Plants can either be dependent on self-pollination or cross-pollination to fertilize their flowers and grow fruits.
So while cultivating lemons, if you aren’t aware of the pollination process of lemon trees, it’s natural for you to be willing to know whether the lemon trees are self-pollinated plants or not.
Therefore, read further to get to know the answer to this query.
Are Lemon Trees Self-Pollinating?
Lemon trees are self-pollinating trees. This means the same lemon tree bears both male and female parts of lemon trees, so pollens from the anther of one blossom are either transferred on the stigmata of the same blossom or another blossom of the very tree to fertilize the flowers and bear fruits.
Among several species of indoor lemon trees, the Meyer and Eureka lemon trees are the common types that are grown indoors.
Therefore, here explanations regarding whether the Meyer and Eureka lemon trees are self-pollinating or not have been listed below along with a short explanation about the indoor lemon trees.
Meyer Lemon Tree:
Meyer lemon trees are one of the most commonly planted indoor lemon trees due to being prolific and an easily maintained potted citrus plant.
However, the unique quality of these Meyer lemon trees is their capability to self-pollinate despite being a hybrid species of lemon trees.
Meyer lemon trees are also monoecious plants. This means one Meyer lemon tree flower has both the female and the male reproductive parts.
During the flowering period, Meyer lemon tree flowers open up, and pollen within the anther of one flower releases and sticks to the female stigma of the same flower, and self-pollination happens as well as the trees bear fruits.
Sometimes pollinators transfer the pollen to other female stigmas of the other flowers of the same Meyer lemon tree and cause self-pollination.
Eureka Lemon Trees:
Eureka lemon plants are another popular indoor lemon tree species that are also self-fruitful trees.
Like the Meyer lemon trees, each Eureka lemon tree flower also contains female and male reproductive organs that make every flower of one tree capable of self-fertilization and producing fruits. Therefore, if you just grow one eureka lemon tree, you can get lemons from it.
Indoor Lemon Trees:
Whether lemon trees are planted outdoors or indoors, they are self-pollinating citrus trees. As a result, if you grow just one lemon tree indoors regardless of its species, it will self-pollinate and grow fruit.
However, if there’s a lack of natural pollinators like bees or others, hand pollinate your indoor lemon trees to increase their overall pollination.
Do You Need Two Lemon Trees To Pollinate?
You will not be needing two lemon trees to fertilize the lemon flowers to encourage your lemon plants to produce fruits because lemon trees do self-pollination.
All lemon tree flowers are monoclinous, which means every lemon flower has both the stamen and the pistil. As a result, the pollen of each lemon flower falls onto the stigma of the same lemon flower and fertilizes the flower.
Also, pollinators like bees, butterflies, and others sometimes help pollinate the lemon flowers by carrying pollen from one flower to another flower grown from the same lemon tree.
And in case there’s a lack of pollination, and you are just growing one lemon tree, you can also do hand pollination to fertilize the flowers and stimulate the lemon plant to bear fruits.
However, if you grow two lemon trees together, the production of lemons will just increase. But it necessarily won’t help in pollinating the flowers of the other tree.
Can Lemon Trees Cross-Pollinate?
Lemon trees can cross-pollinate if you want to grow a new variety of lemons with new characteristics, for example- cultivators do cross-pollination between a lemon and an orange tree to grow fruits that bear some characteristics of both lemons and oranges.
However, cross-pollination is necessarily not required if you are cultivating lemons for commercial purposes or indoors in your yard because lemon trees are self-fruitful, so just having one lemon tree will be enough for you to enjoy fresh lemons from your trees.
How To Pollinate Lemon Trees?
With a scarcity of bees to help lemon trees to pollinate naturally, you have to play the role of honey bees to pollinate your lemon tree manually.
The process of hand pollination is relatively easy, and for your convenience, the whole process has been described in a detailed step-by-step guide below.
Get A Clear Idea Of The Female And Male Parts Of The Tree:
Before you hand pollinate your lemon tree, you must know where the female and male parts lie within lemon flowers and what they look like to successfully pollinate the tree.
Take a look inside a lemon flower, there you will find a long strand situated in the core of the lemon flower. This is called the pistil, which holds the female segments of a lemon flower. On top of the pistil, you will see the stigma of the lemon flower.
Stigma is the part where pollen gets transferred and begins the fertilization procedure. Deep inside the lemon flower, you will see the other filaments, which are the male segments of the lemon flower.
It’s called the stamen, and this is a small, bulb-shaped section. At the crown of the thin filaments, you will see tiny builds containing yellow pollen grains, these are termed the anther of the lemon flower.
(If you already know which one is the stamen, anther, and pistil of lemon flower, skip this part.)
Get The Right Tool To Do Hand Pollination:
Now, you should get an artist’s painting brush to do the hand pollination job successfully. Remember to get a long, skinny painting brush with a fine tip to reach the pollen and transfer it to the stigma. A cotton swab can be an alternative to an artist’s brush.
Gather The Pollen:
Then, place the painting brush’s tip between the flower petals and brush the brush’s tip against the anthers. After that, insert the brush’s tip inside and brush against the stamen’s tip. Remember not to wash the painting brush during the hand pollination process.
Transfer The Pollen:
In the last stage, after accumulating sticky pollen on the painter brush’s tip, lightly stroke the tip of the brush against each stigma of lemon flowers to transfer the gathered pollen. It will encourage the flowers to fertilize soon and produce fruits.
Why Is The Lemon Tree Not Producing Fruit?
A variety of reasons are there that could potentially be responsible for causing your lemon tree not to bear any fruit. The most probable reasons are listed below. Check them out to know what’s causing your lemon tree not to produce fruits.
Insufficient Sunlight:
At least six hours of bright sunlight every day is essential for lemon trees to grow to their maximum growth and produce energy to start flowering and producing fruits.
So if the lemon trees are located at spots with a lack of bright sunlight during the daytime, it can cause slow growth of the lemon trees. As a result, they won’t be mature enough to bear fruits.
Overwatered Or Underwatered Lemon Trees:
Overwatering or underwatering can cause your lemon trees not to bear any lemon. It’s especially true for potted lemon trees indoors.
Because overwatering will make roots sit in water which can rot the roots or cause many diseases, and underwatering will dry out the whole tree. Therefore, the lemon tree will not produce any fruits.
Lack Of Nutrients:
Even though lemon trees get their required nutrients from the soil where they are planted, they do require additional nutrients. So you need to apply a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus to the lemon trees to fulfill their requirement of nutrition.
If you fail to feed fertilizer routine-wise, the lemon trees are less likely to bear fruits.
Lack Of Pollination:
If your lemon trees are not being pollinated at the rate they should be pollinated due to a lack of natural pollinators, they will neither start flowering nor produce any fruit. Specifically, the indoor lemon trees.
Not Getting Enough Humidity
Lemon tree s grow in their best condition while bearing a large number of fruits if they get tropical or subtropical weather. But if your living area has dry weather or dry heat is being blown around the lemon trees, especially around potted lemon trees indoors.
The lemon trees will not grow fruits.
Pests Or Diseases:
Pests or diseases can really harm the lemon trees, particularly the outside ones. Thereby, an almost demising or unhealthy lemon tree can’t grow any lemon.
Final Thoughts
Most lemon trees are self-fruitful, which means they won’t require a second lemon tree to get pollinated and bear fruits. The pollen of one flower of a lemon tree will stick to the stigmas of the same or other flowers of the same lemon tree to fertilize the flowers and produce fruits.