u/KVK77

Hi All - I need advice. I’m in zone 5b and realllyyyy want to successfully get a Meyer lemon tree to grow fruit. I’ve purchased one tree online from a speciality store 2 years ago and another from Home Depot last year. Each time I’ve received them around March.

They stay inside until it warms up and then get transitioned outdoors for the summer. They thrive and grow with the Midwest summer heat/humidity.

They then come indoors for the fall/winter. While indoors, they get their own natural light from large windows. They aren’t ever too close to them though incase of a cold draft. They also never sit next to a heat vent. They have their own grow lights and a humidifier running on and off all day.

Throughout all of this, indoors and outdoors, they also get their special nutrients, because I know they’re heavy feeders. Each year, in the two cases of owning trees, they’ve also flowered a ton and I got one small lemon that unfortunately a squirrel or something knocked off.

The problem is, in zone 5b, both trees get so pissy and d*e come February. Around January they start shedding their leaves a little but February, maybe even March, they’re like peace out. And I can’t figure out why, besides maybe they dislike being indoors and it’s generally gray out for a lot of the winter/early spring.

Any suggestions on keeping them alive for the latter part of winter and early spring here?!