Hello! Yes don’t worry the lemons always start off green, and stay green until they reach their full size when they gradually turn yellow. This process can take a couple of months so just be patient! Once they turn yellow you can pick them off as you need them, they’ll stay quite happily on the tree for weeks at a time, so there’s no need to pick them all at once - just pluck one off when you need one. The tree will actually flower and fruit simultaneously throughout the year, but mine tend to come in different waves, so some trees will have mainly ripe fruit (like the one in the video) whilst others will be going through a phase when they’re mostly flowers or very young fruit. Good luck with your tree - and have you seen my comment below about not being in too much rush to pot it on? Best wishes Laura
Hello Radha - that’s a really good question (for English speakers Radha is asking what size pot to use) and I’m sorry I didn’t include this information in the video. When you buy a lemon tree you shouldn’t be in too much hurry to pot it into a bigger pot. You’re going to be feeding and watering it regularly so it will be quite happy. If it starts drying out too quickly after watering then that’s a sign it needs potting on into a bigger pot, but only use a pot that’s a bit bigger than the original one or else the roots will sit in soggy wet compost for a long time after watering which it won’t like, especially in cold weather. For this reason it’s better to pot on your lemon tree in the spring, so its roots have time to grow and fill the pot and are able to reach and take up all the available water before winter sets in. You probably only need to move your lemon tree up into a bigger pot every two to three years or so as they are relatively slow growers The eventual pot size is really down to what you have room for, and to keep it from outgrowing its space you can trim back its roots by a third then repot it in the same size pot again, but if you do this you must also trim its top growth back by a third too, as the reduced root ball will struggle to support the same amount of foliage. I hope this is helpful, Best wishes Laura
@the3growbags451 Hi. I purchased had a lemon tree from the shop with some large green lemons already growing on it. Since then I had new bulbs coming out and they are slowly growing. I noticed in your video that the lemons on tree are already yellow from the start. I’m wondering will my lemons eventually turn yellow or will it stay green. And when should i be expecting to harvest them? Thank you very much in advance.
Hi Laura, thank you for this very informative post, I have an orange tree which I suspect would follow the same regime, I have had it about 2 years now and the same small orange is still on the tree, as it is inedible should I discard? I keep it in an unheated porch but have put it in my greenhouse this spring, my problem is it flowers nicely but any fruit just falls off when they are tiny, I’m not sure what I am doing wrong, any suggestions? Sandra x
Hi Sandra - I think orange trees are trickier … I have three but have only really succeeded with the little willow-leaved mandarin which seems to flower in one big flush in spring and then the fruit ripens over winter (it’s the one I’m wheeling out in the video). My other two oranges have a few flowers but only small infrequent fruit. The owner of The Citrus Centre in West Sussex told me recently that oranges are actually hardier than lemons (in terms of surviving) but need warmer temperatures to produce fruit and if the young fruits haven’t developed by Christmas you should take them all off. I would definitely take off that old orange as I think leaving old fruits on can inhibit the production of new fruit, and I’m going to try thinning out the young developing fruit on my trees to leave only about 6, then feed it and nurture it over the summer and maybe bring it in a bit earlier so that it has a warmer autumn position and see if that works 🤷♀️ Good luck with yours! Best wishes Laura
I've grown a lemon tree from pip from a shop wanted to see if it would work well it's 2½ years old now and doing very well but it haves spikes as I know naturally they ment to be like that as in shops they bread out, how long does it take to get fruit on my tree
Hi Stacey, well done for growing a lemon from a pip! I have a couple of old lemon trees that I bought from an importer who was closing down his business years ago. They’re obviously just the wild species as they have the spines on like yours and the lemon fruits have a thicker skin and pith than my cultivated ones, but they’re still lovely trees that flower and fruit prolifically and I wouldn’t be without them. I think you’re right that modern trees are mainly grafted cultivated varieties that don’t have spines and have thinner skinned and juicier fruits. I’ve never grown one from a pip myself but I did some research for you and there seems to be quite a lot of natural variation in the time it takes a seed-grown lemon to reach flowering age but it can be as young as three years so you may not be far off - good luck with it ! Best wishes Laura
Hello! Yes don’t worry the lemons always start off green, and stay green until they reach their full size when they gradually turn yellow. This process can take a couple of months so just be patient! Once they turn yellow you can pick them off as you need them, they’ll stay quite happily on the tree for weeks at a time, so there’s no need to pick them all at once - just pluck one off when you need one. The tree will actually flower and fruit simultaneously throughout the year, but mine tend to come in different waves, so some trees will have mainly ripe fruit (like the one in the video) whilst others will be going through a phase when they’re mostly flowers or very young fruit. Good luck with your tree - and have you seen my comment below about not being in too much rush to pot it on? Best wishes Laura
Dank u wel voor de duidelijke uitleg. Ik heb wel 1 vraag, hoe groot moet de pot zijn?
Hello Radha - that’s a really good question (for English speakers Radha is asking what size pot to use) and I’m sorry I didn’t include this information in the video. When you buy a lemon tree you shouldn’t be in too much hurry to pot it into a bigger pot. You’re going to be feeding and watering it regularly so it will be quite happy. If it starts drying out too quickly after watering then that’s a sign it needs potting on into
a bigger pot, but only use a pot that’s a bit bigger than the original one or else the roots will sit in soggy wet compost for a long time after watering which it won’t like, especially in cold weather. For this reason it’s better to pot on your lemon tree in the spring, so its roots have time to grow and fill the pot and are able to reach and take up all the available water before winter sets in. You probably only need to move your lemon tree up into a bigger pot every two to three years or so as they are relatively slow growers The eventual
pot size is really down to what you have room for, and to keep it from outgrowing its space you can trim back its roots by a third then repot it in the same size pot again, but if you do this you must also trim its top growth back by a third too, as the reduced root ball will struggle to support the same amount of foliage. I hope this is helpful, Best wishes Laura
@the3growbags451 Hi. I purchased had a lemon tree from the shop with some large green lemons already growing on it. Since then I had new bulbs coming out and they are slowly growing. I noticed in your video that the lemons on tree are already yellow from the start. I’m wondering will my lemons eventually turn yellow or will it stay green. And when should i be expecting to harvest them? Thank you very much in advance.
Hi Laura, thank you for this very informative post, I have an orange tree which I suspect would follow the same regime, I have had it about 2 years now and the same small orange is still on the tree, as it is inedible should I discard? I keep it in an unheated porch but have put it in my greenhouse this spring, my problem is it flowers nicely but any fruit just falls off when they are tiny, I’m not sure what I am doing wrong, any suggestions? Sandra x
Hi Sandra - I think orange trees are trickier … I have three but have only really succeeded with the little willow-leaved mandarin which seems to flower in one big flush in spring and then the fruit ripens over winter (it’s the one I’m wheeling out in the video). My other two oranges have a few flowers but only small infrequent fruit. The owner of The Citrus Centre in West Sussex told me recently that oranges are actually hardier than lemons (in terms of surviving) but need warmer temperatures to produce fruit and if the young fruits haven’t developed by Christmas you should take them all off. I would definitely take off that old orange as I think leaving old fruits on can inhibit the production of new fruit, and I’m going to try thinning out the young developing fruit on my trees to leave only about 6, then feed it and nurture it over the summer and maybe bring it in a bit earlier so that it has a warmer autumn position and see if that works 🤷♀️ Good luck with yours! Best wishes Laura
@@the3growbags451 thank you Laura that’s very helpful, I will certainly try your suggestions. Fingers crossed. Sandra x
I've grown a lemon tree from pip from a shop wanted to see if it would work well it's 2½ years old now and doing very well but it haves spikes as I know naturally they ment to be like that as in shops they bread out, how long does it take to get fruit on my tree
Hi Stacey, well done for growing a lemon from a pip! I have a couple of old lemon trees that I bought from an importer who was closing down his business years ago. They’re obviously just the wild species as they have the spines on like yours and the lemon fruits have a thicker skin and pith than my cultivated ones, but they’re still lovely trees that flower and fruit prolifically and I wouldn’t be without them. I think you’re right that modern trees are mainly grafted cultivated varieties that don’t have spines and have thinner skinned and juicier fruits. I’ve never grown one from a pip myself but I did some research for you and there seems to be quite a lot of natural variation in the time it takes a seed-grown lemon to reach flowering age but it can be as young as three years so you may not be far off - good luck with it ! Best wishes Laura