I have two Meyers - one in a 2 gal pot, the other in a 15 gal pot. The smaller one dropped leaves and almost died. I got the bigger one two years ago and never had a problem with it. I have 40 varieties of citrus and about 60 trees, most of which are at least 1 years old. None of my one year old or older trees have died except for one Meyer and a sweet lime. I have trouble with key limes which do drop their leaves but I have not lost one.

Meyers can be a bit finicky, in my opinion. Probably more than many other varieties, although kumquats on their own roots are right up there as well.

I don't know that people are recommending growing Meyers necessarily. In my opinion, there are much tastier citrus to be grown in containers. And if you were to grow only one citrus, and wanted my opinion, I'd never recommend a Meyer. I'm a huge fan of mandarins though!

Meyers are readily available and cheap, so that may be the reason why a lot of people are growing them (and having problems). I can almost always find Meyer plants at my local Home Depot. They are easy to propagate from cuttings. Any citrus growing on its own roots is going to be cheaper to produce than grafted ones (in the North, Meyers are often sold rooted from cuttings). I have seen very few grafted citrus at my local Home Depot or Lowes. But they are offered at better nurseries. They are pricey though.

One of the obstacles growing any citrus indoors in winter is they don't care much for typical indoor conditions. They tolerate them. They prefer a lot of light, a night-time cool down (say to upper 50s or around 60F), and higher humidity than is typical in most homes. I think if you could supply this environment, Meyers wouldn't be all that hard in containers.

I've heard that Calamondins are among the easiest in containers. But I don't like to eat them, so I don't grow them.

I agree with the above whole heartedly. And to add to that, even if given the perfect conditions, they can decline out of no where. Sometimes I wonder if they are sold on cheap or non hardy root stock one prone to root rot very easily or just very weak in nature.

I myself have lost two this winter with the conditions I give every single one of my other trees doing very well. I lost the one planted in Miracle Grow and I lost one growing in the 5.1.1 mix. The only thing to last in the miracle grow potted one is a Christmas cactus cutting I replace these trees because they are cheap and usually on sale at the end of winter while they make room for all the new crop of Meyer lemons coming in. Last week they were 5 dollars a pop.

My easiest to grow is the Ponderosa lemon and grapefruit . I can give these trees the worst conditions and lowest light levels and they still pop out tons of fruit and flowers and hardly ever a lost leaf or dead branches.

Mike

here's pictures if my grapefruit , ponderosa and lemon Meyer all grown in exact same conditions. Same room same amount of light sand mix except one growing in miracle grow

Ponderosa

I have a lot of containerized Citrus (Blood Oranges, Valencia, Navels, Kumquats, Pomelo, Key Lime, Persian Lime, Ponderosa lemon, Eureka Lemon, Lisbon lemon, calamondin, Mandarin, Poncirus, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Seville oranges, and Meyer's). I notice NO difference in their level of difficulty. Meyer's, being a hybrid (lemon x orange), has more aromatic flowers than true lemons in my opinion. I get the most lemons on the Meyer's and the Lisbon. Still waiting for fruit on the Eureka. Maybe you hear a lot of problems with Meyer's because they are so commonly available and grown,

Jurasico. I've had problems with Meyer lemon for years. Very finicky up here in New England. What explains the success through over 30 years of growing other citrus and failure with lemon Meyer ? Not just for me but many in my area ? It will probably be never known and therefore no point in this thread. There will always be another that will say they are very easy to grow, That's why I hate these forums at times. There is ever hardly a majority. all but one per say, therefore always a mystery and so answer.

I assume it's the root stock they are sold on and yet I personally will never know.

Great question though Ike)
Mike

I grow mine same as all the others. I use Miracle Grow but amended other things (gypsum, coarse sand, and perlite). I don't overwinter mine in the house but in a large garage and they do get some cold but not to the level of heavy frost. After they overwinter, they go into mostly full sun from whenever they come out of hibernation until they go back (March till November)..., so they spend a lot of the year outside in full sun. I took a lot of plants out today for watering..., I will post some pics tomorrow in light of day. I believe you if you say you have an issue with Meyer's but not show what factor is so different from any other Citrus.

I have a Meyer as well as multiple mandarins and oranges. I purchased the Meyer variety many years ago because I didn't know any better. Now that I am more knowledgeable, I think that people buy them because they are more available wherever citrus is sold. I find it rare to find a Lisbon or a Eureka at the big box stores. I have found the Owari mandarins to be more forgiving, but very slow growers.

I currently have 9 citrus in containers I had 10 but gave away a really nice mexican lime to make room for a persian lime. I have 5 mandarins, 1 navel orange, 1 meyer, 1 bearlss, 1 pink variegated eureka lemon, All but 2 smaller citrus are in 1/2 wine barrels I have them in 15 gallon containers. I use a variation of the 5.1.1 mix. and all have mulch as a top layer. They are all doing well maybe climate plays a role with meyers i'm not sure. I pruned mine really more this year than ever before and it has more blossoms this year then ant previous year. My tree is 5-6 years old.

For me too Meyers have been finicky , I have 3 and every winter I have WLD with atleast one of them .

I find calamondins do well indoors all the rest loose some leaves but no where as finicky as Meyers.

I read up on citrus for a year before deciding that the Meiwa kumquat was the only logical citrus to grow in Cincinnati. I also learned that the Meyer lemon was mostly truble for most people. It was also the most wildly available citrus anywhere..

Steve

Thanks for all the replies, I was not aware of that Meyers were widely available and cheap up north. Here in Louisiana being an ACP/HLB quarantine state we only have 2 citrus growing nurseries that supply commercial growers, private and big box store nurseries alike with a selections of about 20-25 varieties of citrus (not all varieties available every year, or at all locations see https://www.saxonbecnelandsons.com/louisiana-trees/ for a representative list), though they are all grafted and generally retail for the same price regardless of variety, $35-$40 each depending on the store in 5 gal pots, occasionally for a little less, but never under $30 except end of season clearance.

I just paid $42 for a custom order Miho, but that was from the initial test planting, and a word of mouth deal, not on the price list, and not being released widely until 2019

Any tropical plant store I go to in Canada will definitely have Meyers. I also think they have much more problems because lots of new people have them because they're recommended as an "easy" starter citrus. When I first looked into citrus, everywhere i looked, they recommended Meyers. I Also think the Meyer variety has it's own problems and is more needy compared to other citrus. I have a limequat and Meyer in the same pot and the meyer is 90% dead and the limequat grew 3 new branches. I personally would try to stay away from them... especially because I don't like their flavour either.

Ike nice score on the Miho !!!!!

Thanks for that info Mike I must be doing something right as all my citrus get year round full sun.

I have a theory about citrus indoors in winter.

The less light you have, the cooler you have to keep the plants.

I know it's dangerous to make any absolutes, because it may depend a bit on variety and there are many, many variables. It's just a theory, but it seems to work for me. I have few issues of leaf drop in my cool garage. Temps range from 40 to 75, but in mid-winter, it can be weeks of below 55 degrees. And they're not getting all that much light in there. I have satsumas, key lime, citrandarin, Keraji mandarin and they all seem happy. Key lime did lose a few leaves, but that may have been because I let it get too dry.

Inside my home, with the warmer temps, I tend to see more leaf drop.

Once plants are getting sun outdoors, leaf drop is never an issue.

This article says what you just said: http://www.steffenreichel.homepage.t-online.de/Citrus/lime2.pdf

Dave YUP, I have been saying this for years here and I totally agree! That is why I keep mine cool with less light. But, my Meyer lemons don't even like the very cold temps, in fact suffer like no other citrus tree I have. It's very strange...

Mike