How to Transplant Your Meyer Lemon Tree

After buying a hardy Meyer lemon tree four years ago, we have surprised ourselves as not only has the tree survived well but it has provided us with interest and pleasure, and yes, sweet, fragrant lemons over the years. When it outgrew its pot we decided to transplant our Meyer lemon tree into the vegetable garden. It is an ongoing story as there is nothing to compare with the joy of picking our own juicy lemons to sprinkle on a dinner of fresh caught salmon.

If Your Lemon Outgrows its Pot

After  years of living in containers and being moved constantly Mr. Meyer, our lemon tree, had outgrown its pot and has been moved successfully to a more permanent home. It had become more of a challenge to protect and care for the tree as it grew larger and not surprisingly we found it was totally root bound when removed from its pot.

We were rather limited in our choice of places to permanently plant a citrus tree where it would be

• protected from the wind, summer or winter,
• in a warm sunny part of our often shady vegetable garden
• and have room to grow

We had considered planting the lemon inside our small greenhouse but it would take up a third of the space and I am hoping to grow greens inside this coming winter as well as using the greenhouse to store portable pollinating pots for next year

The transplanted lemon tree has been outside enjoying the spring and summer warm weather for just over a month and has again amazed us by blossoming with hundreds of very fragrant flowers which the bees enjoy; it has sprouted many new leaves and is quite bushy and interestingly the small lemons on the tree have grown and ripened very quickly since transplanting.

Growing Lemon Trees in Winter in the Lower Mainland

We will have to consider how to protect it over winter even though it is cold hardy. Higher than average temperatures are forecast until September, 2016 so this will be of help during the coming winter. We will follow our previous care with remay cloth plus a temporary extension on the greenhouse to cover the lemon. We still have to work out the LED lights – another summer project.

Growing citrus trees in the Lower Mainland of B.C. is not so unique any more but it is still very special for our family and a truly rewarding learning experience.  After adjusting to a newer and more favourable growing environment we are hoping for many more delicious lemons in the future! Mr. Meyer has paid his “room and board” for a lifetime already when compared with the price of  organic lemons. Grow your own and enjoy the fragrance and taste unparalleled. We simply enjoy our daily lemon juice

Notes

• If your plant is rootbound in its container and not too large try to soak it in a larger tub of water before transplanting or water the roots to loosen
• After transplanting the tree keep it well watered and perhaps even shaded if the weather is very hot and sunny
• Often wax coatings and chemicals are used on industrial agriculture citrus fruit we buy. For example Shellac is not only a wood finisher but also a citrus fruit coating used for commercial fruit transportation and storage

Update: 2016

• The winter after transplanting our Meyer lemon tree outside, under shelter, the severe winter freezing temperatures and winds (up to 80 kph) unfortunately caused its demise
• In 2016 we purchased another Meyer Lemon tree and a more hardy Calamondin (Kumquat). Both will stay in containers and will only be moved outside in our winter to a permanent, protected and heat controlled greenhouse.

Links and References

• Information on Vitamin C found in citrus fruits from US National Library of medicine
• Nutrition Journal article “Vitamin C in human health & disease is still a mystery?  Overview by K. Akhilender Naidu
• Joy of juicing
• Encyclopedic information on Vitamin C (found in citrus fruits)
• Fun information about lemons