The Dog Ate My Lemon Tree!

[Allyn]

She did. She really did.

I got this little Meyer lemon. It came with two 'stems'. I didn't know whether to let it grow as is or prune one of the stems so there's only one. My dog went on a tear and chewed off a bunch of branches. Now I need to decide how to proceed from here.

Is there enough left to grow into a tree? Is it possible to split this into two trees?

[imafan26]

Bad dog! It would be better to trim back the branches that are chewed off since left like that they are likely to be infected with a fungal or bacterial rot. There are some new green sprouts that might be trainable. You will need to cage the lemon or the dog to keep it away from the plants.

[applestar]

Oh no! ...ha first thought I had was that your pup is as mischievous as your chickens since I was just recently re-reading about the mishap to the venus flytraps....

Are there two cuttings (?) ...seedlings (?) in the pot or is it a branched single buried deep? I hope they recover.

[Allyn]

Well, the dog is a rescue we've had only a couple of weeks. I brought the lemon tree and my banana trees inside and put them under lights ahead of a night with cool temperatures because I was afraid of a frost. My husband and I went outside for a few minutes and I guess she was a little anxious left in the house by herself and BAM. . . chewed tree. We know now to put her in her crate if we both go outside. Even if the trees aren't inside, she's a terror on the trashcan.

She says she's sorry.

Okay, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. She really looks like she's ready to do it again, huh.

I got the tree from Logees. I assume it is one tree, but when I up-potted it I didn't knock the dirt off to look. I'll prune the chewed bits. Should I prune off one of the stems so there's just one?

[imafan26]

I'd leave it right now and see which one looks better. It doesn't look like they are going to cross. Citrus suckers a bit, but even if you leave two it may be ok, the branching will just start lower on the tree.