My Lemon Tree

Looking a little sad :(

About six years ago when I lived with my sister she received a small lemon tree.  If I remember correctly it was approximately six inches tall so not very big at all. Since I am the one who has the green thumb in the family, my sister so graciously gave it to me, or at least that is what I thought.   We continued to live together and I continued to care for the lemon tree.  It grew to a couple feet tall and we found out that if you pulled off a leaf and rubbed it, it smelled like a lemon.  I wonder if all citrus fruit tree leaves smell like their fruit.  Anyway, my sister decided it was time to get married to boyfriend.  She moved out and got married and I continued to care for the lemon tree for a few months after her wedding, which was in April.  August rolled around and I actually moved back in with my sister and her husband.  My sister has an awesome sunroom so when I moved in, all my plants ended up in her sunroom, including the lemon tree.  While living with my sister, again, the lemon tree bloomed and produced a couple of lemons.  The blossoms are very sweet smelling by the way.  After awhile, I decided that I should move out, or was given a gentle nudge to move out.  While my sister and I were sorting out what was mine and what was hers,  she decided to lay claim on my lemon tree.  She claimed it was given to her and I agreed but then she said that she never gave it to me.  I disagreed. After much debate, we decided to share it.


I hadn't been over to my sister's for a couple of weeks so when I went over there I noticed that the leaves were falling off.  When I took a closer look, I noticed tiny webs all over the tree.  I immediately knew what was going on.  My tree was being attacked by spider mites.  I loathe spider mites.  I immediately made my insecticidal soap and went into battle mode.  After covering every leaf, thorn, blossom, and branch, I felt much better.  I knew the battle wasn't over yet.  They lay eggs and the soap won't kill the eggs.  Once I conquered the mites, it was healing time for my tree.  


The lemon tree resided with my sister for a few months after the war.  I felt it wasn't bouncing back fast enough and determined it was not getting enough direct sun light in its current location.  It had two lemons growing on it and I felt they weren't helping the situation either. When there is fruit on a tree, it uses all its energy on the fruit.  After discussing what we should do, we determined the tree should go outside and the fruit needed to be cut off.  If you know anything about taking plants from the indoors to out you know that there is a transition phase.  If you take your plant outside in direct sunlight you risk burning the leaves.  So I took the tree to my place and put in on my balcony where it would receive partial sun.  After a week, I took it back to my sister's and it is now getting full sun and growing quite nicely.