If you have just started getting flowers, it may not form fruit with the first but it may!, it is a sign that it will probably form more flowers and fruit, not all flowers will form fruit, only a few percent of them actualy go on to be fruit.

With a seed grown tree, its never a good time to prune it!
the tree countshow many leaves it has grown, when it has grown enough it will mature and start to flower and fruit, chopping anything off will put it back by the number of leaves you chop off,

Being seed grown it will want to be big!,

Small trees are bits of a mature tree grafted onto a dwarf rootstock, the piece of tree grafted on remebers its age and so will still fruit, this allows a tree to be kept small, pruning will still reduce crop if not loose a crop for that year, so citrus are not usualy pruned at all, unless necessary

It takes a few years of production from start of fruiting to give a good crop, some people remove fruit the first few years of flowering, but most dont as the tree will drop the fruit if it cant hold it so it is safe to leave it.

Thanks so much for the advice. Truth be told I was loathe to prune it because I love every branch and leaf. Is it normal for it to flower at this age (5 1/2 years?) I am just so happy that my little ones are growing up ;-)

Theres lots of people who say it can take many years for citrus to flower, some like grapefruit can take 20 years or more as they are giant trees, if unpruned it can take 20 years, prune one to keep it small and it will never flower
lemon trees are one of the quicker ones to grow, usualy someting about 5 years, they say 3 to 7 years to start flowering, but it depends on the conditions, heat/light/size of pot/ fertiliser for speed of growth, and if pruned they may never flower

Citrus only grow one type of bud when growing, they can not flower unless stressed they will just keep growing leaves and branches,

on a mature tree when stressed the buds will change from a vegititive bud to a flowering one and the flowering/fruiting will start

The usual way for stress to occour is with the winter, if the air tempertaure (not root temperature) falls below 16 degrees C (but not too cold), for something like 200 to 400 hours over the winter ( not necesariliy at one time just when cold is added up, at night time or similar ) it will flower the next year, or shortly after the weather turns warmer

Often when people grow a pot citrus its often kept somewere warm, all the time, so wether the plant is mature or not it will not flower as it doesnt get required winter chill hours to flower the next year , so seed grown trees never flower rumors start!

Some citrus will fruit fairly quickly from seed (a few years) though I forget which ones. Changsha Satsuma is one example I believe.

Most citrus and I think all lemons grow true from seed, meaning ~90-95% of seedings will be as good as grafting from the mother plant. So you probably have the same variety of lemon you started with.

Citrus can easily be drought-stressed into flowering, especially in a pot. Stop watering, but keep an eye on the plant, and when the leaves start to curl from drought stress start to water it again. That often (usually?) will trigger abundant flowering. I've never done it intentionally but I have done it accidentally.

This reminds me of a time we bought a house with a lovely tangerine (we thought) tree. It was loaded with fruit! I suspect it was from a seed because although it peeled like a tangerine, it tasted like a lemon!!

There was a time my boys (without my knowledge) sold bags of the fruit to unsuspecting neighbors for $1.00. They all made lemonade and thankfully laughed!!

It is all very interesting. I am thrilled that there is a hope that the flower will grow into a lemon. I don't remember the kind of lemon the seeds were from. But the leaves give off a lovely lemony scent when they are rubbed.

Of a practical concern is the height of the tree. I know now that pruning it would be a bad idea. But if at some point in the future the tree is too tall for my house (it has about a foot til it reaches the ceiling) Would trimming the tops keep it from ever flowering/fruiting?

Thanks to all!

once it is flowering regularly, chopping a bit off to maintain hight should not be a problem,
But lemon trees grow quickly and will just grow more branches the more you trim off, but if its flowering the cuttings will root very easily and will be old enough to flower and fruit so you will have new plants every time you prune it.

Here's something you can try. "YOU" start taking a daily vitamin. After two weeks collect a liter of your urine, add it to 5 gallons of hot water let it cool. Add 2 tablespoons epsum salts. Water trees your regular way. Mid summer change to half strenght. End of summer use regular hot water (let it cool)for month. When buds start to form use 2 more tablespoons epsum salt in 5 gallons of water till warm weather starts again. Use this for larger container trees. This is what I use for my trees in the north but I can't see why it wouldn't work in other zones.

georgeiii what is the purpose of it being hot water? You also say at the end of summer new buds will form. Unless the climate does something different where you live most of the time late January or February here is when I see new bud development. That said my trees are not in containers.

I am curious as to how your flowers are progressing. My seed-grown, container-held lemon formed several buds a few days ago - first time ever!!! I am so excited as I have been dragging it inside and outside for about 5 years as the seasons change here in New York. I have 2 meyer lemon trees in containers which bear fruit each year - I think/hope the 'seed' tree is from one of these seeds.

Congratulations on your flowers, Sandra. I am in Northern Kentucky, so I have to contend with the seasons, too.

Shortly after I posted this, my dear nephew tried to smell the lemon blossom and it came off in his hand. It was a difficult moment for both of us ;-O But my dream of a home-grown lemon was revived a week later when another of the trees grew a flower.

I have a question. The petals of the flower have been dropping off. Is this normal? Or does it mean it's dead and a lemon will NOT be forthcoming? What should happen after it blooms?

Thanks for the input!

Frances

Hi Francis..congrats to you, too. It's unfortunate your nephew tried sniffing the flowers..
But honestly, citrus blooms aren't long-lasting.
As flowers fade, tiny fruit appear where the flower grew..Fruit resemble little balls. Toni

I will watch for the little balls to form. It is so cool after so many years of just getting leaves to have all these new things to experience.

I also wanted to mention that my lemon trees, even in winter and with non-ideal conditions (my home faces north and does not get good light in the winter), are doing better than ever. I attribute this to the fact that I've started misting them liberally a few times a week with a mixture of water, a bit of dish soap and rubbing alcohol. I read about that in these forums and my trees have really responded well.

The second blossom dried up and fell off the tree and nothing else has formed. So sad!

Give it time. The tree was like a child before, immature and content to just go with the flow and grow leaves. Then one day it woke up and thought no, I'm a teenager now, I'm going to show the world what I can do! So, it sends out a couple of flowers. But, because it is young and inexperienced, it doesn't know how to hold the flowers, so they fall off. A little later down the line, it learns from experience how to hold on to fruit, and begins to test itself to see how much it can hold. More flowers come, in greater amounts with each flush of growth. Some of these fall off, but it manages to keep hold of some which turn into little fruits. Some of the little 'fruitlets' don't make it, but one or two might. Because it has never made fruit before, it might not taste great.

But next year, it knows what it is doing. It flowers much better, holds more fruit, and the fruit increases in quality as it grows into a proper adult.

So, the bottom lines, your tree is young and inexperienced and eager to please. Just give it the right care and let it learn :) hopefully very soon ti will be producing good harvests for you.

So sweet :) I have planted trees from seeds as well and tell my girls that by the time they grow up, the trees will hopefully start fruiting.

Lovely tree Virginia! FMbaker...can you show us a pic of your tree? I'd love to see it! I'm sorry the blossoms fell off, but they are a great sign and I have no doubt that you will be more soon!

Just an FYI, even a mature tree will flower, make tiny fruit, and then only some of the fruit will stay on the tree to mature. At this young stage, it's not as likely to set fruit. One has to wonder exactly what it is that triggers a tree to be old enough to bloom. starloc described it as a "counting of leaves" and I have heard it as a numbering of branch forks but somewhere in there is surely a flowering hormone or a sugar concentration, much like what stimulates rooting during air layering. Same curiosity with what exactly causes some fruit to set and others to be dropped by the tree. If it were only a matter of roots or leaves or sugar production, one would think we could influence fruit set with light, fertilizer, or watering. Certainly a drought-stressed tree will drop fruit and leaves too so maybe that's part of the pathway.