Lemon Trees

Q. How do I grow a lemon tree? Where are they from anyway?

Here is some basic information for you. If you need pages of research and directions for growing in details consider checking your local library under 'Gardening' or 'Citrus Trees'. Best of luck with this fine fruit tree!

Lemon trees can reach a height of 22 to 25 feet (6.7 to 7.6 meters). They are very thorny and have long pointed pale green leaves. The trees produce purple-tinged white fragrant flowers. Lemons develop from the ovaries of the blossoms and ripen about 7 to 8 months after the flowers bloom.

Lemon trees often have blossoms and fruit at the same time. Lemon trees are grown from buds cut from trees that produce the type of lemon desired. The buds are grafted to seedling lemon trees called rootstocks. Rootstock varieties are chosen for their resistance to disease and for various other reasons.

Lemon trees start to produce fruit about two years after grafting and some continue to bear fruit for 50 years. Lemon trees may be severely damaged by frost and freezing temperatures and growers use many methods to protect the trees from cold weather. For example some growers prevent frost by warming the cold air near the ground with oil-burning heaters. Other growers use large fans called wind machines to mix the cold surface air with the warmer air above it. Water sprays under the trees also help protect against cold.

Lemon trees may also be attacked by such pests as mites scale insects and thrips. Mites and scale insects feed on the leaves fruit and twigs of the trees. Thrips attack the buds and the fruit. Growers combat such attacks by growing varieties of trees that resist pests and by spraying the trees with insecticides. They also spray orchards with fungicides to fight fungal diseases which attack the leaves fruit and roots of the trees.

Lemon trees bear fruit throughout the year and growers harvest the fruit 2 to 10 times a year. The largest harvests occur in the autumn and winter. However lemons are commonly stored for several months. Lemons to be sold as fresh fruit are picked before they reach full size and maturity. Then they are stored under special conditions so that they are less likely to be damaged during shipment and are more attractive than those shipped immediately after harvest. Decay can be a problem during the marketing of fresh lemons. Blemished lemons and ones that are too mature at harvest are sent directly to factories for processing.

Lemons probably originated in northeastern India near the Himalayas. Lemons were taken from India to Italy by the Arabs in the AD 100's and to Spain in the 1100's. In 1493 the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus planted the first lemon trees in America. By the late 1700's Spanish missionaries had taken lemon treesto California. The first commercial lemon orchards in the United States were planted in the late 1800's.

Scientific Classification. Lemons are members of the rue family Rutaceae. Commercial lemons belong to the species Citrus limon.

Q. I have a 47 yr. old lemon tree that is an indoor plant. It has developed scale very badly. Since this plant has a lot of sentimental value to me I would like to save it. Any suggestions?

A. My best wishes but scale is so very hard to get rid of. Scale insects are particularly difficult to manage because as the insects mature they settle down to feed on the plant at a single point. They build a waxy covering over themselves. This covering protects them from the environment and our insecticides. Before they settle down the juvenile insects are called "crawlers". In the crawler stage they are much more susceptible to application of insecticides.