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Uncategorized » Growing Lemons in Bangkok, Thailand

Published: Jan 10, 2019 · Modified: Mar 16, 2021 by Nart · This post may contain affiliate links.

Growing Lemons in Bangkok, Thailand

Lemon is a very versatile fruit. Not only is it pretty but it’s very high in vitamin C and comes with a lot of health benefits. Also, it can be used in many ways in cooking to enhance the flavor of your food. In a nutshell, it’s the whole package. If you’re thinking about growing lemons and your climate is suitable for that, read on and you’ll definitely want to give it a go!

lemons in a basket

ME AND MY OBSESSION WITH LEMONS

I’m not sure what I like more:

Lemons

Growing Lemons

Or picking lemons

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a thing about brightly colored fruits and vegetables. I love the colors of lemon, orange, watermelon, berries, carrot, red cabbage, you name it. It’s a weird obsession of mine but one I’m happy to live with.

When I got my first lemon tree about 10 years ago I was out plant shopping with my mom and my sister in Nakhon Nayok.  The tree was about 0.5 meter tall and came with one or two lemons which got me really excited. When I came home with the tree my dad asked me if the lemons were real. Even now I still get people asking me, “can you grow lemons in Bangkok?” and “Can you grow lemons in Thailand?”  Yes, of course, you can. To be fair, my reaction when I first saw the tree was pretty much the same as everybody else’s.

lemon tree flowers

WHAT MANY THAIS BELIEVE ABOUT GROWING LEMONS

Growing up, I always thought lemons had to be grown in cold places. And the funny thing is I wasn’t alone. A lot of people actually thought the same. In fact, many still believe this citrus originated in the colder part of the world. So, clearly, the term “citrus” doesn’t tell us anything. 😂

I think this misbelief stems from the fact that lemons are more common in Western cuisines. At one point I associated them with those myself because that’s what it seemed like to me. And having only expensive imported lemons available in the past didn’t help. It just made me (and maybe also other people) think we were importing them because we couldn’t grow them.

Now certain parts of Thailand do grow lemons but definitely not as much as their lime counterparts. We use lime a lot in Thai cuisine. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Although they’re not exactly the same, you can definitely substitute lemons for limes in Thai cooking in many cases. But of course, in certain dishes you really need to have that lime flavor and scent.

lemon on a lemon tree

HOW TO GROW AND CARE FOR LEMON TREES IN THAILAND?

Currently, we have only 3 lemon trees, but we are no experts here. Two of them come from the original tree I bought 10 years ago through the method of air layering and are fruiting. (We sadly had to get rid of my much-loved first lemon tree because my mom needed the space we used to grow it for something else.) The other tree is a Eureka but still very young and not fruiting yet.

We grow our lemon trees in the ground where they get direct sunlight all day. As far as watering goes, we water them every day and they need deep watering about once a week. Apart from that, we prune the older trees every now and then to maintain their shape and height. (Pruning lemons doesn’t make them fruit well, by the way.)

Fertilizer-wise, believe it or not, we don’t really do much. For one thing, I know that whenever my dad mows the lawn, he puts the grass clippings under the trees above the ground. I believe sometimes he gives them the all-natural fertilizer he makes himself from plants, grass, and other natural ingredients (which I’ll have to talk about in another post!) as well. Oh, and we use absolutely no pesticides on the food that we grow so they don’t always look perfect. That’s about it. That’s all we do to grow these beautiful lemons.

lemons on a lemon tree

BENEFITS OF LEMONS

Lemons provide many health benefits, but here are some of the most notable ones you might want to be aware of:

* It’s a great source of vitamin C, so it can help boost your immunity.

* It can make your skin healthier. Again, thanks to the vitamin C that’s an antioxidant itself and also helps produce collagen.

* It helps with digestion. So if you suffer from constipation, a glass of lemon water in the morning might help.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH LEMONS?

Oh, so many things! You can use them in your tea or make drinks, salad dressings, savory dishes, and even desserts. Below are a few examples to get you inspired:

  • Honey and Lemon Tea
  • Basil Cashew Pesto
  • Fresh Peach Lemonade
  • Butterfly Pea Lemonade
two cups of honey and lemon tea with a jar of honey and lemons in a basket
Honey and Lemon Tea
a bowl of Thai red curry cashew pesto
Basil Cashew Pesto
two glasses of peach lemonade
Fresh Peach Lemonade
3 bottles of butterfly pea lemon soda
Butterfly Pea Lemonade

A LITTLE CAUTION ABOUT CONSUMING LEMON JUICE

Because lemon juice is acidic, it can erode tooth enamel. If you drink lemon tea, juice or consume quite a bit of it in any form, I recommend rinsing your mouth and drinking water afterward. That’s what I do when I have a lemon drink. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

TO ANYONE THINKING OF GROWING  LEMONS

If you live in Thailand or somewhere with a similar climate and want to grow lemons, I hope you find this post useful and that you give it a go. Eating homegrown food is such a rewarding experience. Also, when you grow your own lemons, you won’t have to worry about the residues you usually do when consuming the zest of store-bought lemons again!

Happy growing! 🙂

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Comments

  1. Will MacCormac says

    November 22, 2021 at 8:31 am

    Hi, bought a small lemon tree from a market in west Bangkok – put in large pot with mix of ground and potting soil – has survived monsoon season and producing plenty of fruit. Must be some kind of hybrid, no pips and almost a small mix of lime taste and smell . Next is to grow amalfi variety from seeds saved from borough market lemons. Bringing those over next month.

    Reply
    • Nart says

      December 01, 2021 at 3:32 pm

      That is awesome, Will! Thank you so much for sharing this! Please do keep me posted 🙂

      Reply
  2. Mike says

    March 11, 2021 at 2:16 pm

    Hi Nart,

    Great post! I’m down in the south of Thailand also, I received a cutting from a friend 4 years ago and eventually got it into the ground last year. It is now flourishing with a few lemons starting to appear (slowly). My cutting was apparently from France so I’m looking forward to seeing and tasting once they are ready. I have a cutting from this tree in a pot at the moment and will get it into a concrete ring soon. I was searching for some fertilizer options and fruiting season in Thailand and your post came up, thanks again!

    Mike

    Reply
    • Nart says

      March 16, 2021 at 11:44 am

      Hi Mike! So nice to hear from you! Thank you for reading my post. Would be awesome if you could keep me updated about your lemon tree, hehe 🙂

      Reply
  3. Willie H. says

    February 03, 2021 at 5:11 am

    Nart,
    Rob,

    If you visit Discovery Garden Pattaya you will meet the owner who has an entire orchard around his house full of fruit bearing Lemon trees.
    Why yours are wiped out and my best guess it always happens in the rain season?
    Lemons hate wet feet and soggy soil.

    Buy a 150 Baht concrete ring (80cm – 100 cm dia) , place it on the ground and fill it with potting soil sand mix and compost, put the Lemon tree in and here you go.
    My mate in Krabi (funny his Name is Meyer) has 6 Meyer lemons and all are prolific bearer.
    He swears on his “raised grow beds” made from concrete rings.

    All the best for the last one you bought 😉

    By the way Nart, my wife (and actually every Thai I know), is absolute scared of the huge bung (Caterpillar) which love obviously the lemon leaves.
    How to overcome this fear?

    Will

    Reply
    • Nart says

      February 03, 2021 at 9:10 pm

      Hi Will!

      Thank you so much for your message – so happy to hear from another lemon grower 🙂 Thanks for sharing your friend’s tips about the concrete rings! My dad does the same thing for our lime trees but not lemon and I can say it works really well with lime too.

      As for the caterpillars, I get LOTS of them on my basil (always stealing my food!) but not that many or maybe even none on my lemon trees? Intead we have mealybugs here which cause distorted leaves. Super annoying – they’re the reason why I gave up on growing roses. Not a single leaf left!

      I guess it’s hard to overcome our fears of bung because they can actually cause rashes and itching. I’d say wear protective clothes since we don’t want to use chemicals in our own garden!

      Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you visit my site again!

      Nart

      Reply
    • Akanksha O says

      July 21, 2021 at 8:39 pm

      Hi Will! I live in Krabi too and I’m really passionate about swapping produce with other locals or finding people who grow unusual plants in my area. Could you please tell me if he would sell/swap the lemons, I’m sure he has a huge harvest! With his permission, I would love to connect with him, it’s unusual to find people growing lemons in Krabi!

      Reply
  4. Robert Heenan says

    January 31, 2021 at 2:05 pm

    Hi, Thanks for the article. I have just brought what must be my 5th or 6th lemon tree in Chonburi. I have become an expert in killing them…555
    Two weeks ago I purchased what is to be hopefully my last lemon tree, it is exactly the same as the one in your photo. Do you know what variety that tree is, mine has no name tags. The fruit is an slightly odd shape as the photo, not like an Eureka or Lisbon lemon.
    Hope you can help,

    Rob

    Reply
    • Nart says

      January 31, 2021 at 5:26 pm

      Hello Rob!

      You’re very welcome! So glad someone finally read this post. People tend to just go to my recipes, lol. Unfortunately, I don’t know what variety this lemon is either but I do have one Eureka tree that is fruiting for the first time right now! Only two lemons, though.

      I don’t think the weather in Chonburi is different from where I live so I’m not sure what you’re doing wrong. How do you take care of your tree? I’d be happy to send you a Eureka cutting if you wanted 🙂

      Reply

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