Nice tree! I would check the soil before watering. I stick my finger in the mix. If the top two inches are dry, then water. Since it's in your bathtub, you can water thoroughly periodically. If it gets lots of light, it is warm, and actively growing, you may want to fertilize a little too. What type of mix is it in and what do you feed it?

Thank you Laura! Great advice about sticking my finger in. I will check it every few days and water when the top two inches are dry. It's in a modified 5:1:1 mix - if I remember right I did about 5 parts bark fines, 1 part perlite, 1 part DE (oil dry), 1 part peat moss, and a little lime. Also mixed Osmocote plus into the soil when I made it (1.5 year ago.) Have since fertilized with more Osmocote plus (probably twice this summer) foliage pro (probably 3-4 times over the summer - probably should have done more) and a fertilizer called mittleider a couple times during the summer.

I feel bad because we had very cold temps at night come on very rapidly and I was out of town for the holiday, so this poor tree was subjected to temps in the 30s at night (though I don't think it got quite down to freezing) before I got it inside. Will it hurt the tree to bring inside suddenly like that when it was in cold weather? I really wanted to have it inside this winter because it brings me joy and I feel horrible when I just have it shut up in the garage.

I love your little tree! Well, obviously it was not too hurt by the low temps...although not ideal to change temps suddenly, life is like that and sometimes there is no choice. It really looks great. I understand the joy they bring, mine do the same! I would recommend perhaps checking the mix next Spring. After two years, it may be time to put it in fresh mix and pot up depending on the roots. Enjoy those lemons. I posted an incredible recipe for lemon bars that I made with my Meyers. Did you see it?

Thanks again Laura. I am surprised at the resilience of this tree - last winter when I had it in the garage with very cold temps, it never even had leaf drop or any other problems. It surprised me very much! When you bring trees inside for the winter and let them see light and everything does it affect their biological "clock"? Seems to me that it is almost like they don't experience a winter season, do they need a cold season? (Granted, this tree has already experienced a very mild fall season and little bit of winter temps; 1-2 weeks perhaps.) I would be perfectly happy fertilizing it and getting the tree to thrive over the winter if that won't hurt it at all. I did a very basic re pot in the spring because I found the Orange/yellow pot that it is now in and it is much cuter than what the tree was in before. So I added more soil mix and transferred the tree but I didn't inspect roots or mess with anything.

I hope that my lime and mandarin orange do okay this winter. They are planted in the ground and made it through last year with very mild damage to some leaves but grew very well in the spring. I really hope that this year will be the same! The three citrus trees are the favorite of all of my plants, indoor and out (and I must have at least 200 different kinds.)

I will find your recipe it sounds amazing!! I have always make lemon basil chicken pasta with mine (I can't even make it with regular lemons now - meyers are the only way to go!) but I am going to look up your lemon bar recipe and give it a try!

I'll trade you recipes ;-).

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-heavenly-lemon-bars-with-almond-shortbread-crust-recipes-from-the-kitchn-191597

By the way, it is a very nice pot - mine are boring!

Thank you for the recipe, I can't wait to try it! Here is the recipe that I use for the pasta dish - we love it at our house!

http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2014/01/10/one-pan-lemon-garlic-chicken-pasta/

The orange/yellow pot was a lucky $2 yard sale find! I was so happy because I knew it would look perfect with the little lemon tree inside. It makes a great focal point in our front yard. Most of my other pots are very boring too.

Thank you! I am going to make that for sure!! I followed the recipe I posted to the letter (I usually take liberties with recipes ;-) and it was great!! I hope you enjoy it!

emilygreenie Pick the lemons when you are ready for them. Can you plant the lemon outside in ground It will give you 100's of lemons each year after a few years.

6b Steve

Thanks poncirusguy! I could plant it in the ground, however it gets too cold here during the winters - I think I could help it survive the winters but I don't know if it would thrive. I have a bearss lime and a mandarin orange planted in ground and they made it through last winter (strung with Christmas lights) but they had a little damage to leaves and small branches, and neither of them bore any fruit this year. They both flowered though.

I don't have the greenest thumb and since the lemon is my favorite of the three I kept it in the pot so that it would be less likely to die. The temps here are extremely hot in summer (110-120) and get down to the 20s in the winter at night. What do you think?

I just want to say your little tree is cute and those lemons look yummy! Do you think they'll be ripe soon? Mine are still greenish.

Both recipes are duly noted. Mmmm!

If you have a lime tree planted in the ground you can certainly plant a Meyer lemon in the ground. I'd go with Steve's suggestion and plant that little tree in the ground come springtime next year.

Evan

Thank you jemmalix!! I think some of them are ripe now! I just don't know how to tell exactly. I am going to try making that pasta dish this week and I will pick one and try it out. How many lemons do you have on your tree?

Evan thanks for the advice! Do you know of anyone else with young citrus trees in ground in an 8b zone? Of my trees the lime is the oldest (I estimate 5 years old) and the mandarin and meyer are probably 3 years old. The lime gave me one fruit last summer (2015) before I put it in the ground. I planted it and the mandarin in August or September of last year (I know that is probably horrible for the trees. I still have a lot to learn.)

Both trees made it through the winter and flowered but never fruited this year. It could be something else wrong but the lemon tree fruited and they were all subjected to the same watering, fertilizing, sunlight, etc all summer. The only difference is that the lemon spent the winter in the garage. So I am a bit nervous to plant the lemon but if there are others on this forum who have in ground citrus that does well in this zone or similar that would be comforting to me.

My little tree is very happy inside - maybe too happy? It is about to flower after being inside for less than a month! Should I pull off all the lemons so that it can focus on the flowers (and if so will the lemon last okay in my fridge until after the holidays?) And do I need to start fertilizing?