My lemon tree is over flowering. What is wrong?

Question

I have a small lemon tree in a container. Lots of Lemons is the variety, and it is just covered with flowers, literally. Small fruit are forming but it will be too much for the tree. The flowers are coming out in bunches along the stem also.

Answer 1

That is exactly what the cultivar is supposed to do. Most of those will fall off naturally. Do not help them. You will also want to have a few things handy for growing citrus in a container.

Dolomitic lime, iron sulfate, and a citrus fertilizer will keep you from pulling your hair out with container citrus care. Apply Dolomitic lime and iron sulfate once per year, or more when it gets infected. Use citrus fertilizer 4 times per year. Once you know these things, citrus care is easy.

Another thing to consider is light. They are very light hungry, and will not finish fruiting without full sunlight. If you do not have the climate to leave it out all year, then you will need to obtain 200 watts of horticultural grade lighting per tree. Avoid cheap LED lighting unless it contains all 12 bands of light for plant growth and not just red and blue. Tried and true methods include Metal Halide (MH) lighting and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lighting, but they are expensive to run and hot. Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) is a newer technology that is cheap and effective. They come in a 315 watt bulb. It will light a 4'x4' area. 200 watts of HPS or MH bulbs will only light less than half that space, making CMH more efficient.

Here is an article that will offer you more information on the care of lemons in container: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/growing-lemon-trees-containers.htm