growing container citrus

[Tiggeroo]

has anybody ever grown citrus trees in a container on their porch? I live in NJ and I"m thinking of getting a lemon and lime tree, keeping it outside until frost then bringing them in for the winter. Has anybody had any luck with these. They're not cheap so i'd be bummed if they died right away. The ads say they'll get fruit the first year but i'm wondering if that's true.

 

[In a hurry]

My mIL does this. Her trees came up from Florida 25 years ago! She has lemons, and limes, and takes them out for the summers, and hauls them back in for the winter (they weigh a ton!!!). She gets a lot of fruit on hers!

 

[Tiggeroo]

bumping in case anybody else has these

 

[jennyl772003]

My grandma had a lemon tree for many years. It stayed pretty small and would average maybe 7-10 lemons a year. She lived in WI, so she kept it on her deck in the summer, and dragged it into her front room in the fall.

 

[ceiligh1]

I have been thinking about doing this as well. Where are you getting your trees from?

 

[buddy&wooz]

I brought back an orange tree about 3.5 years ago (bought at WDW .) I gave it to my dad and he keeps it outside all summer, in a good southern exposure room all winter (here in NJ.) It was about 18" tall when I got it, now it's close to 5'. It looks great. No fruit, though.

 

[Jpgirl]

Try getting a Meyers lemon tree. They're a little more hardy but you definitely have to pull them in for the winter. I live in Houston TX and we have a lemon tree in a container-and we get orange size lemons that are very good. We measure our frosts in hours here (the weather man will say there's a frost advisory for 2 hours tonight). I've never had to pull my tree in but I think it's frost hardy for 4 hours or less. Also you can't have frost or icy rain when it buds-it'll freeze the flowers and kill them. I also have a tangerine tree (very small now) and those were the best tangerines I've ever had. Good luck

 

[Tiggeroo]

http://www.acornsprings.com/

 

[ceiligh1]

http://www.acornsprings.com/

thanks so much.

 

[buzzlady]

Michigan Bulb has miniature fruit trees.


http://michiganbulb.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_03343_A_Citrus,+Miniature+Collection_E_

 

[LeCras]

We have a small lemon tree in our conservatory which gives the most amazing, almost sweet, lemons. I'd say it's definitely worth it - makes the G&T taste that little bit better...

Charlotte

 

[Tiggeroo]

michigan's prices are much better but it doesn't say how mature they are. The other company says they are mature fruit bearing trees. I'm going to look at a couple local farm markets too