Lime,

Full shade outdoors is roughly equal to a sunny window indoors. I think it is okay to put it outside in full shade and bring it in at night. The color is good; the "excess" of flowers might indicate the tree is feeling stressed; but wait until the flowers are gone before cutting or thinning any fruit; if you cut the flowers, the tree will only make more. I would give it a small shot of fertilizer; but not too much Nitrogen. My experience is if you give a Meyer too much N when it is blooming, it will drop the flowers in favor of making leaves.

Thanks for all the great advice. I am following it and am wondering if 1) Would it be a consideration to cut back this little lemon tree so it would get more leaves in the areas where it lost them in the fall? 2) If nitrogen fertilizer would help it to get leaves instead of lemons, would that not, perhaps, be helpful since it looks a bit too pitiful to use all its energy to make a lemon this year? ---or should I just take off any lemons that decide to grow? Thanks again, Patricia

Wow, that's a lot of flowers on that tiny tree! Since I see Johnmerr is following this thread, I've got this question for the expert: Where do Meyer's flower from? Old wood? New wood? Seems like it's random where they decide to blossom from. Is it?

Meyers flower primarily on new growth; but some on branches less than a year old.

Patricia, I wouldn't prune those; the bare parts will eventually fill in with new growth if you treat the tree correctly. What I would do, to encourage new growth would be to take off almost all of any fruit that sets. Young Meyers are not good at self thinning and tend to keep too much fruit; hence the tree "forgets" to grow. Don't take off the flowers; it will only make more; wait until the fruits, if any, and when they are BB to pea size, then cut them, A good shot of fertilizer after cutting the fruits will usually result in a growth spurt.

Will do, and thanks again. It is just delightful to be able to ask a question and get such an immediate and valuable answer. Patricia