Hi my name is Byron Martin, here at Logee's Greenhouses.
The business was started in 1892 by my grandfather, and one of the oldest
plants we have in the greenhouse is our Ponderosa Lemon Tree.
This is a lemon that is a hybrid between the citron-- which produces a very large,
somewhat pointed fruit-- and the table lemon. And this original tree came to us
in 1900. So, the Ponderosa Lemon is, actually, at one time, was thought to be a
new world plant; was called the American wonder lemon, but the origin of it
was traced back to Italy, where the hybrid was made between the citron and the lemon.
Ponderosa lemon is a very easy plant to grow, and as you can see it produces these
huge fruit, here's a very large one that we have up here. It's probably one of our
bigger ones for the season, right here.
That probably goes up to maybe two pounds; maybe actually almost three
pounds of fruit. We have had them weigh as much as five pounds, which makes them
fruit that's even larger than this.
Most of them are about this size, right here, that we get off of the tree.
The culture of this is like most citrus, where we grow them under as much
direct sunlight as possible. This is in a greenhouse where we have light coming in on
all sides. In a home situation, you would want a South window;
east or west minimum. To get fruiting on citrus, they really need that higher
light level, as far as growing in containers go,
it's like-- again, it's like most citrus, the greatest stress is on the root system,
where root disease is a prominent issue.
So, it's about watering them, and drying them down-- and watering and drying them down.
Citrus can actually take more drought stress than most of us are aware of, so
it's better to err on the dry side, and that really creates air going down into the
soil, which keeps the root system healthy.
Also, as these are what I would call, ever-growing, as opposed to seasonal growing,
they grow quite fast. And, one of the issues in growing the Ponderosa Lemon
as a young plant, is to get the plant large enough before you let it hold
fruit. And they will start fruiting immediately from a young cutting. This is--
all of our plants are grown by cutting here, and so they will, within the first
year, start producing flowers, and try to produce fruit. And you can let them do that,
it's just that the weight of the fruit can get so large, it will rip
branches off. So, the best thing to do is to spend a little bit of time when you
first start culturing them, and allow them to get a nice, thick branch
structure to them that can actually hold the weight of the fruit. Now, in a container,
the fruit will never get this big
initially. It takes quite a few years before the strength of the plant can
make a fruit that large. But, this is certainly the size of a fruit that you
can get off of a small lemon tree.
The flowering and fruiting cycle, as I said, is throughout the year, but mainly
right now-- in this Christmas season that's when the fruit ripens, and then as
the season goes on, they will start shedding their fruit if we don't pick them. It goes
back into flower, and the cycle continues.
As far as
insects are concerned, and diseases-- as I mentioned, root disease is really the
biggest problem in their culture--
insects, also, can be a problem. Plants like this, or, citrus like this are prone
to spider mite, and of course the scale and mealy bug problems that plague most
citrus. So, one needs to keep an eye on that; when you're growing them make sure
you don't let those insects get out of hand.
Usually, if you put the plants out in the summertime, all that disappears, but
generally, a rule of thumb, before you bring them inside in the fall,
get some neem oil and spray the plants thoroughly with it, whether you see
insects or not, and that usually gives you good control so you can get through to the
beginning of the next growing season.
Also in growing citrus, we must pay attention to fertilizer, as container-grown plants
do need to be fed. Plants that need a regular application fertilizer in
containers. Don't overdo it, as always. There are some great organic citrus
fertilizers that you can use, and they all work fine in terms of putting out
growth and flowers.
So, in terms of lemons,
this is a great lemon for culinary work; can make lemon pies out of it, or you can use the
lemon juice to make lemonade.
You can see if we cut that open, that-- there's the interior of it--
you got your seeds, and you can see them-- the rhind is relatively thick, and that
think rhind is actually related to the citron.
Of course, yeah, that's sour, yeah-- that's sour. So whatever your recipe, whether it
be making lemonade or lemon pie, or you're flavoring dishes with it,
ponderosa is a great lemon to grow and use, and very productive as a container plant.
Remember, give your lemon tree full-sun, watch your watering, fertilize on a regular basis
during the growing season. In no time, you'll be enjoying the fruits of your work.
If you'd like more information on our lemons, you can go to Logees.com