I have maybe 20 varieties of citrus; and the one I find the easiest to care for is the Cara Cara navel orange; it is also my favorite of all. The Valencia orange is also pretty tame if what you want is juice (the Midknight valencia is the newest star). On the lemon/lime side maybe a key lime, aka Mexican lime/Jamaican lime (for years it was the secret ingredient in Pepsi Cola; but as I am telling you that now, it is clearly not a secret any longer)

from all my trees, the cara was the only one that died. Go figure. Others seem to have problem with Santa teresa feminnello, Here this is my strongest tree.

I would suggest a kumquat. They are easy indoors (compared to citrus), good hardy, more pest resistant and small enough for the indoors.

Others that I like for indoors, include;

key lime (there're thorny but thornless ones are around)

calamondin (a mandarin x kumquat hybrid)

I would go with either the calamondin or the key lime. If you go with key lime, I would NOT get a thornless one. I have both and the vigor and productivity of the thorny one blows the other out of the water. I can live with the thorns.

Good to know for the future :)

Susanne, I was just squeezing the limes today but still not ready...soon though ;-)

I have a (thorny) key lime that's pretty productive and fairly easy to grow. It seems to like warmer winter temps than some other citrus.

I also have two varieties of Satsuma mandarin. They tend to be alternate bearing, but are fairly easy to grow and can take a bit more cold than limes. Plants do not grow as huge as oranges or grapefruit.

Calamondin is supposed to be about the easiest to grow, but not necessarily great to eat!

Sort of depends on what you like to eat. Although growing citrus in pots for fruit can be a challenge.

Here's my largest Satsuma. Old pic. Now it's loaded with fruit.

Very productive Key lime last season:

Some Satsuma fruit a year or so ago:

Beautiful fruit clusters, Dave!

Thanks to all who answered this thread. My next question would be the names of some reputable online sources. I'm pretty sure there aren't any local greenhouses actually producing Citrus here in Ohio :) Who has good plants at good prices?

Harris has great prices and nice trees. Four Winds has nice trees, but the shipping can be a bit pricey.

KUMQUATS!

You may find issues finding things in stock at this time. Some places may be out until next year.

I have noticed places are sold out of things. Would spring be a better time to be looking? This really is my first year, it may be a better idea to wait and see how I do with my lemon over the winter before I buy another.

Jadegarden, that is good to know. While all my trees from Harris are doing great, I have never ordered from Briteleaf and have always wondered about them. Thanks for the input.

Would be interested to know if others got unstaked trees from Harris. I was under the impression they were staked. For me, I don't mind the smaller trees considering the price.

I did the same as you propose, pluto. Started with 2 citrus (quats!) for the first winter, and just kept reading up and learning. And trying to decide if/what else I would get. Still trying to decide if/what oranges to get.

Meyers are said to be a bit fussier (maybe there's a better word) than other citrus (especially overwintering), so they may not be the best barometer of success.

Well, it's January and I'm back to this thread. The original little meyer lemon didn't make it. I don't know what happened, it just suddenly took a turn and started dropping leaves and I may have panicked and treated it wrong. I still have it - but I'm 99.99% sure it's just completely dead, not dormant. It was a tiny twig of a thing to begin with and I'm sure I didn't help it out a ton at first...

So - back to my original question, what's an easy, small citrus to get started with, so I can read up now, then purchase the plant (what a novel idea, learn about the plant before you commence killing it :) ).

I've seen several votes for kumquats, but I'll be honest, I've never seen nor eaten a kumquat so I don't know how they taste. I'm assuming I won't get much fruit from any citrus, especially at the beginning, but I do want to be able to enjoy it, even if it's only one lemon.

The easiest of mine is Bearss lime, prolific and not fussy.

I would not recommend a kumquat. First off, they’re not great for eating, plus, of all my trees, the two that have died have been kumquats. I’d go for either a key lime, calamondin, a mandarin like Dave’s, or a Cara Cara like John suggested. All are good choices. You can also buy another lemon.

Meyers can be finicky indoors. When they drop leaves you should let them be just a bit on the dry side. Mine dropped a lot of leaves, but it's growing again so I'm increasing watering. Definitely go for a mandarin if you like to eat those. So many to choose from. But I'm biased.

Try Hirts garden, they are located in Ohio. They have a nice selection of healthy citrus trees grown in different size pots. A number of them are from Record Buck Farms and grown from cuttings. Shipping is reasonable and fast. A number of us ordered a 8" Red Lime from them and the trees are healthy and push out a lot of growth. Easy care so far..I love that little tree but have not tried the fruit yet. They also have Calamondin, Key Lime, Cara Cara and others. Be sure to read the descriptions on each variety. https://hirts.com/panama-orange-tree-calamondin-citrus-mitis-8-pot-citrus/

I agree with Laura about the kumquat. (Although I like the fruit taste wise) I had 2 beautiful trees from Four Winds and as soon as they pushed out blooms and produced a lot of fruit, they suffered from severe branch dieback. Luckily I saved seeds from the fruit and planted them. They are doing well so far and will see how the seed grown ones do. I will not spend the money on another Kumquat tree.

That is great, pluto! You would save on shipping plus be able to pick out your own tree! :)