Four-seasons lemon, fruits and flowers all year long

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Blossom and swelling fruit sit on the same shoot at once, above evergreen leaves and thorny stems: that is the four-seasons lemon (Citrus limon), the citrus that bears flowers and lemons in spring, summer, autumn and winter alike. Keep it potted, cool and frost-free from mid-autumn to late spring, and it will crop all year.

Planting, caring and pruning them are steps that help enhance fruit-bearing and avoid diseases.

• Health: health benefits and therapeutic properties of lemons

Planting and re-potting of a four-seasons lemon tree

• Four-seasons lemon tree planted in the ground
  Preferably in spring after the stronger frost spells.
  Choose a sheltered spot well-endowed with sunlight to support its growth and produce nice lemons.
  Note that four-seasons lemon trees only grow directly in the ground in places where winter climates are mild.
• Four-seasons lemon tree planted in pots
  Growing potted trees is best for all your citrus if ever it freezes in your area.
  You’ll have to bring it indoors from October to May.
  Re-pot upon purchasing and then every 2 or 3 years in spring.
• For more advice on potted lemon trees follow this link.

Pruning of four-seasons lemon tree

Pruning isn’t really needed but if you don’t prune your lemon tree, it will quickly grow very large.

Cut each new shoot back to more or less half its length, taking great care to cut just above a leaf.

• This will result in your tree keeping a nice, tight shape.
• You might need to do this several times a year.

Remove dead wood regularly and clear the inside branches to let light penetrate to the center.

Rub out any suckers appearing below the graft union as soon as you spot them.

Since this lemon carries flowers and swelling fruit at the same time, look along each shoot before cutting and spare the parts already in bloom.

Make each cut just above an outward-facing leaf so the new shoot grows away from the centre rather than back into it.

Wear thick gloves, as lemon shoots often carry sharp thorns at the leaf joints.

Watering your Citrus limon

In pots, water as soon as the soil is dry, without flooding the pots.
Avoid all heat sources such as nearby radiators, because this could dry your tree out.

• Find all our advice on caring for potted lemon trees.

If your tree is growing outside in the ground, water only in case of prolonged dry spells or heat waves.

Use rainwater or filtered water whenever you can, since the lime in hard tap water pushes the soil alkaline and turns lemon leaves yellow between the veins.

Empty the saucer under the pot a few minutes after each watering.

While the tree is kept cool indoors it drinks far less, so let the top of the compost dry out before watering again.

Leaves that yellow and drop while the compost stays wet point to too much water, not too little, so hold off until the pot feels light.

Caring for four-seasons lemon tree

Even if the four-seasons lemon tree is one of the hardiest citrus trees, it still is rather difficult to grow directly in the ground where winters are cold.

You must winterize them with horticultural fleece as soon as temperatures drop below freezing.

Regularly give them citrus-specific organic fertilizers to give them the best chances of developing well.

Try to add the fertilizer on the three turning points in the plant’s seasonal cycle

• Before flowering
• As soon as the first fruits appear
• In September, in order to support the growth of the lemon fruits

Growing them in pots is most adapted, because that makes it possible to bring the lemon trees to a spot where it doesn’t freeze in the winter.

Lemon trees aren’t indoor plants, and can’t bear staying in a heated environment all year round. They need relatively lower temperatures from October to May.

• If you’re looking for citrus plants that cope well with growing indoors, check out calamondin trees.

Diseases that are commonly found on four-seasons lemon tree

European brown rot – lemons rot while still on the tree.
Scale insects – whitish masses colonize leaves.
Aphids – leaves curl up and fall off.

Spray the foliage, undersides included, with diluted black soap to dislodge scale insects and aphids from a lemon tree.

Remove and bin any mummified lemons still hanging on the branches.

Yellow leaves with veins still green signal iron chlorosis, common when a lemon tree is watered with hard tap water.

Smart tip about four-seasons lemon tree

Pick the lemons as soon as they easily break off from their branch.

Learn more about citrus plants

• Special information on citrus plants.
• Growing clementine trees.
• Growing orange trees.
• Growing grapefruits.