The Northern Gardener - Growing Dwarf Citrus Trees Indoors In Winter

Marys Bloomers Site Directory In  Zone 6, which is where I am gardening, it's officially winter, and I'm not able to go out and play in the dirt. Too much snow cover to even find the dirt. The gardening and seed catalogs have already begun to take their toll on my psyche with their tantalizing photos and descriptions of plants that i'll have to wait 5 months to see in their outdoor reality. I'll turn on some mood music and ponder growing a couple of fragrant fruit trees that will live on my patio come spring. In my quest for the simplest of simple for indoor/outdoor container gardening, I choose dwarf Lemon and Lime trees. Meyer Lemons, in particular, to start. Dwarf doen't mean small fruit. Oh no. It means a dwarf fruit tree producing regular-sized fruit. You really can't lose with those. Here's one of my new lemon trees. In a south-facing window for natural light. It's about 4 ft. tall for a good head start. Here it is with natural sunlight and an added overhead grow light for 12 hours of light indoors in the winter.    Lemons and limes are what i would like to try first for moveable patio trees in pots that will live indoors over the winter. Lime trees seem to be way too tall and too expensive for my first experiment. So Dwarf Meyer Lemon it shall be. I use those fruits the most often in winter, and i love the scents of the tree and blossoms.  I am picking a couple that are at least a foot tall from my favorite plant nurseries online. I refuse to buy any nursery stock from big box stores and home centers. I buy from the growers. They raise and know their children. And I insist on organic and non-GMO plant stock in my gardens. And in my diet. Meyer lemons are a thin-skinned hybrid fruit, part lemon and part mandarin orange, making them much sweeter than the kind of lemon you’d see at a grocery store. Meyer lemon trees have glossy, dark green leaves and fragrant white blossoms that are purple at the base. When they’re ripe, the skins of Meyer lemons will take on the color of an egg yolk—yellow with a faint orange tinge. Meyer lemon skins are fragrant and a popular ingredient among chefs. The growing is not the challenge, they're easy. Growing them indoors part-time is the challenge. -Cross between lemons and mandarin oranges. -Chefs use the sweet and tart skins -Self-pollinating -Will fruit indoors and outdoors -Heavy harvest in winter -Require consistent misting indoors - this is the one thing that might do me in.  Citrus leaves crave humidity. If you have an indoor Meyer lemon tree, mist it daily. -It’s also a good idea to place rocks and water in the saucer beneath your big pot, so that humidity will increase..I can't seem remember to mist my plants unless -i leave a misting bottle in the pot with the plant. Watering - These trees need watering only every week or so, and a nice drench each time. Do not water until dry again and don't give it dribbles frequently. A deep watering indoors once a week should do it. If you see leaf curls, time to water. - Plant your Meyer lemon trees in a big, beautiful pot. I like the styles shown in the  Mediterranean and Mexican garden designs. Plain emerald green, lemon yellow, and black pots  would look awesome, too, because they show off the lemon yellow fruit and emerald green leaves.   Select a sturdy container with drainage holes that is about twice the size of the pot it came in. Place a 2-inch layer of gravel or stones at the bottom of the pot for drainage, unless you're using a cactus or other good drainage soil. Create a potting mixture with peat moss, potting soil, and either vermiculite or perlite in the pot.or use cactus soil. They tend to need an acidic soil, so i will add my used coffee grounds and treat them like my rhododendrons and evergreens. Avoid using growing media formulated for moisture retention.  Clay, plastic or decorative containers are all suitable, as long as there are sufficient drainage holes. Start plants in smaller pots and move to a larger size as they grow so that there isn’t too much potting medium relative to the amount of foliage (or the soil will remain too wet after watering, making root rot more likely). A deep pot is better than a shallow one, as it will balance the tree when it gets larger and more top-heavy. Citrus can be kept in 10-12 inch pots for several years. Larger containers will allow the tree to grow bigger and more productive but these may be harder to move. Plants should be repotted every year or two. -Slide the tree out of the container. -Cut off dry roots and shake out the  matted roots. -Place the tree in the center of the pot. -Place the potting mixture in the pot so that the crown of the roots rest just    above the line of the soil. - Add water slowly, and place the tree by a south- or southwest-facing window, or supplement it's sunlight wherever you like with grow lights.  Avoid an excessive amount of direct sunlight. Periodically rotate the container so each part of the tree gets an equal amount of exposure.  Thanks to modern technology, you can grow a citrus tree in an urban apartment or home. Use a fluorescent grow light on days when sunlight is lacking. I will be growing mine in the available sunlight, plus using my grow lights on them for at least 10 hours, as a good start in their new home..Use LED grow lights if you don’t have a window that provides plenty of light. I use them religiously. Mostly because i have a lot of plants and not a lot of window to keep them in. The other is the superb growth that results from using them. The cost of running these lights is negligible.  I have several different styles that i will post here. There's a light for every spot and I have some that are quite nice-looking. Just like retro reading lamps. For small plants in small spots, like an end table or shelf. I also have a tree-style with 3 arms that can take care of 3 standing plants.    Pruning your lemon tree: You should prune your Meyer lemon tree periodically to maintain its structure and shape, and ensure that its branches can support fruit. Cut back the branches that do not produce fruit—called long leads—as they grow. The side branches will spread into that space and strengthen so that they can bear the weight of the fruit. Cut any branches that are growing toward the trunk to increase airflow between the branches. Fertilize your plant once every few months. Lemon trees grow well if they get plenty of nitrogen and you can find nitrogen-rich fertilizers at most plant stores. Feed your plant once every 3 weeks in spring or summer and once every 6 weeks in fall and winter.  I use organic epsom salts and fish emulsion fertilizers on all plants, indoors and out.    Informational resources:  University of Minnesota Extension University of Wisconsin – Madison This Old House Oregon State University   Mary's Bloomers Detailed Site Directory--> Content, photos, graphics and design© 2020 Mary's Bloomers  All rights reserved