It will flower when it becomes tall enough. Age is irrelevant, but height (actually number of nodes away from the seed) is important. So if, over those years, you kept it small, it has some catching up to do.

I would personally like to congratulate you on keeping a containerized citrus (or any other tree) alive and doing well for all this time!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:565685}}

it must carry something of your memory that you treasure to care for it in thirty five years without having any fruit.

I did keep it small -mostly pruning it because of the leaf drop every fall when I brought it inside. The tree's name is Olivia - I also named it when I was four or five years old so she is very special to me. She spent many years decorated as my christmas tree when I was single and broke.

Anyway, I'm so glad I found this forum, I spent some time searching other posts this weekend and discovered one by Dr. Miller that showed the different types of leaves. I believe my citrus tree is a minneola tangelo. When I get a chance I will post a picture of the leaves and see if anyone agrees with me. I also read through the information on how long it takes a tree to fruit. I'm glad I didn't give up on my tree. I thought all along that it was the age of the tree, not how big it was.

Thank you all for your posts.

It is a wonderful thing to develop a relationship like that with a plant! We have a few types of plants (not citrus, though) we have carried through our family for several generations. Hats off to you, and I bet you'll get some oranges eventually!

Terry

Wow, you are amazing to be able to keep your tree alive that long! I've never had a plant that survived for 5 years, let alone 35! Congrats! I hope you get some fruit this year!

May I suggest you fertilize it with superphosphate and Epsom salts. This will stimulate bloom bud formation.

Thanks for all of your comments. I will try the superphosphate and epsome salts. Hopefully there will be blooms in our future!