Eureka Lemon 🍋🍋🍋 Early Spring update

[@myexoticfoodplants6727]

Your fruiting Eureka lemon tree has come through winter looking amazing Dominic. I bought a lemon tree out of Aldi supermarket last year, re-potted it, pruned it, stripped off all the fruit and buds. It went on to produce more fruits and is looking great and now flowering after overwintering in one of my citrus tents. Aldi did not give the variety, but I suspect it might be a Eureka or Lisbon lemon.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Mike ... I really neglected this tree since last summer but it did a good job caring for itself. Your Aldi Lemon sound fantastic. I remember you doing the video of it and saying you were going to remove the flowers, which sounded to me like a good move at the time. Best of luck with it, it's really nice being able grow ones own Lemons. I look forward to an update of your tree.

[@peppe-urbanfoodgrowing8921]

Great condition! Love to see it.

[@MoebiusUK]

Cheers, Peppe ... Eureka Lemon trees seem to do quite well in London.

[@PeterEntwistle]

Wow, very impressive, Dom! Great to see it has held onto and ripened some lemons and starting to flower again. I was gutted when I lost my first Eureka lemon last year, my replacement Eureka does seem to be pushing out a lot of growth at the moment in the greenhouse. I don't think it's flowered yet, but I imagine it should do soon 🤞 The slugs are a right pain though. I am not sure if the pellets I used have actually helped that much, but they have all disintegrated now, so I might put some fresh ones down.

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Peter. This Eureka is a really useful plant to have. It's basically like having excellent quality Lemons on tap. I have 2 of them but only one has flowered and fruited so far. Not sure why my other one hasn't flowered but I'm sure once it does it won't stop. Regarding slugs and snails, I like to use 'Strulch' as a deterrent .. Its a mulch but is advertised as a deterrent, although I'm not certain how effective it is.

[@PeterEntwistle]

​@@MoebiusUK Yeah, my last Eureka flowered almost continuously. I was planning to plant a lemon tree in the ground this year, not sure if I should go with a Meyer lemon or a Eureka. My last Eureka did suffer cold damage in the December 2022 freeze, but I think it was root rot that finished it off in the end. I will be covering it like I did with my clementine regardless of which I go with.

[@lyonheart84]

Looks extremely good Dom, they really love that central London microclimate, I suspect I have decent lemons coming on my largest plant, no doubt I'll see when they come out of my summerhouse

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Brett. Yes, I can't complain about my location, having a south(ish) facing garden is a help. My neighbours across the road with north-facing back gardens tend to only grow shade tolerant plants. What variety is your largest plant? I also have a Meyer Lemon with almost fully-ripe fruit on. I'm quite excited to do a taste test comparison.

[@lyonheart84]

@@MoebiusUK unfortunately if I recall correctly no variety label on my large lemon plant, perhaps I'll figure it out one day 😁

[@garycard1456]

That's very busy lemon, putting out embryonic fruit while it has several near-ripe lemons on it at the same time. Obviously you are keeping it well-fed. It looks like it is in between a wall and a fence. Does it get a lot of direct sun in that position? My Citron shed its fruit today (or, rather, a strong wind gust blew the fruit off). It was ripe by the looks of it, otherwise the wind would not have blown it off so easily. I get a lot of wind in my location. I guess it is because I am closer to the south coast (only 30 miles away).

[@MoebiusUK]

Thanks, Gary. Today I fed it for the first time this year but will now give it regular feeds until Autumn. It is very busy, once the Eureka gets going it's non-stop action. I don;t actually keep it in the space where I recorded the video ... I needed to sweep the ground so moved it then made the video. It actually gets a little more light but everything in my tiny garden tends to be shaded because I have more plants than I should. Was your Citron fruit ripe when it dropped? We have had the wind in London also ... I believe there is a storm event over the west coast. Apparently it's the reason why we're getting the warm air temps too.

[@garycard1456]

@@MoebiusUK Do you find that fish emulsion has a high enough NPK rating for citrus? I top-dress with growmore granules and water with dilute miraclegro, which has a high NPK. However, I want to steer away from urea- and ammonium- containing commercial fertilizers, as I read that urea can be toxic to plants in excess, while ammonium salts can over-acidify the soil/substrate over time. Nitrate is the way to go, as it gives the plants instant nitrogen without the toxic effects of urea and ammonium salts. Yeah, the fruit was ripe when the wind gust blew it off. The abcission point was clean (no broken stalks). So, it was a 'natural' shed, aided by the wind.

[@garycard1456]

@@MoebiusUK Do you find that fish emulsion has a high enough NPK for hungry feeders like citrus?

[@garycard1456]

@@MoebiusUK I want to steer away from urea- and ammonium-based commercial fertilizers. Excess urea can damage plants, while ammonium salts can over-acidfy the soil. Nitrate avoids these issues and is an immediately available source of plant nitrogen.

[@MoebiusUK]

@@garycard1456 I find fish emulsion is sufficient as I haven't seen any obvious deficiencies ... saying that, I often add a 1/4 strength dose of 18-18-18 citrus feed. I've run out of fish emulsion so have been trialling some 'Guanakalong' products. You should check out their website because they have a wide range of liquid organic ferts. I think they use Molasses as a base but some also contain Bat Guano while others don't. They're a Dutch organic fert company and their website has datasheets on the various products.