Weak lemon stem

Question

My lemon plants (the two to the right) are about one year old now and they are planted from seed at the same time.

Nr 2: It stopped growing on the height for a while but instead developed two new seperate branches which are now growing slow but steady. It is about 45cm tall.

Nr 3: This plant is still growing on the height without the same branch development like nr 2. It is about 70cm tall. It seems like this one starts to tilt a little bit. It is quite hard to see on the picture (see red lines) below, but when I spray the leaves with water the plants gets heavier and it starts to tilt quite a lot. It makes me think that it's gonna break.

I've planted them in a citrus-compost-mix bought at the local plant store. They don't get enough sun as they should have but it seems enough to keep them happy and growing, slowly but steady.

In my own head I thought this way normal and that the lemon plant understand itself that it should focus om developing a stronger stem, but that is not the case yet.

Is this a normal behavior or do I need to do something about it? Is it time to prune? Should I support it in some way (with like a stick and some rope)?

Answer 1

When growing plants from seed in an open-pollinated situation we can expect a lot of variability in the resulting growth, as you have observed. It's probably a strategy developed by plants to survive in an unpredictable world. Out in a full sun situation the plant on the far right might go on to be the most successful, but in your darker situation the middle will probably do best.

Your plants appear to be well cared for, with generously supplied rich soil since the leaves are large and healthy and a lustrous green. N2 looks happy and well balanced and can be left alone, but N3 will probably get too big for your environment and will need to be pruned. You could cut it in half but this would result in much vigorous lower branching so try one third off and then more pruning after six months further development. N3 might be a good candidate as a gift for someone with a big yard if you live in a warm place, particularly before it gets attacked by bugs and stuff. N1 is probably a waste of space and the soil could be best used for other purposes.