Growing your own Lemons and Limes

Metus dictum at tempor commodo

To my delight, on a visit to an Italian friend of mine originally from Milan, I saw a lemon tree growing in her Maryland sunroom! Mita explained to me that she started the tree outside in the spring and had moved it inside for the winter. The tree was covered with lemons! It was purchased locally at a garden store one spring and was just a small stick. Within a few years, this small tree was producing many fruits.

Lemon and lime trees are good trees to grow in pots. They are small trees that produce fruit even when they are small, just a few feet in height. The trees need year-round warmth so growing them in pots in the mid-Atlantic climate is crucial. Once the roots and plants are established outside, they can easily survive indoors in a sunny place over the winter.

Tips for keeping citrus trees healthy in an inside pot:

• Add soil when the roots grow above the soil
• Keep it near a window that gets many hours of sunlight each day
• Water once a week but spray the leaves every few days with water to keep it humid so the leaves do not dry out.
• Cage the tree to support its branches. This is particularly important when it produces fruit as the lemons are heavy for the plant’s small branches.