Planting Meyer Lemon in shade from fence until the tree grows taller

Question

I am in Oakland, CA. I have a Meyer Lemon that I purchased from a nursery that is about 3' tall. I want to plant it in the corner of my yard between two eight foot fences. The plant will get some morning sunlight and a bit of light filtering through the fences in the afternoon, but mostly afternoon shade.

My hope is that the tree grows taller than the fences, where it will get lots of sun and full afternoon sun, but I'm not sure if the tree will survive to get tall enough for this to work.

Should I go ahead and plant the tree in the ground now, or should I leave it in a container in a sunny spot for a year or so to let it grow taller?

Thanks!

Answer 1

A lemon tree may well reach 20 foot tall in ideal conditions which means 6-8 hours of full sunshine. So if you plant it in the ground in shade it's never going to reach its potential.

You might think that you could leave it in its pot in sun until it grows taller than your shaded area and then plant it, but in a pot it's unlikely to grow that tall.

You also don't want a tall tree if you're interested in the fruit as a tree 20 foot tall is hard to harvest.