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deeder_gw

Do I need to pull green lemons off tree?

deeder
18 years ago

The house we moved into has a pretty big lemon tree in it. My neighbour told me it's time to pull off all the green lemons because they won't ripen now but my other neighbour said to leave them. HELP! What do I do? There are a lot of green ones on it. Will they still ripen or is it too late?

Comments (12)

  • gardenguru1950
    18 years ago

    Your lemons will ripen. They may simply take longer to become sweet then those that ripen in summer.

    I've never heard of your neighbor's practice of removing green lemons.

    Joe

  • paul_in_long_beach
    18 years ago

    They will ripen. I promise. Mine always do.

  • Jillberto
    18 years ago

    My Meyer lemon tree is currently full of small green fruit. Those are my next years "crop" from this tree!

    I would never pull off green fruit unless is appears a branch is so over loaded it may break. And then a bit of fruit thinning will relieve pressure off the tree and help the fruits you leave develop into a larger size.

  • deeder
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thank you! You've saved me a lot of work. And boy, I can't wait for spring for them to ripen. I've gotta-lot-a-lemons.

  • nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14)
    18 years ago

    Mine start to ripen now and continue through Christmas. They are my husbands favorite Christmas gift!

  • debbysunshine
    18 years ago

    I think in Ca. fruit grows all year around so just eat them as they ripen and throw the chopped up peals in your garden and you'll be doing just fine. With my lemons I take off the ones that have become too large or buggy.

  • kerrican2001
    18 years ago

    There is no such thing as a lost crop of lemons. Their season is not like summer fruit at all. If they're green, just wait until they ripen. Usually, ours go crazy around Christmas as well, as most of our citrus does.

  • jakkom
    18 years ago

    Citrus are a winter crop, although mature trees will often bear year round. But heaviest crop is in the winter months.

    If the new leaves are pale green or you see mature leaves turning yellow, feed with citrus fertilizer. Citrus are heavy feeders and do not like to compete with other plants. Irregularly shaped or twisted leaves indicate uneven watering. Watch out for scale infestations, too; I've never had any but they seem to prefer some of my other plants (cestrums and plectranthus) to the tougher-stemmed citrus.

  • jaw444
    17 years ago

    I'm in Southern CA near the ocean. I have a lemon tree that is about 8 to 10 years old. From about the 2nd or 3rd year, it's been bearing lots of yellow lemons all year round. They always have seeds in them. they taste good. Now, suddenly, the green lemons are not turning yellow in the past month. I had one large yellow one that had been there for quite a while because i wasn't using them, and i wanted to use it a couple of days ago but it was gone. I guess my neighbor picked it, which has always been fine with me because i have plenty of lemons. But now suddenly all i have are green ones. New green ones keep coming and small ones are getting larger. I wasn't watering very often until a couple of weeks ago when it got hot, now i water lightly a couple of times a day and i soak the yard once every week or two.

    Are there things that could cause this failure to turn yellow all of a sudden? Is there something i can do to help them turn yellow? The leaves look normal.

    thanks

  • wullie1972
    15 years ago

    hi when i got my lemon tree few month ago the leaves was turning yellow and the lemons where half yellow ahd half green so i put in bigger pot and soaked the soil with tomatoe plant feed at standard strength soil got good drainage pored the water from the drip tray out left it for a week and few days then waterd again and leaves fell off and within 2 weeks more its baldy no leaves left on it few lemons on it tho where i keep it for winter is warm enough as my orange tree is in same place and thriving what can i do help plz

  • lilliianfay_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    We live in Costa Rica and have a California Lemon tree. The lemons are enormous. They are very slowly turning yellow. If I pick them when the bottom is still green what will happen. How will they taste for Xmas gifts? Our new growth is coming in. Can I transplant to a larger container?

  • kathi_mdgd
    13 years ago

    I'm also in S.Ca alomg the coast.Our tree is a meyer dwarf if memory serves me correctly.It has lemons year round in all different phases of ripening.Right now there are small green ones,big green ones and big yellow ones.We have the ocean breeze coming across the canyon almost all the time and it doesn't seem to bother the lemons,or any of the other fruit trees.
    Kathi