Overwintering Lemon tree

[starloc]

Starloc, I only have a single leaf on my Bears lime, but my eureka lemon and Naval Orange seem to be doing ok, do you think that an unheated conservatory with verticle blinds closed would be a good idea for the rest of the winter?

Limes are harder to keep happy, ive had most success in a cool ( not too cold though ) , darkish room, they come from hotter climates so need warmer roots to keep growing so light affects them more so the lemon could be fine and the limes leaves will fall off in similar light levels, if it has few leaves make sure its not overwatered as thats what kills them, with no leaves they need very little water compared to normal growth

[Davyburns]

Limes are harder to keep happy, ive had most success in a cool ( not too cold though ) , darkish room, they come from hotter climates so need warmer roots to keep growing so light affects them more so the lemon could be fine and the limes leaves will fall off in similar light levels, if it has few leaves make sure its not overwatered as thats what kills them, with no leaves they need very little water compared to normal growth

Thanks for that, but it didn't really answer my question. Is an unheated conservatory with verticle blinds closed a good idea for the rest of the winter?

[Liza]

"Limes are harder to keep happy, ive had most success in a cool ( not too cold though ) , darkish room"

Was that what you were looking for ? Davy is your conservatory darkish and not too cold ?

[Davyburns]

"Limes are harder to keep happy, ive had most success in a cool ( not too cold though ) , darkish room"

Was that what you were looking for ? Davy is your conservatory darkish and not too cold ?

Well, It never goes below 4 or above 15, and it has white verticle blinds on 3 sides, so its not really dark, but theres no direct sunlight

[Mell]

I still do not understand the logic of dark conditions. The Hotter the temprature, naturally, the near the equator one generally is. The nearer the equator the more even the day & night. Therefore typically a citrus plant experiances longer daylight hours than a UK winter can provide. The outside temp is too low agreed. But a consevatory /orangery will lessen that.

Oranges grown outside in Spain, a (southern)winter will give 6 hours sunshine and a temp between 10-16, (dropping below 10 at night) so a conservatory maintaining something like this would seem to need light at around the same levels. Certainly I was told the back of my orangery did not get enough light & moving them to the front (south) 2 years ago has benefitted the older oranges & lemon. My others are too young to compare most having ben obtained this year but so far so good.

However limes do not thrieve in the med, so we need to seek another example for them..

This page Limes says bears lime can't tolerate cold (although other pages state it is hardy !) Unless Bears & Bearss differ ?

So a hypothasis...
But if it is grown in California in the ground sucessfully, the root heating starts to make more sense for this cultivar. Night & day air temps seem to vary a great deal, but soil temps tend to lag behind air tempratures and the soil will generally keep a more even temp. (although not found specifics for lime growing areas & California is big with many variations !)The smaller the pot the worse this loss will be and in the UK winter even inside the soil will never warm up enough to maintain the temp it would in parts of California for ex. (same in European med in winter)

Soo not to waffle on too much so far it look as if limes need quite different conditions from hardier oranges & lemons.

But I still think warmth & light with nutrition, rather than dark is the answer

[Davyburns]

Its going to be hard to guage the success or failure of either doctrine given that my lime only has a single leaf left, and no signs of any growth at all

[Mell]

Its going to be hard to guage the success or failure of either doctrine given that my lime only has a single leaf left, and no signs of any growth at all

agreed, just to recap this is a 4ft tree in a 30 inch diameter container ? How deep is the container ? How long have you had this eg did you buy it as is or grow it from a 6 inch plant ?

You've not (as far as I can recall) said it has always been ok before So I'm going to guess it is a bought. In which case it might well be that it is experiancing less than ideal conditions for the first time in its life ?

[Davyburns]

agreed, just to recap this is a 4ft tree in a 30 inch diameter container ? How deep is the container ? How long have you had this eg did you buy it as is or grow it from a 6 inch plant ?

You've not (as far as I can recall) said it has always been ok before So I'm going to guess it is a bought. In which case it might well be that it is experiancing less than ideal conditions for the first time in its life ?

I bought it in May as a dry rootball plant that looked like it had been drop shipped from Spain (the same way as I got my thriving Orange and Lemon trees). I followed the instructions to the letter, and planted it in a 30" container thats about a foot deep, and it did ok for about 2 months, then it dropped about 4 or 5 leaves a day, which people told me was due to overwatering. I stopped the water, and about 3 weeks later, lots of new growth with leaves on appeared and it seemed to be doing ok, then about 2 months ago, it started to shed not only the leaves but the new buds it was producing, until it got to where it is now.

[Mell]

I thinking you are missing the point that oranges, lemon & limes whilst similar are different trees and have each evolved to fill a specific evolutionary niche. Therefore the coinditions they require will differ slightly. Just because two out of three animals in a zoo are doing well it would not follow thgat the third with the same conditions would. I coulkd even cite this for different individuals of the same species. I think yoiu need to let go of the idea that two are OK so the third should be. And look to what would solve the evident and real problem in the lime.

The tree is , from what you have said, very stressed and responding to that stress. To help it you need to assess what is stressing it and address those points. The most simple way to do that would be to find out what conditions it was originally grown in. If your trees survive, the stress from year to year should become less as the become more aclimatised to their new environment (assuming the new environment has sufficient pluses in it to provide survival conditions)

[Two_Sheds]

I'm trying to kill the ratty old lemon tree that was donated me - I've left it out in the snow mwa-ha-ha

[rustylady]

I'm trying to kill the ratty old lemon tree that was donated me - I've left it out in the snow mwa-ha-ha

You wicked woman!! I've been nurturing the lemon tree you bought me.

[Mell]

I'm trying to kill the ratty old lemon tree that was donated me - I've left it out in the snow mwa-ha-ha

Meany send it to me for tlc !!