Tips for Lemon Trees

Lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit, mandarin, tangerine, tangelo - all part of the Citrus family.

I often hear of problems people have trying to get their lemon tree to produce fruit.  So I have listed a few basic steps to get you off  to a good start.

Position
Sunny position - full sun if possible.  Some wind break is useful if you can manage it.  The wind will blow the flowers from the tree - and no flowers means no fruit.

Soil
Well draining soil is recommended and lemon trees like soil to be (slightly) acid, loam soil.

Watering
Water regularly, especially in the warmer months.

Feeding
Lemon trees just love their food so feed them often and especially with nitrogren and potassium (this is what produces the fruit)  When purchasing  food for lemon trees, take a good look at the label to ensure the product has the right mix of nutrients.  An all- in-one citrus food should be perfect.   A little gardening tip here is to place banana skins beneath a bed of mulch around the lemon tree.

Problems you may encounter:

Wasps lay their eggs in the stems.  If you notice a "bulging" remove immediately, cut about 2cms under the bulge.  DO NOT put these into your compost - the wasps will hatch, so dispose in the garbage.

Scale can easily be seen on the leaves.  A homemade concentrate of 2cups vegetable oil with half cup of dishwashing liquid, (shaken not stirred), can be used as a spray to rid the tree of scale.  Into one litre of water add 2 tablespoons of  the concentrate and spray the tree, saturating the leaves on both sides with the spray. 

Yellowing leaves - the tree is telling you it is hungry and needs a feed.

Hope this is of some help to anyone having problems with their Lemon Tree.

Happy Gardening and thanks for your time