Meyer lemon cloning success! Now what?

[Father Ramirez]

I’ve tried growing citrus from seed unsuccessfully. A friend gave me a cutting from her dwarf Meyer lemon and it’s growing!!

I’m in DC, indoors of course. Words of wisdom by accomplished citrus growers are most welcome! Thanks for checking in

 

[too larry]

Good luck with your lemon tree. I'm eating seedling lemons as I speak and saving the seeds to plant this spring. I also have seedling oranges as well as Pomelo. All three were grown here in NW Florida, so should be alright with the weather.

 

[Father Ramirez]

Good luck with your lemon tree. I'm eating seedling lemons as I speak ...

Thank you @too larry for commenting. She’s been in the clone box growing aeroponically for six weeks now, has big roots and two new shoots of growth. I’m over the hump as long as I don’t kill her with root rot. I want to eventually put her in soil, but I’ll keep her in aero for speediest growth for as long as I dare! I am more excited about this dwarf lemon than I am about cannabis right now. Weed is easy to grow. Lemons not so much

 

[CannaCountry]

What you essentially have is called 'bud wood'....now you need the 'root stock'...and then you graft them together. One without the other and you either have a very sour tasting fruit or a very poor growing tree. It takes two. You're halfway there. Good luck.

 

[Father Ramirez]

What you essentially have is called 'bud wood'....now you need the 'root stock'...and then you graft them together. One without the other and you either have a very sour tasting fruit or a very poor growing tree. It takes two. You're halfway there. Good luck.

I’m officially confused. She’s a clone from a tree that had fruit so sweet I ate sections and it tasted like grapefruit. Wouldn’t the fruit of the clone taste the same (soil etc notwithstanding)?
Thanks for taking the time to comment @CannaCountry

 

[too larry]

Thank you @too larry for commenting. She’s been in the clone box growing aeroponically for six weeks now, has big roots and two new shoots of growth. I’m over the hump as long as I don’t kill her with root rot. I want to eventually put her in soil, but I’ll keep her in aero for speediest growth for as long as I dare! I am more excited about this dwarf lemon than I am about cannabis right now. Weed is easy to grow. Lemons not so much

I'm the cautious type. I would go ahead and put it in dirt.

I have lemon seeds in the freezer from the same tree as these, but I haven't sprouted any of them yet. I'm going to put them all in soil and see what happens. I have 20 acres I have to do something with. The hurricane destroyed my longleaf's and the tax man will give me four more years to get it back in ag or the taxes will go up. I think I can plant a couple acre of citrus a year. Well, when the broke trees get gone.

If the citrus sprout good, I'll try growing them under lights for a couple of three months, then toss them out to the great outdoors. I have a LED shoplight, a DIY hood of double LED's and 4-5 of the older two tube shoplights. {I can't remember the T number} The space is 8x8. That should cover it pretty good.


The lemons.

 

[Father Ramirez]

So big and beautiful!

 

[too larry]

Not much juice, but a sweet lemon.

 

[CannaCountry]

I’m officially confused. She’s a clone from a tree that had fruit so sweet I ate sections and it tasted like grapefruit. Wouldn’t the fruit of the clone taste the same (soil etc notwithstanding)?
Thanks for taking the time to comment @CannaCountry
[/QUO

In commercial production and in your case, they would take a cutting from a (meyer lemon) mature, fruit bearing tree (bud wood) and graft this to a rough lemon or a sweet orange 'root stock'. So one would buy seed for growing root stock...then go out into their groves, find the best producing meyer lemon trees and take cuttings off said trees...then 'graft' them onto the root stock seedlings...hence making a productive citrus tree.

 

[too larry]

We have tri folia {or something like that} growing wild. We use it for root stock when grafting citrus. But I would rather have seedling strains anyway. I want to turn a few fruit into a bunch of trees.

 

[Father Ramirez]

My cutting came from a dwarf Meyer lemon only 2’ tall but laden with heavy fruit. Like canna, I expected the clone would produce identical fruit, given identical other conditions. You sound like a real farmer. I’m just trying to grow a few lemons for personal consumption
Thanks again for chiming in. Best wishes for a successful crop in 2020!

 

[CannaCountry]

Your cutting will produce like the mother, but you'll need to find a 'root stock' to graft it to...that's all I was getting at. At any rate, if it were me I'd simply find root stock seed (it exists) and start one up...then graft your clone onto it or a subsequent cutting from the same mother and you're off to the races. It would be a fun experience if you've never done it before. Anyhow, good luck and have a successful 2020 as well my friend.

 

[Father Ramirez]

Your cutting will produce like the mother, but you'll need to find a 'root stock' to graft it to...that's all I was getting at. At any rate, if it were me I'd simply find root stock seed (it exists) and start one up...then graft your clone onto it or a subsequent cutting from the same mother and you're off to the races. It would be a fun experience if you've never done it before. Anyhow, good luck and have a successful 2020 as well my friend.

Thanks so much for what sounds to my inexperienced ear as expert advice. Growing root from seed and grafting is not going to happen, friend. I’ll take my chances with her as she is. Otherwise it’s back to market for lemons.
Growth is strong so I’m cool with that

 

[xtsho]

Cool stuff. I had three cuttings I got from a friend years ago. All rooted but I was so busy traveling for work at the time that they ended up dying from neglect. I thought about trying to grow one again but I don't have the room for anymore plants in the house. As it is half of my living room is taken up with house plants. Good luck with your lemon.

 

[Father Ramirez]

You guys are cool. Thanks for the advice and support growing citrus, which I’ve never done.
I just came from the Korean grocery where I bought this Mandarin with stem and leaves attached. She’s going into the cloner when I get home! Let’s see if I can revive her

 

[Father Ramirez]

I pulled the mandarin only two days after introducing her. I could tell it wasn’t going to work.
Meanwhile I’ve put the lemon in soil. Organic quality stuff whose name I can’t recall, amended with a touch of lobster, kelp & crab granular, and feeding liquid Alaska naturals in mini doses with every watering. The stalk is green but leaves remain yellow. Appears healthy otherwise, so I hope she’s in stasis due to cold-ish temps in my DC basement. Her root system was strong when she went into dirt. Why she’s not green is baffling