What to With Lemon Trees in May – 4 Easy Care Tasks to Ensure Healthy Trees and a Juicy Harvest This Year
A few simple tasks in May will set your lemon tree up for a healthy and fruitful growing season.
May is the gateway to summer. Warmer nights and longer days mean lemon tree care needs to shift from your early spring regimen towards a summer-focused one.
Lemon trees are hardy to USDA Zones 9-11, but they can be grown indoors in the winter and transitioned outside even into Zone 3. Container-grown Meyer lemon trees (which are currently on sale at Fast Growing Trees) are a wonderful addition to any garden and can bear fruit in 1 to 2 years.
Meyer lemon trees produce flavorful lemons that are perfect for lemonade, desserts, and cooking. If you have a lemon tree, keep reading to learn more about adjusting your care routine now that we are in the merry month of May.
1. Transition Lemon Trees Outside
If you don’t live in USDA Zones 9-11, you have probably been growing your lemon tree in a container indoors through the winter. May’s consistently warming temperatures mean lemon trees can begin to transition outdoors. Start acclimating your tree to the outdoors by moving it outside in the shade on days that are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 C). Make sure the last frost has passed.
Start slow and gradually increase the time the tree is outside so it can build a tolerance to sun, wind and the great outdoors. Make tree moving easy by planting into a self-watering rolling citrus tree planter from Vego Garden or by placing the pot on a plant dolly like this one from Amazon.
Expose the tree to one hour of direct sun before moving it back into the shade and then indoors at night. After about two weeks of slowly increasing the time in the sun, it should be able to handle 6 hours of direct sunlight which is what it needs to produce fruit. Once temperatures are consistently above 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 C) at night, your lemon tree can stay outside for the summer.
2. Maintain Proper Watering
One of the biggest problems for container grown lemon trees is inconsistent watering. Containers dry out faster than inground gardens, and citrus trees can become stressed and drop leaves and fruit if you aren’t careful to maintain proper moisture levels. Moving trees outdoors into warmer, breezy weather can further dry out the soil.
Water your lemon tree when the top 2 inches of soil are dry. You can check this by just sticking your finger down into the soil or you could use a simple but effective soil moisture meter, available from Amazon.
If you are planning on going out of town this summer, you might want to invest in a smart irrigation system or plant your lemon tree into something like the Vego Garden self-watering rolling citrus planter. This will help keep your lemon tree healthy even when you’re not home.
3. Prune Suckers
May is also a good time to prune any suckers or “water sprouts” that are growing from your lemon tree. Suckers are green sprouts that lack bark and grow from the trunk or larger limbs of the tree.
Suckers take precious energy away from your tree that is better spent on producing juicy lemons. These sprouts are thorny, unproductive and should be pruned away regularly.
Your lemon tree is no longer in a dormant state by May, so you will see these suckers begin to grow and they’ll continue to appear throughout the growing season. Snip them away with a pair of cleaned pruners so you don’t spread pests or diseases to your lemon tree. No fancy equipment needed, just your regular pruners will do fine.
4. Fertilize Lemon Trees
In May, your lemon tree will see increased growth and begin to work on developing flowers that will turn into lemons. This increased activity means the lemon tree will need more nutrients to support its health and fruit production.
Lemon tree fertilizer is typically high in nitrogen and applied between April and September. Regular feeding will give your lemon tree the nutritional boost it needs for the best harvest possible. The GrowScripts Citrus Tree Care Kit from Fast Growing Trees has everything you need measured out and an application guide to take all the guesswork out of fertilizing.
You can also use Espoma Citrus-Tone from Amazon which is an organic feed that also improves soil by introducing beneficial microbes. Yellowing leaves are often an indicator that your lemon tree needs more nutrients.
A little work now will set your lemon tree up for fruitful success. Taking care of a lemon tree in May is a little like taking good care of yourself. Going outside, staying hydrated, eating a balanced diet, and a little maintenance is good for all of us!
