cutting back meyer lemon

How much do I cut back my Meyer tree? It had lost all its leave and was dying. I went to a nursery and showed them a branch off the tree with some discolored leaves. The nursery thought I needed more nitrogen. I had purchased this tree three years ago from this same nursery. The tree was already six ft. high and had about twenty lemons on it. It was growing great the first two years then I cut all the lemons off and waited for more to grow back and they never did.

I talked to the nursery and they thought I had over watered the tree. About four months went by with me watering once a week and the tree still didn’t look good. Then a couple of months ago, a few new leaves started appearing near the bottom of the tree. The new leaves are about one foot high now. I trim back some of the dead branches, so my question is, how many branches do I cut off and how close to the main branch? This is still a small tree, the base of the two is about three inches round and towards the top maybe once inch.

Thank you for your attention to this matter
Regards Richard Hammond

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1 Comment To "cutting back meyer lemon"

#1 Comment By Downtoearthdigs On 10/07/2015 @ 1:18 am

I was unclear if this is a potted Meyer Lemon or it is planted in the ground.
I have listed links to refresh you on the care requirements.

I don’t believe you could determine if the tree needed Nitrogen from the leaves. Following a fertilizer schedule and using a Citrus fertilizer is important.

If your unsure of the soil content and want to be sure of what the soil may need, a soil test can be preformed to take the guesswork out.

After reading your description several times, I think the lower growth you are referring to is growing from the root stock.
Meyer Lemons are a hybrid and the tree is grafted onto a rootstock of a hardy citrus.

The tree may have died and the growth is coming from below the graft line. You can look on your tree and generally see a lump or graft line on the trunk.

This new growth will not be a Meyer Lemon, but another type of citrus.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/growing-lemon-trees-containers.htm ^[1]

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/growing-meyer-lemons.htm ^[2]

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[2] https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/growing-meyer-lemons.htm: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/growing-meyer-lemons.htm

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