Software
Houzz Logo Print
containertime

Forcing Meyer Lemon to Bloom

8 years ago

Is there any way to force my Meyer lemon to bloom this spring? It lost all leaves in the winter from frost, but it is now lush and green. Also, it produced 10 lemons last year. I understand that there may not be a way to make it bloom this year, but I really want the taste of the freshly grown lemon.


I have already fertilized the tree with organic citrus fertilizer and given it Epsom salt twice starting in early March. Is there anything else I could do to help increase the chances for blooms?


Any input is appreciated!

Comments (8)

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Don't know what area you live in. However, when your tree lost all of its foliage, it had to use most all of its stored carbohydrates to reproduce new foliage. It takes a lot of energy to produce flowers, and now that your tree once again has a new leaf canopy the tree can once again start to build up new carbohydrate reserves. However, citrus leaves don't produce carbohydrates for the tree's use until the new leaves become fully developed. Being a Meyer lemon it is possible your tree might get a weak bloom later in the year, but most likely a crop of fruit will have to wait until next blooming cycle.

    containertime thanked Silica
  • 8 years ago

    Being in the North Texas (8a), the leaves have been growing since mid March. I don't know if that is enough time for the leaves to be considered mature now. The leaves are dark green and feel fairly solid and waxy. The tree also gets full sun.

  • 8 years ago

    Meyers will bloom year round. Don't give up hope and it may surprise you by blooming later on during the growing season.

    containertime thanked Dee
  • 8 years ago

    I have a Meyer cutting that I didn't water for quite awhile until one day I started watering it again. Right after it pushed out what I thought would be new leaves but it was actually a bunch of flower buds. I was trying to get new leaves but this cutting had not dropped the foliage it grew from last fall. The mother Meyer had dropped foliage but kept a tiny lemon. When that was left to dry and flood, it pushed out new leaves. Taking into account what Silica said, I bet you'll prob get blooms by the end of summer and into winter. People say Meyers bloom more than they should though so maybe you'll get a bloom late spring

    containertime thanked kvetchlambkin (nyc 7b)
  • 8 years ago

    I've had impressive results with a product called Biowash. I first used it very reluctantly as I have an acre food forest, all organic, and let the ecosystem take care of itself, except for mulching, and compost. And from the tasty fruits and veggies we get (a lot of it!), this approach seems to work, at least for me. Like many other Floridians, I was having trouble with some of the citrus trees we planted. Upon the advice of a trusted friend, I tried Biowash, which is organic. The results were pretty impressive from the first spraying. My orange, lemon and lime trees went crazy with blooms, and now there are plenty of fruits on the trees. And no, I'm not trolling to sell the product. ;) It just seems to work!

    containertime thanked guitboxboo
  • 8 years ago

    I want the opposite. I want to keep my lemons and mandarins from blooming and I want them to focus on putting out new leaf and branch growth to support future fruits.

    containertime thanked Alanna Migliacci
  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Alanna, you can supply more nitrogen fert in early spring to help growth at the expense of blooming and continue supplying plenty of N during the growing season. If in ground you don't need to supply anything else but N. Removing the fruits before they reach the maturation stage helps also.

    containertime thanked nikthegreek