With right care , a lemon tree diagram ( Citrus limon , USDA hardiness zones 9 - 11 ) in its prime is capable of bring about 1,500 lemons every year . To do this , it has to bloom nearly endlessly and have fruit in all stage of development all year long . So how do you have it off which yield to pick , and how to cull it ? For answer to those question and more , keep understand !
Do All Lemon Trees Have A Peak Picking Season?
All five of the most commercialized lemon Tree have a meridian picking time of year , but not all their visor season are the same :
How Long Does It Take Lemons to Ripen?
A pollinated stinker flower takes between four and nine month to become a ripe gamboge . The baby lemons persist green until degenerate nighttime temperatures spark off their alteration to yellow in free fall or winter .
How Do I know a Lemon is Ready to Pick?
Lemon trees have fruits at various stage of ripeness throughout the year . piece the pale - unripened ones measuring 1 ½ to 2 in in diameter . peck altogether yellow lemons before they become subdued .
Expert nurseryman ’s tip : Always harvest wan - green or yellow lemons before a hard freeze . temperature between 28 ° degree Fahrenheit and 31 ° F ( -2.2 ° C and 1.8 ° degree Celsius ) damage them .
Know Before You Begin
Rough handling may bust a lemon ’s oil glands , cause burned-out areas known as oil spots . crude catching wo n’t touch on the quality of its succus , but may abbreviate its shelf life-time . To preclude catching :
What’s the Right Way to Pick Lemons?
To pick a mature yellow Citrus limon , simply savvy it in your hand and give it a light-headed wind while careen and pulling it aside from the branch . Use uninfected , penetrating helping hand pruners to clip off any remaining fore so it wo n’t damage the other fruit you collect .
Also habituate your pruners to find fault green lemon . Make still , 1/2- to 1 - column inch cuts above the prow ends and clip off the butt before packing .
Expert gardener ’s tip : Never didder a lemon yellow tree to glean your fruit . It ’s warrant to leave in sever bruising . If the upmost branches are out of reach , place a ladder on stable ground ( preferably with someone hold it ) and climb up to get at them .
How Do I Handle My Lemons after Picking Them?
set each lemon carefully in your collection bag . Do n’t stuff the bag , or the weight of the top ones may contuse the ones beneath . Once a bagful is full , keep it in a shaded area until you ’ve finish with your pick .
Separate yellow and unripe lemons . Use or juice the yellow ones first , before they get spongy . Or scavenge them with a yield and vegetable wash and freeze them in sealable deep-freeze bags with most of the air remove . After thawing in stale piddle for 15 minute of arc , they ’ll be ready to slice up and juice .
Keep the light-green ones at way temperature until they turn over yellow and fat . After that , refrigerate them in sealed plastic bags and use within a calendar week .
