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sweetsally50

Why lemons won't turn yellow?

sweetsally50
17 years ago

We have a Meyer's lemon tree. Recently, we've been getting large lemons that won't turn yellow. These lemons have been growing on the tree for 3-4 months. One lemon, in particular, is approx 9" in diameter (size of a small grapefruit) and is very green. Other lemons on the tree are approx 6" in diameter but also very green. What causes lemons to grow to such large sizes but not turn yellow? Thank you for your help!

Comments (23)

  • Heathen1
    17 years ago

    I am going to throw this out there.... maybe it's a lime tree, sometimes there are mislabeled trees? Has it grown out from it's graft? At my old house, there was an old qumquat, where the underlying lemon had grown out underneath the graft which made HUGE lemons, but they turned yellow.

  • skrip
    17 years ago

    um, im no citrus expert but its probably okay. I have a tangerine tree which had tangerines for about 4 months that stood green... this week, i am finally seeing some of them start going yellow. Give them a little more time... Its possible that some of your lemons will be alot bigger than the standard meyer. I used to get tiny tangerines, but when I switched to sprinklers as opposed to rarely watering, every year they got bigger and bigger, some the size of an orange.

  • jakkom
    17 years ago

    Citrus can take from 6 - 18 months to ripen. It isn't unusual at all for a Meyer to start throwing out extra large fruit, particularly with sufficient water as per skrip's experience with his tangerines. Citrus is very sensitive to watering. Don't worry and just enjoy them when they do ripen!

    I have friends that have the old Meyer Lemon trees. Most of them were destroyed by the state, but some got missed that were in residential yards. I have only the Improved Meyers and there is a difference in size and shape.

  • CA Kate z9
    17 years ago

    Heathen: even limes get yellow when they're ripe..... eventually.

  • wanda
    17 years ago

    Are you sure it's a Meyer's? Lemons do take a while to ripen and turn yellow, but Meyer's are generally a small lemon. I assume that it is possible that you could have an occaisonal large-sized one as stated, but most of them should/or would be smaller sized and very thin skinned.

    I have one of the larger varieties (Ponderosa, Eureka or Lisbon) in my yard and they take several months to ripen (turn yellow).

    wanda

  • Heathen1
    17 years ago

    Westelle ... :o) I dunno! I've had lemon trees for eons and never saw one that didn't turn yellow.

  • jakkom
    17 years ago

    Although Meyers are generally thin-skinned, this year -- perhaps due to the cool weather that alternated with a few wildly hot spells -- many of mine were quite thick-skinned. It was a noticeable difference.

    I tend to be somewhat erratic in watering, stretching the in-between periods as long as I comfortably can, and my Improved Meyers vary greatly in size as a result.

  • pansysoup
    17 years ago

    Has no one noticed that their citrus is getting leprosy? Gnarly new growth riddled with leafminer (a result, not the culprit), and sometimes horrible thick-skinned fruit with pimples.

    I believe we have been visited by a new plague, this one a bacterial disease from Indonesia that has already wiped out half of Brazil's citrus crop and done serious damage in Florida.

    The only remedy I've been told is to cut off the grotesque growth (burn it, at least don't compost it) and I'd think keep the trees really clean. I routinely hose down most trees here near L.A. cause of the dust, smog, and forest fire ash, which clogs their poor leaves. I'm going to start hitting the infected trees with soapy water, and maybe dormant oil.

    This is as bad as the Eucalyptus psillid (now under control) and the giant white fly that did in half our hibiscus. It doesn't explain why your Meyers aren't turning yellow, or are growing to the size of pomellos (I'm very suspicious here...), but it is something to keep an eye on, especially in young trees.

  • oceannut_swbell_net
    16 years ago

    I have an Improved Meyer Lemon I bought from a nursery here. It routinely puts out tons of fruit, but only 2 or 3 actually remain on the tree. They only get to the size of a golf ball or slightly larger and never ripen (4 months on the tree). I just recently re-potted it in hopes that would help. I kept it inside during the winter, and keep it outside from after the last frost. Any suggestions?

  • sawpnut
    11 years ago

    Can't ripen our lemons. we feed the tree . What are we doing wrong?

  • bahia
    11 years ago

    Huge fruit on a lemon=not a Meyer lemon; probably a Eureka or Lisbon. As to difficulties getting a Meyer lemon to ripen/hold onto fruit; conditions which mimic cooler coastal California locations where they thrive should help. Lemons don't do well commercially where citrus that thrive on hot/humid summers do. And yes, there is a new citrus pest on the scene in California, I haven't seen signs of it yet here in the Bay Area in my or design client's gardens.

  • calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
    11 years ago

    sawpnut, you don't give a clue as to where you garden, even on your member page. In most areas where the tree will grow it will also fruit. Feeding the tree will not prevent it from fruiting in case that is your concern. A healthy Meyer lemon tree planted where it gets sun, will when mature enough, produce fruit. Al

  • JoAnn White
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    All I see are questions about lemons not turning yellow, like mine. No good answers. But I think mine should have full sun and the trees have started shading it. How and when do I transplant it into the ground in a full-sun spot? Im in Bakersfield, CA and all the lemons in the neighbohood are still green in November.

  • CA Kate z9
    8 years ago

    I didn't write this before, but Meyer lemons get ripe late. Mine are just now changing color and should have a hint of orange to the yellow. Perhaps someone else knows the best time to put into the ground.

  • Humsi
    8 years ago

    Seconding CA Kate, my Meyers are just now starting to yellow up. Mine is in partial shade and produces crazy amounts of lemons.

    If you feel you must move it, soak it very well and then try to dig it out with as much of the root ball intact as possible. Have the new hole dug and ready to go so you can plop it in with minimal delay (you don't want the roots drying out). Early spring should be a good time to do it...we moved a 5' orange tree in Feb. a few years ago just to give it a little extra time to get re-established before our summer heat hit, and it worked perfectly.

  • CA Kate z9
    8 years ago

    Mine were all yellow enough to pick the other night when a freeze was possible. I have 35 beauties.

  • nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14)
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I usually pick the ones on my tree just in time to give to the hubs for Christmas.

  • skrip
    8 years ago

    I have a new Meyer dwarf planted in Spring. And so far only 3 lemons are ripening, the rest fell while small. I've been told this is normal and next season it should rebound.

  • Humsi
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I leave mine on the tree until I'm going to use them or they are starting to go bad, which usually isn't until the next batch is ripening. They seem to hold well on the tree and I usually have way too many to pick all at once (who needs 100+ lemons at one time? Not this lady). We don't have to worry about freezes though, so that also makes it easier to just leave them there.

    skrip, sounds right. You should be getting more lemons each year as it matures.

  • oohbugger
    7 years ago

    Hi i was in south Australia and had the most Amazing lemon tree couldn't stop giving me ripe yellow lemons for at least 9 months of the year i was very spoiled. I moved to Queensland (tropical) just had to have a lemon tree, someone gave me one as a gift so i don't know the variety, i planted it in my chicken pen and it grew quick and gave me lemons that ripened quickly yay, but then built another chook pen fox and hawk safe, i moved the chickens and pen, and put lawn around the lemon tree, it has grown more but the lemons are staying green and i don't think it a happy tree anymore, Maybe the tree loved the chook poop going to give it a go,another thing is the lemons now have what looks like a brownish coating on the skin, i have heard wind can do that,it was protected in the pen??

  • seyfeddinebenmakhlouf
    7 years ago

    Hi there, is there any one please can help me to make my lemon tree productrice yellow lemon

  • zippitydoodaday
    7 years ago

    http://www.wikihow.com/Ripen-Lemons

    Everything you want to know about the ripening of lemons.