Potted Citrus Plants

It's that time of year again. Now that temperatures are reaching down into the low 40's F, we'll start the daily shuffle of bringing our potted citrus plants inside at night and back out again in the morning. Then sometime in late October or early November, they'll be moved indoors permanently - or more accurately until early May.

I haven't decided where to keep my plants indoors this winter. My concern is that they won't get enough natural light, which might partially explain my difficulties last year. I might come up with artificial set up in our basement to house them using the regular halogen lamps I use to start my transplants in the Spring. The last thing I want to do is up our electricity bill but it's an option we'll have to consider.

One think I've done differently this year is to prune my citrus plants heavily to ensure a bushier growth. It definitely makes housing them indoors more convenient.

I think I may have neglected to mention that I'd purchased a second Meyer lemon tree last spring. At the time, I wasn't sure whether my other tree was going to survive since by April, it had lost its leaves completely. This one is definitely more tree-like than my other one.

And this is what my other Meyer lemon tree looks like now. As you can see, it's nowhere as big or glorious as it was before. After it lost all of its leaves, I pruned the naked branches severely to encourage new growth. A few of the pruned branches died back even further but eventually, new leaves and branches did form. Despite our difficulties, this may have been a blessing in disguise as now the plant is growing into a bushier specimen.

When I repotted it last spring, I noticed that the roots looked rather unhealthy. Hopefully I can adjust the watering, lighting and heat indoors to encourage better root health this winter.