Orlando Lemon Ltd.
Why the yard lemon is a Meyer
Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape groups lemons and limes as acid fruits and rules the true lemons out for the home landscape on scab susceptibility. Meyer is the substitute it offers, and it counts Meyer among dual-purpose trees, meaning fruit plus looks. A Meyer is not a small Eureka. It is rounder, thinner-skinned, and less sharp. A stand selling Meyers is selling a different thing than the grocery box.
Grocery lemon is frequently California or import. The pretty tree on a patio here is the rounder one. If a nursery tag says Eureka, you can buy it. The paper does not recommend it for home use. Ask for Meyer.
Cold, then the rest of citrus culture
The same paper limits citrus to areas that do not regularly freeze, and it tells you to weigh freeze frequency first. Acid fruits sit on the tender side of that instruction. Sweet orange is the first choice for a dooryard. If you want a lemon anyway, put it in the warmest, most sheltered part of the lot, or keep it in a pot you can wheel into a garage.
Full sun produces more fruit than light shade. Home spacing is a minimum of 15 feet between trees. Stay away from septic tanks and drain fields. Take weeds and sod off the trunk, since weeds against the bark invite foot rot. The paper does not recommend mulch around citrus. Where a tree sits in a mulched bed, keep the mulch a foot back from the trunk.
Buy a vigorous container-grown tree. Set it at the same soil line it had in the container. Take some soil off the root mass so the outer roots reach the sand. Build a basin that holds five to ten gallons. Start fertilizer when buds swell or three weeks after planting. An 8-8-8 with micronutrients is the general citrus fertilizer in the paper. A bagged citrus food is the retail version. Get this. Keep fertilizer off the trunk.
UF/IFAS Home Citrus says citrus canker and citrus greening have reduced residential enjoyment of these trees. Buy clean nursery stock. Take questions to your county Extension office.
Citrus ripens on the tree. A Meyer turns a deeper yellow, almost orange, and gives slightly when it is ready. Fruit will hold on the tree rather than needing to come off all at once. Most of a lemon's flavor is in the peel. A rasp zester takes the colored layer and leaves the bitter white pith. Get this. Zest before you cut, every time, because you cannot zest a squeezed half. A yellow hand press is the juice side. Get this.
