree had 14 lemons on it in its second year with us. The other one, none right now. It had a hard summer when, after transplanting it to a larger pot, Coleman didn’t realize there were no drain holes in it, so the poor little lemon tree nearly drowned.
Fortunately, it bravely bore to ripeness the two lemons that were already on it and well on the way to maturing, and they were delicious! Now it’s recovering nicely.
Lemon Water – a Daily Health Ritual
We start our mornings with lemon water. Either organic lemon juice, or a wedge of lemon squeezed into a full glass of fresh water. But organic lemons are expensive. Heck… even regular lemons are expensive these days!
So when the seed and plant catalogs came in, we were drooling over those beautiful photos of abundantly fruiting dwarf Meyer lemon trees. We wondered if any of the photos were real, or close to real. So we asked the GardensAll community if they had direct experience with growing the Meyer lemon trees. Many folks chimed in with their — mostly positive — experience, and including a few non-Meyer citrus trees.
“Anyone growing dwarf Meyers lemon trees or other dwarf citrus trees?”
Kristi answered:
“We have a dwarf lemon and a dwarf lime. During the summer months, we move them outside and bring them back in for the cold months. This year between the two trees we harvested almost 4 dozen fruit. The lemons were larger than my fist. My neighbor thought they were small grapefruit. We’ve found them both to be slightly sweeter than store bought varieties.“
WOW, That’s pretty good! Four dozen fruit from two dwarf Meyer Lemon Trees!
Many other people responded as well, and with varying degrees of success or failure. We share that stream of responses at the end of this article so you can see the range of experiences.
