The new age has seen citrus trees on a porch in an apartment complex. As a result, you no longer need a large backyard or ranch to have citrus on hand. With new ways of pruning or dwarf crossbreeds, it is easier to have fruitful trees.

Below are 18 ways to grow Lemon Trees in pots.

1. Choose A Lemon Tree For Potting

With so many varieties, not every lemon tree is ideal for potting. By choosing a lemon tree that was bred for indoor growth, you optimize your chance of success.

Subsequently, a few of these trees include; The Lisbon lemon tree, similar to heirloom lemons found in grocery stores, and Dwarf Ponderosa, though it requires a lot of care, these lemons are very large and sweet.

Another option is the Dwarf Meyer lemon tree, which is a crossbreed of lemon and orange that is juicy and tangy. Due to the nature of these plants, they don’t grow past 3 or 4 feet, making them ideal for indoor growth.

2. Water Your Tree Often

Water your citrus plants at least two to three times a week. If the weather is very hot or windy or if your plant is blossoming or growing fruit, it may need daily watering.

Consequently, make sure the water soaks into the potting mix and doesn’t simply run through without soaking in. This is to ensure that your plant gets the best watering experience.

3. Place Your Pot In Moderate Sunlight

Although your lemons need sunlight to grow, too much sun can cause them to dry out too quickly. This will result in smaller and dryer lemons.

It is best practice to place your pots in 6-8 hours of direct sunlight, depending on the intensity of the sun. After this time has elapsed, take them back inside or just remove them from the sunlight.

4. Prune Your Lemon Tree

It is possible to get plenty of fruit without pruning but, you’ll get larger, sweeter fruit by cutting off all the dead leaves and the branches that are growing without bearing fruit.

Pruning will help your tree to concentrate on the nutrients it extracts from the soil and sunlight. This will also serve as a way to keep your tree groomed and train it to stay that way.

5. Choose The Best Soil

Avoid soil that is all organic as it will decompose too quickly. This will result in the reduction of aeration for roots. Also, avoid soil that contains wetting agents.

As a consequence, wetting agents cause too much moisture retention which can cause root rot. It is best to choose soil that is lightweight and contains inorganic ingredients such as perlite, vermiculite, coconut coir, or peat moss.

6. Choose The Right Pot

Choose a pot with sufficient drainage. This will ensure that your lemon tree roots will stay moist but not soggy, reducing the possibility of rot. Another idea is ensuring that your pot is at least 5 gallons.

The absolute best is a 15-gallon pot to ensure enough room and support for growth. Anything over 15 gallons will usually result in excess space and will add incredible weight.

7. Fertilize Your Tree

Lemon trees thrive off the fertilizer. Although you should never add fertilizer in the first year, it is important to start in the second year. apply a slow-release fertilizer once every two months in the spring and summer.

In winter, apply once every 3 months. Once your lemon tree has fruit, there is no need to apply fertilizer.

8. Re-pot Your Tree In Time

After 3 to 4 years, your lemon tree will need a transplant, the best time to do this is in the spring. When transplanting a lemon tree to a new pot, Ensure that the pot is 25% to 50% bigger than the root ball. 

The root ball is the root, plus the surrounding dirt of the lemon tree that came out during removal. For the softest soil that is easy to handle, it is important to water the soil the night before the transplant.

9. Keep Your Trees Out Of The Dark

While too much sunlight can have negative effects on your plant, it is important to keep them in a well-lit area. They don’t need to be in direct sunlight, just ensure that where ever they’re placed has a light source nearby.

As a consequence of too much darkness, your tree may become stunted and unable to grow or bear fruit.

10. Keep Your Trees Out Of The Cold

While lemon trees are resilient, they’re unable to survive intensely cold weather. Especially if there’s going to be a frost, snowstorm, or heavy rain.

In these cases, move your plant inside to protect it. However, if you happen to forget your plant outside and it seems dead, keep it, the possibility of getting new growth from it in spring is very high.

11. Prevent Diseases 

It is important to keep your potted lemon tree away from other trees that seem to have a disease. Also keep your tree away from areas that have a lot of worms, insects, and parasites.

Keep your tree in an area where animals won’t have easy access. Other trees, insects, or animals can pass fungi and diseases to your plant either directly or indirectly. It is necessary to protect it to get the best fruit.

12. Place Gravel In The Base Of Your Pot

When planting lemon trees in a pot, it is important to have drainage. Hence, the chances for the soil to leak away increase greatly.

As a pro tip, if you put some gravel to the base of your pot before adding the soil, it will help to keep the dirt in the pot while assisting the drainage to be most efficient.

13. Check For Pollination

Almost every indoor lemon tree will self-pollinate. However, if you’re concerned about the growth of the fruit or it just hasn’t produced anything, you can try putting it outside to be pollinated by other trees.

As a final alternative, you can invest in an electric pollination tool or manually pollinate your tree by picking the blossom from another tree and placing it near your tree, and allowing the wind to work.

14. Don’t Give Your Trees Too Much Water

It is sufficient to water your plant three times per week. An ideal state is where the soil is dark and moist. Overwatering can cause your plant to become soggy and have root rot.

Root rot is a disease that causes the root of your plant to rot, rendering it useless. This is why sufficient drainage and aeration is ultimately important.

15. Don’t Give Your Trees Too Much Fertilizer

Many gardeners constantly fertilize their plants. Avoid fertilizer in the first year of growth and do not fertilize if your plant is blossoming or bearing fruit.

Only fertilize after the first year and 3 months apart in small portions. Too much fertilizer can also destroy the root of your plant at a faster rate than heat, cold or overwatering.

16. Ensure That The Pot Is As Light As Possible

This is necessary to make it easy to move your pot around with ease. You will want to move it around to get it in and out of the sun and to ideal locations away from diseased trees and animals.

Ways to make your pot light include but are not limited to, putting newspaper before the soil and gravel or putting plastic bottles as a base. These materials will also be beneficial in producing aeration and drainage.

17. Keep Trees Away From Strong Winds

Lemon trees thrive in the low wind because strong winds will cause your fruit to deform and cause your tree to lose its leaves. If you absolutely cannot place your tree out of the reach of the wind, an alternative would be to stake your tree when it is young, this will help it to grow with reinforcement.

18. Remove Weeds And Grass

Weeds and grass take away from the nutrients in the soil, to ensure that your lemon plant has the best chance at survival and success, it is important to pull up weeds and unwanted grass early and ensure that you remove the roots.

Removing the roots will assure their removal for good.

Lemon trees can be a lot to grow and care for but the benefits far outweigh the workload. Each tree will yield large crops if cared for correctly.

This fruit can be used for weight loss, hormone regulation, digestive health, cleaning the home, or sweet touch to your warm meals and salads.

18 Brilliant Ways To Grow Lemon Trees In Pots

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Here are 18 Best practices for growing your Lemon Trees in pots. Follow these simple tips and you will produce the best Lemon Trees from the comfort of your home.

Instructions

1. Choose A Lemon Tree For Potting
2. Water Your Lemon Trees Often
3. Place Your Pots In Moderate Sunlight
4. Prune Your Lemon Tree
5. Choose The Best Soil
6. Choose The Right Pot
7. Fertilize Your Tree
8. Re-pot Your Tree In Time
9. Keep Your Trees Out Of The Dark
10. Keep Your Trees Out Of The Cold
11. Prevent Diseases from Consuming Your Tree
12. Place Gravel In The Base Of Your Pot
13. Check Your Tree For Pollination
14. Don’t Give Your Trees Too Much Water
15. Don’t Give Your Trees Too Much Fertilizer
16. Ensure That The Pot Is As Light As Possible
17. Keep Trees Away From Strong Winds
18. Remove Weeds And Grass From Pots