Looks happy in it's new pseudo tropical home.

The Ponderosa is taking off after being planted Feb 12 2020.

First flower opened today

April 10

Ponderosa May 2

It would be nice to get a few lemons this year. 14 months in the ground.

April 8 2021

Matt, that is such a nice looking set up. Beautiful. A little hemlock bark mulch will cap that off. Just nice buddy. By the way, you should see how large mine has gotten. I wish I had planted it in the ground instead of the Lemon Meyer but it's doing good too)

Matt, besides my biggest tree, I have 2 others. I love these so much for ease of growth and size of fruit. Very fragrant when in bloom too. Never fussy on the stingy on the blossoms.

Forget the pic Matt !

Thanks Mike. Wow, that's so impressive! How long have you had those trees? Someone said they take the same about of time to grow as other lemons but just much bigger. We have got our from the same source I see ahaha. Record Buck Farms?

I got mine from a local place which got their from the same place as you!! Sorry I didn't see your response until just today Matt!! Ugh

I can't even remember how many years. Just keep cutting the bottom back and it will get tall like mines did. The fruit was huge!! Thanks buddy.

I wonder how yours is doing in warmer weather finally? And boy does the flowers on these fill up a whole area!!

Mike, can these be grown from seed? I'd love to grow one indoors and have the house filled with their fragrance. Are they edible too or just for show. I know nothing about growing citrus. My son planted a lemon seed years ago, the tree is maybe 3-4' tall, but never has fruit. It was just some seed he got after using the lemon. I suspect there's a difference in the types of trees? Educate me please.

Stay well....

Bill, how are you!!??

That would be just great if I enabled you to start getting into citrus. Let me just say that they are much more reliable of flowering than Hoya and can fill an entire area up with the most fragrant air you can imagine, just one tree. No need to wait for months for a flower since they flower randomly at ay time.

The Ponderosa is a very reliable bloomer and fruiting tree and requires half the work as other citrus..

If you can grow a Hoya, you can grow a ponderosa tree Bill))

You want to get a cutting or a garfted one, not seed grown. It would take years for even one flower but days if that on a mature rooted cutting or grafted.

Order one from Logees , cheap and they are good cuttings that grow fast and fruit right away.

Or I can start you a cutting and and send you one my friend. I might even have an extra)))

Mike

Thank you Mike, but I don't want to impose. I will order one from Logees. I'll gift it to my son (since he grows everything at my house anyway!) and he can grow it along with his other lemon.

Bill here you go. To make it easier for you..Ha.If you get the 4 inch potted one it will flower and fruit quickly and grow very fast...My tree is about 5 years old from that size and I will post an update of it for you if you would like to see it)

https://www.logees.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ponderosa+lemon

Hey Bill, how are your Hoya these days? Still coming to bloom? Mines just might now that temps have dropped to the forties like you. Crazy right? Summer then early spring temps back to hot by this weekend..

Mike, I logged onto the Logees site and the shipping was more than the plant if I wanted it in a few days! It was half if I wanted to have it in transit 10-14 days (translated into postal terms, that's at least three weeks in transit if not more). What I'll do is to search out local nurseries here for a ponderosa lemon. I'm sure I can find one if I look hard enough. hopefully it won't be as rare as the hoya seems to be lately.

These need to be grafted onto stock right? They don't grow from seed? Also, once they come in for the winter, I'll have them in a sun room where they'll receive plenty of light, do they grow over the winter or do they drop their leaves and require a rest?

I was going to get it fro my son. He started a lemon years ago from seed, he named it Russel. Well Russel has been with him for several years and has been pruned back multiple times. He's about 3-4 feet tall and his main stem is about 3/4" to 1" in diameter. He's very bushy and has bloomed occasionally, but never set fruits. Presently it's sitting outside in full sun and again growing lit mad with all new leaves etc.

Suggestions or thoughts?

Hi Bill)))

Thank you for that info friend.

When it comes to Ponderosa they are the easy to grow indoors as long as they get nice light in a south facing window or artificial light./ NO citrus will do as good as outside but they can hang on well. If grown inside the cooler the temps and less light the better. They will just rest and possibly grow lots of blooms. Slow growth but no bugs or dropped leaves.

if you keep the trees inside you have to provide lots of the light and even more the warmer they are kept. I keep mine grown on a very cold porch, 50's and no artificial lights all winter. I get no bugs or dropped leaves.

They do not need to be grafted to grow well and fruit. I have three and none are grafted and give mm TONS of fruit. One as tall as I and many shorter ones. I love these trees. They are all cuttings grown for quite some time. Some starting fruiting and flowering as soon as they rooted and while rooting.

How old is Russell?? I have never heard of seed grown trees flowering let alone blooming at any age younger than 20. But it's great)

Let me know if you need any other help. I am so happy you are considering)))

Russel is about 12 years old. He's been moved all over several states, kept indoors, kept in low lights, sometimes cold, sometimes warm, neglected at times and pampered at other times. He is doing magnificent. Tomorrow morning I'll take a picture of him for you. As I said, his top has been chopped off to keep him manageable. I'll show you that as well. Bring outside, in the sun and rain and unreal heat (high 90's), he's throwing out new leaves like crazy. This fall I'll move him into my sun room for my son. It'll be the first time he's kept there, but I'm sure he'll love it. The room is kept about 68 degrees and gets eastern, southern and western sun! What's not to like!

Hopefully this week I can find a ponderosa lemon for him. If I can, I'll purchase it, then get ready for a lot of questions as this will be a new journey for both myself and my son.

Stay well my friend....

Mike, I have a 6 year old lemon tree I started from a seed from a supermarket lemon that flowered for the first time last year and this Year it set fruit. The fruits are still very tiny and I don't know if they will mature but it it has flowered and fruited at 6 years old.

Mike, I took this a few minutes ago (8:30am). It's about 5' tall. I tried to show the trunk where it was cut off. This thing grows like a weed! (you can see the lattice I placed on the GH to try and give my hoyas a little more shade too.

Bill, what a beauty you have there! Looks at all that new growth coming on too. It's crazy but trimming it off at the top makes it grow so full, nothing wrong with that. At times I wish I could grow mine as tall as I would like. I would have one HUGE tree. I too have cut mine back every year before I bring it in. It would probably be feet high if I did not.

The first one is about 6 feet high and was loaded with fruit. I will post a pic as soon as I am done writing. I got it when it was a small tree from the company on that label. I forgot, but it is about to bloom all over again. It already was in full bloom a couple months ago. That is the thing with Ponderosa, they love to fruit and flower.

This second one I have had for about 6 years. Not sure but was a small cutting when I started it from Logee's. It has grown into a bushy tree with the top being cut way back each year and it too has produced tons of fruit)))

This is the fruit. Huge.

Hey everyone, I have been battling scale@@ so mad, I am getting it under control. Feb means spring in the GH so everything is waking up... including the ponderosa.

I'm still not sure of the zone here!! The two citrus I left in the ground took some cold this winter. I mean they had -3 -4 C or so for a hour or more just once when the heater couldn't keep up with the cold outside. That was early -mid to late Jan can't really remember. Other then that the winter has been ok.. nights around 5 to 8C and daytime highs 15C on average.

Two years in the ground now

Mike, that plant is FANTASTIC! I am really impressed. My ponderosa is again covered with buds. I'm keeping it more moist now because last time all the buds blasted and I started to lose leaves. Apparently it was being kept too dry. It's indoors with my other plants, in a sunny room (when we get sun) so hopefully it will fruit this time. I'll move it outside after all frost is past.

Matt, I wish I could put my plants outside like you've done. I'll bet they love it in the summer right?

Here is the ponderosa lemon today

It looks to be setting some fruit. It should flower again in April. This is it's third year in the ground.

03/28/23

Matt, how does it handle the winter? Do you let it get cold? I have one as well, but bring it inside for the winter. By spring, it's really sad looking! What's your secret?

Thanks....

@Bill M. It got down to a few degrees above freezing this year, didn't flinch. Last year it took colder temps no problem! `-2 c is as cold as it has ever seen.