Did you know lemon is an excellent tree to grow indoors as an ornamental plant? It might possibly be the cheapest way to get started growing a bonsai tree, for beginners. Multiple seeds can be acquired from inside fresh produce at the grocery store.
In this article, I will be sharing an update on a couple more of my citrus trees, and how I am maintaining them indoors during the winter months
In my cover photo I have a pair of lemons that were sprouted from the seeds of a Meyer's Lemon. One of the two trees is developing a tall trunk from a central leading branch, and I decided to give it a trim to help the tree maintain a small miniature size.
These trees are entering their second season of growth, and one has already developed a brown bark around the trunk. The larger tree still has two young growing branches below the cut mark I made, so it should have plenty of potential to continue growing healthy for the upcoming year.
The goal for my youngest bonsai trees is to keep them small enough to continue developing healthy roots in their current pot size, and to promote low-growing branches to thicken up. Unneeded upper climbing branches are removed. Any long branches are shortened to promote new buds, and eventually branches divide into smaller branches that will produce smaller leaves.
Some of my citrus trees have been showing signs of over-drying. This is evidenced by leaves that become brittle and fall off on their own, and when the tree is so stressed that it can no longer produces new leaves. Our indoor heating system is very bad for citrus, because it dries the air. This causes the leaves and roots to become parched.
A plastic bag to help hold in some of the moisture around the leaves and stems is a slight remedy, which helps a little bit. A dome over the entire pot would hold the humidity better, but I am limited on space and domes that will fit where I can grow trees.
Even though the tree is dormant, and isn't receiving full sunlight in the winter, citrus tress are happiest if they are able to produce at least little bits of new green growth all year round. Keeping the humidity high, and providing light from a nearby window allows the tree to get by on its winter diet of less sunlight and rain.
My lemons all grow in a very rocky soil to promote healthy root spread throughout the pot. Rocks allow for plenty of air to enter the rootzone. This also means that it dries out quickly, so it is important to water them every other day or so. I like this type of soil because I tend to overwater things grown in normal potting soil. Rocky soils can be watered as often as I like without harming the tree.
Notice the little green tie on this tree?
That green tie was my band-aide to try to fix a mistake I once made on this delicate tree. When I last wired this tree, I accidentally split the trunk down the middle, leaving a deep scar through the center stem. All the green wood was exposed, so I used this garden tape to tie up the wound tight over the past year to help it heal.
Now I am looking at the results of the wound. It looks like it healed on both sides of the scar, but the wood may not ever fully seal together again. I will have to continue to be delicate when wiring the branches to prevent further splitting down the trunk.
This tree did not really need to be trimmed, but I decided to trim the left branch anyway.
This tree has been a bit more sleepy dormant than I prefer, and I thought that a slight trim might help wake up some new growth to appear. If I can just get a few new leaves to form, I won't have to worry about this tree for a while. New green leaves are usually better hydrated than the big old ones, and this will allow the tree to photosynthesize more sunlight, and trigger more healing growth throughout all parts of the tree.
With a few leaves on the branch end to keep the batteries running inside the branch, I am hoping removing the green branch end did not also remove too much energy from the tree. It also means less material the roots have to continue to provide hydration into. However, this also means I've opened a new wound for air to steal moisture from. So I dabbed a bit of honey on the wounded cut mark to help seal the end.
With the wire on the branches, I angled the branches into some arching fan shapes. The right branch heading downward and then upward, and the left branch around a bend in an S-shape.
Asymmetry improves the natural appearance of the tree by making it less like a perfect Y-shaped fork.
When I finished work on the tree, I put the plastic hoodie back over the tree to help it to recuperate.
In my home I grow three kinds of citrus. This one is an ordinary lemon. In my cover photo, this tree grew from a Meyer's Lemon seed. I also have a Mexican Lime that grew from seed, but it's not yet photo ready (it's on life-support, and recovering). They have never made fruit or flowers before, but I am looking forward to seeing that one day. These trees I grow for ornamental purposes.
If I wanted maximum fruit production I would allow them to grow in a much larger space to become a huge tree, but I do not have that kind of space on our small property, and we live in the wrong climate zone. Honestly, it is very cheap and easy to get fresh citrus fruit when we want it, shipped local stores from better farm lands.
Did you enjoy learning how I grow citrus bonsai? I know, I have a lot to learn myself, but I have time and patience, and a willingness to learn by making lots of mistakes along the way. Maybe others can learn from my experiences too.
Let me know if you have grown citrus trees, and any valuable lessons you might have learned along the way.
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by 
Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.
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Bonsai!
Saturday, January 5, 2019
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