What is the lifespan of a Meyers lemon tree?

March 18, 2009 6:13 PM

What is the lifespan of a Meyers lemon tree?

Growing up I remember my parents having the best lemon tree ever. It bore huge grapefruit sized lemons that were sweet enough to eat raw. Today its a sad sad tree. The fruit is more lime size and bears half the amount of fruit it used to. We've deducted its either the plum tree which has slowly grown over the lemon tree blocking the sun or its just getting up there in age and is on its way out.

so my question is whats the lifespan of a Meyers lemon tree? and is this just normal aging ( smaller fruit, less quantity)

Any tips on perking up an aging tree?

I'll add that the tree according to my mom was there when they bought the house some 30+ yrs ago and has always lived in the ground.

posted by ljesse to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Sounds like you've identified the problem (too much shade). Four Winds Growers, who bred the first disease-free 'Improved Meyer' strain in the US says they can have a productive lifespan of 50 years.

I mean, if someone put the tree into the ground in 1955 or so, it might be nearing the end of its life, but in my own experience, though, losing sun makes a citrus tree very unhappy.
posted by purpleclover at 7:22 PM on March 18, 2009

How often is it cut back, if at all?
We noticed ours got prolific again after a good hard pruning by a pro.
It's a big 30' Eureka/Meyer hybrid, if it makes any difference, that gets a lot of sun.
posted by artdrectr at 10:51 PM on March 18, 2009

Response by poster: thanks for the info

artdrectr I'm not sure if its ever had a very good pruning but from the sounds of it we'll be pruning back the plum tree.
posted by ljesse at 4:54 PM on March 30, 2009