Subject: Re: Lemons in Texas

From: [email-masked] (Bruce A. Moon)
Date: 24 Feb 1995 08:01:19 -0800

Jeff Ferris ([email-masked]) wrote:
: My wife loves lemons, and as a joke, we took some seeds from a lemon she 
: just ate and dumped them in a pot.  To our surprise, I now have a 24" 
: tall lemon tree (two actually) growing very well indoors.  The problem 
: is, I live in the Austin Texas area, and don't see Lemon Trees being 
: grown around here.  Can I put this tree in the yard?  It is 24" tall and 
: still a single stalk, should I top it to force it to branch?  If not 
: now, when?  Anyone with some experience in lemon trees, please post or 
: send Email directly.
	The HP book CITRUS: HOW TO SELECT, GROW AND ENJOY has a chapter 
on growin citrus in Texas. Austin is north of the band that they indicate 
as being capable of home garden citrus growing. Even in that area, they 
indicate that only hardy citrus (kumquates, calamondins, Satsuma 
mandarins, and trifoliate oranges) can be grown outside of the Rio Grande 
Valley.
	There are determined people here on the net who grow citrus in 
places like Maryland so if you want to grow your lemon as a potted plant 
that goes outside in the warm months, I'm sure they will be happy to 
advise you.
	Citrus genetics is rather strange. Some of the seeds in citrus 
may be true to the tree they came from. These are referred to as nucellar 
seed. Other seed resembles both parents. In a book by John McPhee 
ORANGES, he tells of scientists planting over 200 seeds from limes and 
getting only two limes out of the whole lot. Since fruiting can take 
about 10 years, you might put a lot of effort and find you don't really 
have a lemon. But then, you've already found you can use the leaves.
Bruce Moon
Rio Linda, CA