Hi all,
I repotted this lemon tree during winter last year and it has had no growth since. Any suggestions to give it another growth spurt?
It doesn't need much water and the soil that I used to pot it originally was regular household compost, however I just noticed it contains a retention agent which explains why the soil retains so much water.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lemon trees usually have only one growth spurt in a year, usually in spring. Depending on your geographical location, this could occur early spring or late spring. Patience is required in the meantime.
Water retention in soil is a valuable trait. What is important for citrus trees, such as the lemon tree, is to ensure that the soil your citrus tree is growing in provides extremely good drainage. While their roots can exist in wet soil, they cannot survive in water logged soil and the plant will eventually perish.
Citrus trees feed from their drip line. This means that the tree's feeder roots will be in line with the outside edge of the tree's branches. Your tree is still very young so I'd not concern yourself too much with this, but it is an important consideration as the tree grows.
Back to the growth spurt...
As soon as you see the first signs of new growth, tiny leaf buds, apply liquid fertiliser and consider adding a "tonic" that might contain seaweed extract and/or soil micro-organisms in suspension.
Normally plants grown in compost might need lime (calcium carbonate) or dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate) added to manage potential soil acidity, however citrus trees enjoy a slightly acid soil so this should not be an issue.
Good luck.
Lemon plant does well in ample sunshine, and not so at the window side.
Depends on where you live, once the weather turns favourable, bring it out to full sun. The potting mix should have very good water draining ability, perlite is a very useful mix component. Do have a regular watering regime (dependent on your weather).
I had the same issue once... You should see growth within 1 month.
Put this plant in a pot 2" smaller, give fertilizer (Osmocote 14-14-14) and get some sterilized bagged potting soil. Put your Basil (?) in this pot and again use potting soil. When you plant anything in pots, use only potting soil. We could go into specifics but you'll find the reasons one NEVER uses garden soil in pots. Lift the bottom off your saucer so that there is space between the pot bottom and the saucer. Do not use any rocks, gravel, packing peanuts NOTHING at the bottom of the soil between the drainage hole and your potting soil. Again only use a simple fertilizer like Osmocote. Plants indoors need far less fertilizer than plants out of doors because of the lowered light. To have fruit, when your plant is larger it will need far more light and LESS nitrogen in proportion to the P and K. Osmocote being even with N P and K will probably be fine. But far more light. Add artificial light and/or put you plant (s) on a covered porch during the summer.
Using this fish fertilizer is amazing for citrus. I use onmy lemon tree as directed on bottle. I have tons of blooms that smell heavenly and beautiful fruit. I will bring it in for the winter here in New Jersey. I water a bit daily. It started as a little tiny lemon tree from home depot last year. 
