Surrey Lemon tree cultivation after frost

Winter 2008/9
This winter was rather severe for lemon trees. Two fairly large specimens could not be accommodated and had to endure the worst of the weather, wrapped in several layers of fleece. This protection was not enough, as the following photographs show. One tree has now started regrowing but the other looks very bare. This page will document progress in 2009.

The damage. After the severe frost I did not do much to the plants for some time. Although the leaves were initially greenish or yellow, they soon withered and most of them fell off. Some twigs turned brown, and some were even split where they had frozen. All this material was cut off. 20090305 Dead leaves and twigs.

Pruned. After everything that was clearly dead had been removed, there was not much left except a forlorn trunk.20090305 Bare trunk, pruned back.

Some branches had to be cut back so far that I fashioned a home-made sealant as an attempt to protect against rot, although I have never had rot on citrus yet. This sealant was melted milk-bottle screw cap, pasted on before it hardened. 20090305 Home made cut sealant.

Life! The larger lemon tree did not seem quite as badly damaged and once inside (now much smaller!) soon showed signs of growth. After a few weeks, this is the result. 20090328 New growth.

May, 2009. We are advised that this summer could be a good one. Well, it has certainly started well! May has been pretty warm, much better than last year, with a couple of particularly settled, sunny spells. The frost damaged citrus plants are making new growth, but the evidence of severe leaf and even limb loss is still clear in these pictures. In the hot sunshine (24C today) everything is looking better. Enjoying the sun

Always something attacking: cats now! The white rag is to stop the neighbour's cat from using the trunk as a handy clawing post. It can be seen on the right that most of the twigs are dead. This was where the plant was aginst the fence in the winter and the fleece was not as well wrapped. I will have to be more careful next time. The large cushion cactus has just been repotted and it weighs a ton! 20090530 Always something attacking: cats now.

Summer has arrived! The weather has been more traditionally summery than the previous two Junes of 2007 and 2008: sun has been observed several times, and a considerable number of warm days. Very nice indeed. The date palms are actually growing, but this page is about citrus trees. New flowers appeared in early June, as seen here. 20090609 New citrus flowers, 2009!

This flower is not on the lemon tree. That has not flowered yet this year - I think I pruned it at the wrong time (in April when it was put out) and this made it sprout rather than flower. The flowers here appeared on a small leaved citrus which I think is a satsuma or a clementine of some type. The amazing thing is that this plant has been outdoors here in Surrey all its life. In fact, it was outside all winter yet it did not appear to be frosted and has even flowered. I have since read that some satsuma varieties are hardier than other citrus, I can certainly vouch for that! Here, the flower opens on a fine sunny morning. 20090616 New citrus flower opens.

A wider view of the whole bush with a very untidy lawn behind ( bush is not very big but has never been pruned). Being outdoors all the time, it usually sprouts fairly late in Spring. There have been two flowers on it so far. The close-up shows some red-spider mite damage from last year. Thankfully the frost seems to have seen them off though they have appeared again on other citrus in my collection. 20090622 Satusuma (?) bush in sunshine.

Flower close-up.

The damage. After the severe frost I did not do much to the plants for some time. Although the leaves were initially greenish or yellow, they soon withered and most of them fell off. Some twigs turned brown, and some were even split where they had frozen. All this material was cut off. 20090305
Pruned. After everything that was clearly dead had been removed, there was not much left except a forlorn trunk.20090305
Some branches had to be cut back so far that I fashioned a home-made sealant as an attempt to protect against rot, although I have never had rot on citrus yet. This sealant was melted milk-bottle screw cap, pasted on before it hardened. 20090305

Summer has arrived! The weather has been more traditionally summery than the previous two Junes of 2007 and 2008: sun has been observed several times, and a considerable number of warm days. Very nice indeed. The date palms are actually growing, but this page is about citrus trees. New flowers appeared in early June, as seen here. 20090609
This flower is not on the lemon tree. That has not flowered yet this year - I think I pruned it at the wrong time (in April when it was put out) and this made it sprout rather than flower. The flowers here appeared on a small leaved citrus which I think is a satsuma or a clementine of some type. The amazing thing is that this plant has been outdoors here in Surrey all its life. In fact, it was outside all winter yet it did not appear to be frosted and has even flowered. I have since read that some satsuma varieties are hardier than other citrus, I can certainly vouch for that! Here, the flower opens on a fine sunny morning. 20090616
A wider view of the whole bush with a very untidy lawn behind ( bush is not very big but has never been pruned). Being outdoors all the time, it usually sprouts fairly late in Spring. There have been two flowers on it so far. The close-up shows some red-spider mite damage from last year. Thankfully the frost seems to have seen them off though they have appeared again on other citrus in my collection. 20090622