Anyone have a lemon tree ?

[Nyboy]

2xs this spring I broke my rule of nothing that can"t winter over on its own. I stopped to pick up some mulch and of course had to look around. The nursery had small citrus trees that looked very healthy. I ended up bring a meyer lemon tree home. The tree has 2 small green lemons. How long does it take for a lemon to ripen?

 

[baymule]

I want a Meyer lemon tree!!!!!

 

[bj taylor]

not anymore, but want to try again

 

[bobm]

To get 2 ripe lemons from that tree ... it all depends on micro climates, how late the first frost arrives and how many $$$s one is willing to throw onto them. About 4 miles from my ranch in central Cal. (gently rolling hills), there is a commercial lemon orchard as well as several orange orchards ranging in size from 40 acres to several hundred acres. Yet, I ( as well as my neighbors) have yet to harvest a single lemon and just a few oranges now and then in years that have only llight frost. Good luck !

 

[Nyboy]

Bob do your trees produce lemons that just don't ripen before frost ? Because I am in NY I will be bring tree inside for winter. I would be ok with no lemons the flowers smell great that alone is worth it to me.

 

[rebbetzin]

I have a Meyer Lemon Tree. It is still pretty young... I don't have any fruit on it at the moment. It did produce a couple of lemons last year. It seems to me it took them a while to turn from green to yellow. This spring it got blossoms, but... they all fell off!!

 

[luis_pr]

I think I had a new crop of lemons last year around November/December and was able to eat them by March. Their website says 3-4 months though. See:

http://meyerlemontree.com/lemonharvest.html

 

[bobm]

Bob do your trees produce lemons that just don't ripen before frost ? Because I am in NY I will be bring tree inside for winter. I would be ok with no lemons the flowers smell great that alone is worth it to me.

I had planted 10 orange and 2 lomon trees at my ranch in Cal. that I obtained from the commercial orchards. I protected them when frost was expected by wrapping the trunks with many layers of newspapers and covering them with bedsheets. I even ran electric lights under the sheets on 3 of them. They all died. If you are interested more in the smell then the fruit... I would plant " mock orange" a desiduous shrub /small tree. It has a heavenly scent in the summer. I planted 3 of them at our new home.

 

[thistlebloom]

Nyboy, overwintering in the house will work just fine. One of my customers has one that is over 10 years old that she brings in every fall and puts back out for the summer. It bears lemons most years.

 

[nelson castro]

Generally about 6 months from bloom to maturity for a Meyer after that, you can leave it on the tree another 2-3 months during which time it will get a deeper yellow color outside and at the outer limits of that time, it will begin to shrink and the peel will get thinner, so as to last only about 10 days after harvest.

For garden Meyers I would just pick the fruit when you want to eat it and you will have fruits all year; the downside of leaving the ripe fruit on the tree is it somewhat limits the fruit set from the next bloom. Commercially we take off the fruit within 60 days of maturity to get ready for the next crop; but for my garden trees, I opt for the year round availability.