I dont think that discouraging it to not flower would encourage it to grow new leaves/branches. Now removing fruit it a common practice to try to do just that, but I dont know how well that actually works. The tree will do what it wants to do. I love the smell of the flowers on meyer, i wouldnt remove them for that reason alone. You can remove the fruit if they set.

mike

A one year old Meyer lemon should already be approximately 18" tall. To obtain the optimum growth keep the tree's root zone at a temperature between 78 to 83F, and fertilize the tree monthly during the summer months. Any citrus fruit still attached to a tree will produce the enzyme auxin, which prohibits all growth to any branch that has fruit hanging on it. New root and foliage growth flushes should alternate approximately ever 8-10 weeks.

Thanks for that info silica, I've always wondered what size these guys should be for their supposed age. One thing that always bothered me was how my 'grafted dwarf citrus' package (3 citrus trees) have no signs of graft lines, and that they were all extremely small and the trunk was thin and green despite being 1-2 years old upon arrival... last year. If I were to go by the sold as date, my trees should be 12+ months(cultivator) + 16 months(me) for a minimum of 28 months. Yet every single one of them are between 18-24" in height, and none of them were larger than 6" upon arrival.

When they showed up, they were essentially green sticks with pale green leafs on them, that promptly fell off upon arrival. The roots were only a small tap with a few small feeders. My apple trees at that age almost always have a root system more extensive than the branches above. In fact I count on that when plating them. When the citrus finally started branching, they branched from every direction instead of following a leader similar to how my non-citrus fruit trees grow in my orchard. I assumed they were cuttings that were rooted and then shipped out as grafted dwarfs.

Anyway, the trees have done well and with a bit of training started growing straight and up after 2 months of total dormancy upon arrival. Leaves are nice and green, but I was worried by fact that they may be a cutting might mean the Meyer was thinking it's ready to start making fruit and stop getting big, if that makes any sense.

Well I wont worry about the flowers, and I'll just enjoy them while they last. I noticed 2 more buds sprouting after coming home and firing up the grill.

Enjoy the fragrance. Thinning the fruit formed is key. However, I have found that the tree usually does this by itself. Any additional thinning encourages larger fruit.

My tree has, so far, dropped every lemon before it grew larger than a peanut except for one, which grew almost full size before I yanked it, worried it would snap the tree in half. (The trunk is no bigger than 1/2 an inch at it's widest)

I assumed that pinching the bud would just shorten the process and spend energy elsewhere. I've since learned otherwise.

Hopefully this is a good sign, as it's tried to grow no less than a dozen lemons on a tree less than a foot tall. My orange and lime don't have this problem :P

I wondered the same while stripping off flowers: what if it's just replacing these I'm removing or what if the flowers are producing important hormones that I'm removing? Yes the auxins produced by the fruit seeds will absolutely limit the growth of the limb it's on, but don't believe it's so for the flowers. However, when I suspect a tree is low on resources (just after a root disturbance or some other stress) I do take the time to remove flowers. The tree is definitely expending resources to produce flowers over foliage, and the flowers are given an earlier precedent in energy allocation. How much energy is saved? I suspect not much at all for a healthy tree.

However, for my Spring flowering it seems ALL those flowers turn into fruitlets. The July flower, not so much depending on variety. So if your tree is healthy, it's not worth the time removing Summer flowers IMO. But it certainly depends on your time availability and patience.

Where did you purchase the supposed grafted trees? I've recently seen very small grafted citrus, at first suspected were just cuttings, at a local whole foods store. Upon very close inspection I was able to see the budding scars/scion differentiation on a few of them. Makes me wonder if micro-budding techniques are used now retail/home-grower market, no idea.

I ordered them off some garden catalog that showed up in the mail one day, can't remember the outfit, that was tossed into my orchard growers/co-op magazine. $20+free shipping for 3 bountiful little lemon, lime and orange trees between 1-2 years old. They were supposed to arrive already fruiting and "ready to eat" within a year. That's what the advertising said at least, but the only guarantee was that they'd live for at least a year, which they have so I can't really complain. They might be small, but they are flowering which tells me they must be doing something right.

What did I know, other than liking the idea of having sweet lemons and tart limes normally unavailable in the grocery store. I'm half tempted to pull a favor and have the roots and "scion" DNA analyzed. I was told I could tell by suckers for most grafts, and by the roots if I was good... but I'm not :P