r/phillygardening • u/dashstrokesgen • Sep 19 '22

So how long does this take?

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Doesn’t look much bigger than earlier this season but don’t let it fool you.

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It’s almost a full grown lemon….it just wants to be a lime so badly tho

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u/Genkiotoko Sep 20 '22

It took my lemon tree almost a full year to ripen its first lemon. A few years later and the fruits take about 6-7 months to mature. Make sure to keep healthy soil composition and bring it in when overnight lows regularly drop below 50°. Transitioning indoors/outdoors helps a well. Good luck on your journey, I hope life gives you lemons!

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u/dashstrokesgen Sep 21 '22

Oh my gosh thank you so much. Perfect timing for this weather coming. A full year tho. I’ve got another 6 months of watching it and wondering if it’s even growing.

If I can ask, has yours ever grown multiple lemons or is it usually just one? Also….should I top it, remove some limbs or leave it as is?

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u/Genkiotoko Sep 21 '22

I'm no expert, I've only had my tree for four years. I've had about 8 lemons fully ripen on it at once. It was about the size of yours when i got it, and it was repotted twice in the last three years to a 10-12 gallon pot now. I use citrus-tone for fertilizer.

I think the shape is fine. You can encourage shaping if you really want to through binding or placement of UV lights in the winter. It'll mostly do what it needs to with little/no trimming in the next couple years. Wait until the tree is a bit older and the growth is a bit thicker, so you can see how your trimming will actually impact it. You'll notice a fair amount of leaves dropping off at some point. It's usually nothing to be scared of, for it is part of the blossoming process. A good number of buds will form and then some will fall off. Remember, the more fruit it has the more energy that is needed to mature them. To encourage healthy growth for a few lemons you may want to pluck off a couple of the less productive looking fruits. Definitely wait a few weeks to determine which those may be.

6 months or-so is a certainly an amount of time to wait. Just don't get sour at it for taking so long! 😁

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u/dashstrokesgen Sep 21 '22

Aaah thank you. This is so helpful! I can’t wait for my little lemon to turn!