Congratulations... a mature producing Meyer... fruits the whole year; pick them when you want to consume them; and you will always have lemons.

Beautiful tree, good color, put a little magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) on it to keep it happy.

Aside from that a healthy dose three times per year of a 3-1-2 ratio NPK... I give my mature producing trees 3 lbs of 18-6-12.. specially blended for me with Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn..

The most beautiful lemon in the world; and the ONLY lemon with a peel that is not bitter.

Sounds like good advice John. The tree is doing surprisingly well with neglect, but admittedly could look a lot better. It's seeing heavy pest pressure as well as needing a shot of N & Mg at the very least. Since it isn't one of the "squeaky wheels" in my garden, it tends to get passed over.

Curious why I'm seeing some splitting with mandarins and oranges, but not a single split ML. I never noticed before, but it seems like ML have excellent split resistance.

Our issue here in S. California isn't Magnesium deficiency, but Manganese (different mineral, but they do sound the same). You'll see this more pronounced in the winter here, with colder temps, which, along with our soils being a little more alkaline, can affect the uptake of Manganese. I find that my Meyer just needs a lot more fertilizing than my other citrus, as it is just a fruit-making machine. I cannot imagine having more than one Meyer lemon tree in my yard, as I can't even keep up with all the lemons ONE tree produces. My neighbors run into their houses and draw their curtains when they see me traipsing through the neighborhood with brown paper bags, lol!

Patty S.

Yes, you are right (as usual) Patty. It is Manganese (Mn) and not Magnesium (Mg). I used Miracle-Gro Azalea formula for the first few years to get my citrus off to a good start. MG-A has two forms of Mn and no Mg. That said, there is some data floating around stating that Mg will help with yellowing of older leaves.

Well, I'm not usually right, I am always learning something on the GW, and on other forums I'm on. Just happen to know about this one, as I have the same exact issue, and spent some time at length chatting with Vince Lazaneo, Professor Emeritus, and Home Horticulture Advisor for San Diego County Cooperative Extention (Master Gardeners) about my issue (he was the person who educated me about our soil issues here in San Diego county, and also most of the coastal S. California area.) Now, I would say Dr. Lazaneo is someone who would fit that description.

Patty S.

WOW!!!!

Now that is enough lemons for a cup of juice!

Very nice..If only I could of seen that tree in bloom.

Mike

Hey Mike, this tree is in constant bloom, and always has lemons of various colors, size and degrees of ripeness on it.

* 1 lemon is enough for salad dressing
* 3-4 lemons is enough to fill up an ice cube tray
* 1 ice cube is enough for a sugar-free glass of lemonade

a CUP of juice?? 15 Meyers that size will make a quart!

I recently delivered 60 of my manufacturing grade Meyers to an ice cream maker for trials; and they got a gallon of juice... 68% yield by weight; not even a Valencia orange will match that.

Manganese aside, at this time of year, and the look of your leaves, I would still add some Magnesium (Epsom salt is so easy to get in US); and if you put it on your roses at the same time, you will notice the improvement there as well.

Yeppers, this tree is not slated for a centerfold spread in Sunset Magazine any time soon. ;)

The tree does give me plenty of lemons for which I am grateful. It will not get any N or other fertilizer until the first growth flush of spring and after all chance of frost has past. I will take the time over the holidays to lighten the pest pressure a bit.

Patty, you are a great resource so stop being bashful. I'm going to need you on my side when it's time to make Lemoncello. LOL

No problems with the limoncello help! That doesn't take an expert, just helps to have an old family recipe! Be happy to help you out with that one :-)

Patty S.

John - I have to agree with mrclint. His lemon juice ratios are about what mine produce. We don't thin out for the biggest lemons so a lot of ours are small.

Your lovely 'babies' are on average twice as large as the Meyers I get. I get some large ones, but not consistently. That's the joy of home gardening (as you know), we don't have to care much about looks!

jkom... in my experience the average size of Meyers, if left completely alone is 3 per pound; at that size 20 fruits produces more than a quart of juice. Sorry, if the photos you see from me are usually my gourmet grade lemons; they are 2 per pound and are produced specifically to WOW you, for marketing, promotion, shows, etc. My average Meyer is 3 per pound... a great lemon, but just doesn't WOW you.