Meyer Lemon
Citrus × meyeri
Through the year 🗓️
🍂 Fall now
Bring it in before nights drop below 50 °F, to your sunniest window. A few leaves dropping while it adjusts is normal.
❄️ Winter
Bright light, extra humidity and steady watering; feed every 2 months. The fruit keeps ripening.
🌱 Spring
Move it outdoors gradually once nights stay above 50 °F, feed monthly, and hand-pollinate any indoor blossoms.
☀️ Summer
Full sun outdoors, deep watering whenever the top 2 in dry, and regular citrus feed.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Full sun: 8 or more hours of direct light, or a strong grow light. Less light means leaf drop and no fruit.
- Ideal PPFD
- 400–800 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 8–12 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Water deeply when the top 2 in are dry, until it drains, then let it dry back. Citrus hates soggy roots and bone-dry swings alike; both drop leaves and fruit.
- Fertilizer
- Citrus feed (with iron and magnesium) monthly from spring through fall, and every 2 months in winter.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Fast-draining citrus or cactus mix with added bark; pH 5.5–6.5
- Humidity
- Average–high (50%+); group plants or run a humidifier in dry winter air
- Temperature
- 55–85 °F; bring it in below 50 °F
- Mature size
- 4–6 ft in a pot
- Repotting
- Every 2–3 yrs in spring, one size up
- Propagation
- Semi-hardwood cuttings root fairly easily, and fruit years sooner than seedlings.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Leaves yellowing all over, then dropping; soggy soil
- Underwatering signs
- Curled, drooping leaves; flowers and young fruit dropping
- Common pests
- Spider mites, scale, mealybugs, aphids
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Meyer Lemon looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Dropping leaves after coming indoors
Likely cause
Less light and drier air than it had outside.
What to do
Give it your brightest window or a grow light, raise the humidity, and keep watering steady.
Yellow leaves with green veins
Likely cause
Iron or magnesium deficiency, often from soil or water that is too alkaline.
What to do
Feed with a citrus fertilizer that includes iron and magnesium, and repot into an acidic mix.
Fine webbing and speckled leaves
Likely cause
Spider mites, at their worst in dry winter air.
What to do
Rinse the leaves top and bottom, raise the humidity, and treat with insecticidal soap weekly until clear.
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