I just picked this grapefruit sized lemon off my Meyer's Lemon tree that I've been growing for years in a pot. I had small fruit last year and they also were half skin/half fruit. Am I doing something wrong? Did I not get a Meyer's Lemon tree? Or are they all like this? I thought you were supposed to be able to eat the skin and all on a Meyers, but there's a lot of pith on this.
Thick rind, puffy fruit and the white puffy pulp look at the top of your picture all indicate excessive vigorous growth.
Oldude
Meaning what, over fertilization?
Cindyeo, Is the color in your photo true? It looks orange on my screen.
Yes, too much fertilizer is the most likely cause. I would also add micro nutrients or fertilizer like citrus/avocado from Home depot or an equivalent fertilizer that contains micros and the correct ratios 5-1-3 NPK for container citrus.
Oldude
The color of the lemon is a regular lemon color, I thought Meyer's were supposed to be more orange, the ones I see in the grocery store are a yellow/orange, but mine are pure yellow. I have been sprinkling some granular citrus/avocado fertilizer on top of the soil in the container, about once a month. I just started doing that last fall, prior to that it was just getting some fish emulsion a couple times in the summer when I used it on other plants, and nothing in the winter. Maybe I'm using too much each time, or maybe once a month is too often. I read that citrus were heavy feeders, so that's why I started.
that doesn't look like my meyer lemon's and mine are yellow
I don't think that's a Meyer, but I do think you are overfertilizing. Cut back to 4X a year.
All the Meyer's I have seen are yellow. I wonder if they gave you the wrong plant. Have you tasted it yet? Does it taste like an orange or a lemon -- meyer's lemons are sweeter than regular ones, but they don't taste like oranges.
If left on the tree long enough the meyer lemon will go from green, to yellow and will turn to an orange color. Strange but true.
Oldude
They never turn orange on my trees.
Just to clarify my statement it goes like this. Cool temperatures will promote fruit coloration, thus exposing the plant to cold temperatures will force the fruits to get yellow and yellow fruits to turn orange. If enough cold is experienced the Meyer Lemons will turn orange. I found this hard to believe myself, until I saw it with my own eyes.
Oldude
So I guess taste is the only indicator -- plus what the tree has done in the past.
Right, and the taste declines rapidly when they turn orange.
Oldude
Good to know.
Never gets cold long enough around here for us to have experienced this turning orange phenomenom. Vely intelesting. Ours just get bigger and bigger and the taste declines and they don't seem as juicy if left on the tree too long. They are at there best right as they change from green to yellow. Don
never has happened here in 17 years--I would need to see it to believe it
You guys are tough to convince so would you believe that oranges in the tropics don’t turn orange in color?
Oldude
Non grocery store oranges aren't usually orange, I do no that. Myers lemon are bigger than a true lemons and are yellow. Never seen one that was left on a tree till it turned orange but I'll take your word for it.
I thought meyers lemon had some orange in their genetics? I don't think they come true from seed either.
BTW I very much taste orange when I have a meyers lemon.
Now, that is interesting to know that they taste best if picked right when they turn from green to yellow. Someone else on another meyer's lemon thread said that lemons "hold" very well on the tree and you don't have to pick them all at once. Mine grew this large before they turned yellow, so I don't think picking them sooner would have helped the thick rind problem. I think oldude is probably correct in his fertilizer assessment. I think I'll cut back.
mine all had very thin skin and were the juiciest things I have ever seen--growing mine in a pot that I overwinter inside--it had green ones all over it when I brought it in and they ripened over December/January--just set it outside for it's summer vacation today---I love this type--grows very well the way I have to grow citrus here (inside in winter)
rah, tell me what you do for fertilizer for your potted meyer's
Cindy
I'm the Meyer lemon enthusiast who said they "hold" well on the tree. I like mine to eat out of hand and they seem sweeter as they take on a bit of a golden glow. I still have a few yet to harvest.The tree is ten years old. I don't fertilize any citrus including oranges and kumquats and they produce wonderfully - this rocky black clay is hard to work but has lots of nutrients. The freezers are full of juice and the marmalade is delicious. My neighbors agree.
From the picture - I don't think that's a Meyer.
That almost looks like my sanbokan grapefruit (goes by a few names). It's just not the right shape, it's missing the little bulge on top. http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/sanbokan.html
There are many lemon looking citrus trees out there and you may not have a meyers lemon.
Edit BTW I grow that because it's very cold hardy and a good producer. Wife is a big fan of the sweeter lemon taste.
This message was edited Mar 26, 2009 4:06 PM
Reading this thread makes it very clear that the lemon under discussion, and probably all citrus behave(s) differently under differing growing conditions. My lemons hold very well on the tree. They just taste better (to me) when picked just as they change color. Here in the Inland Empire part of Southern California a lemon tree will produce all year long. There are surges where there are more fruit on the tree, but there is fruit to pick and use and give to friends and neighbors all year long. There are only a few weeks during the year when there are not at least a few blooms on the tree as well as fruit at all stages of growth. Other citrus behaves differently, but lemons and mexican limes grow and produce like weeds in our climate. Don
I managed to get 4 enormous Meyer Lemons this past winter off a tiny tree shaped more like a tiny shrub that sprawls. It is presently covered w/blooms which I understand are self pollinating - both sexes in one flower. I have a couple of starting lemons about the size of an olive pit and some tinier ones. All these will be ready by Thanksgiving but I won't pick them until they are soft to the touch and not hard. I can buy hard ones at the grocery store. I found that the lemons were in fact not so tart but far sweeter than any other lemon I had ever tasted. The skin and pith were very thin. I never thought to taste the skin but I did use it to lemon flavor some meat and that came out great. I am so glad I finally got a Meyer Lemon. I would like to have a grove of them!
Ann
Cindyeo, you mentioned in your first post that the fruits were grapefruit-sized. Meyers are larger than standard lemons but not as large as grapefruit.
Don, I lived in San Bernardino for a number of years and had Meyers, Moro blood oranges, grapefruit and kumquats, the latter of which bloomed and fruited year-round. I was a member of the IE chapter of California Rare Fruit growers and traded with other members for banana and kiwi plants. The UC Riverside botanical department (where we held our meetings) specializes in citrus and avocados and is a great source for information and assistance. Yuska
Yuska, We now meet at the Jurupa Cultural Center. Yeah, UC Riverside is a great source for information and their orchards are a delight to visit. You might have known Toots Beir (sp?) who is now retired from the botanical department and writing a gardening coluum for the local newspaper. You also must have known Joe Casey who I understand has been a member just about forever. Don
I just use a citrus ferilizer that I get at the garden center--I don't use much, just enough to keep it looking healthy--also potted it with cactus potting mix so that it drains well
Here's a page with lots of info on citrus care -
http://www.citrustreesonline.com/citrus-tree-care.asp
Cindeo, where did your Meyer come from? Did you grow it from seed? Is it grafted?
I've heard lemons can turn color if left on the tree too long, but a Meyer's skin should not look like that.
Maybe if grown from seed.
Or, a shoot from the bottom of the graft got fruit...
My Meyer lemons have thin skins and can be eaten like oranges (slightly sour oranges). I also have another lemon of unknown breeding and both turn orange in cool weather. My oranges turn almost red. Must be the climate.
I finally went and looked up the invoice from when I purchased my Meyer's Lemon. I ordered it from Shephard's back in Feb 2000. The invoice just says Meyer's Lemon, it does not say improved. But I think Shephard's is pretty reputable.
Can you take a photo of a leaf, and the graft union?
Lakeside, the light finally dawned when you asked about the graft. Here's a photo, but I'm not sure if you can see anything. For the first couple years I only got flowers on the original stem. They were always white and the fruit, what little I got, was small. Even though the tree was about 80% on the new branch, I still only got the flowers on the old branch. Finally last year I got flowers all over the tree, but the buds on the new branch were purple, while the ones on the old branch were still white. And I noticed the leaves on the new branch (which today is all the leaves) were much larger than the original leaves. And I had huge thorns. I thought all this was just the tree maturing, but now I think you hit the nail on the head, the fruit I'm getting is from the root stock, right? the original branch has no leaves today, it completely defoliated over the winter, and there's not much of it left, I've pruned a lot of it away. The original stem is the lowest branch.
Here's one more photo, of course now I have to show everyone that my lemon tree has a scale problem. I always do in the winter, this winter was actually the best one yet, I didn't have a problem until just the past month.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but when you said the little branch was the original, yes, it does look like the root stock took over, it can be pretty common.
Don't feel bad about the scale, if you saw some of my plants you'd probably faint! LOL
Thank you so much for solving this mystery for me. Although this tree is still pretty, I think I will buy another Meyer's and this time be more aware of which branches I let grow.
You can always teach yourself to graft, and then graft stuff onto this plant!
That's what I tell myself, but haven't done it yet...
