Lemon Tree Died

Ok, it's official, the lemon tree has died. I left it out this winter in hopes that it might survive and be a super hardy lemon tree. It didn't happen but I don't feel too bad about it. I was out and about today and saw a citrus tree that had to be fifteen years old or more. The trunk was thick and had many branches. It was dead. The frost probably hit it pretty hard this last winter as it did a lot of trees in the area. Good news... The kaffir lime tree lives! Of course I kept it inside and under a grow light with plenty of water and babying but I really really like it.

Pruning the Lemon Tree

This winter it has gotten very cold. I decided early on that I wasn't going to bring the lemon tree in this year, sink or swim as they say. As you might know, lemon trees are evergreens and don't usually loose their leaves. Apparently they loose them if it gets too cold so as to protect the branches and the rest of the tree from freezing to death.
I took this opportunity to trim up the branches so they weren't competing so much. They had gotten pretty tangled. This also gives a good look at the thorns it has. Up the right side is a good view of some that are over two inches long.

This gave me a great idea. Cats have been sleeping and lounging in my vegetable bed. Someone told me that if you lay bamboo or other poky sticks across the area that cats won't want to lie in it anymore. I had my doubts but it seems to work pretty well with citrus trimmings. I went out there today and it looked like a cat tried to move them out of the way but without success. I pushed some of the thorns into the ground to anchor them.

I know my indoor cats don't like the thorns and so far the outside strays don't either.

Lemon Resiliance

This is what I think about when I imagine lemon trees, leaves pushing up into the sun while defending themselves with spiky stems.

Unfortunately they can't bear the winters here in the metroplex so they get wintered inside. This makes the leaves a little less tolarant to the heat they can experience in the hot summers.

I hadn't watered the lemon tree in about a week and the leaves started to curl. You can see some of the leaves have brown spots on them which happened when it got put back out for the first time this summer. The leaves curled more easily and the undersides burned in the sun.

Doing much better now.

Lemon and Kaffir Lime Trees

If you look at the Gardener's Watch blog (http://gardentimeline.blogspot.com) you can see this little tree from it's beginnings. It was the only one out of three in this same pot that sprouted. Now it's thigh high. You can see several places where I have already taken som leaves to use in cooking. I prefer the shredded method. The leaves aren't that tough especially when they've cooked down a little. I believe I will need to get another one started soon though if I want any fruit. I'm not sure if it will cross with the other citrus in the area very well but it might. It would be nice to be able to propagate them though without having to find more seeds or plants.

My oldest, a lemon tree, sits in the back yard at the moment near the onion bed. It needs a little more sun and water than it has been getting so I might have to move it up front where the kaffir lime sits. There are other citrus plants in the area in other yards so there shouldn't be any problem with fruiting once it starts to flower.

I'll probably need to repot it soon so it has more room to grow. I hope to keep it 6-8 feet tall unless I get around to building a large greenhouse. Then who knows how big it may get.