It could be a meyer lemon, they are sweeter than `normal` lemons, if so they can be harvested a bit earlier than when they are fully ripe and they will not be as sweet, if you take a photo of the fruit and of a leaf someone should be able to say wether its a meyer lemon or not as they have slightly different leaves and the fruit is usualy slightly more orange/darker yellow when fully ripe

Not to disagree...but, I don't think its Meyer lemon, I have this one and it taste great! Although, Meyer lemons are not known to be as sour as Lisbon or Eureka lemons, it definitely doesn't have a strange flavor in my opinion. It is of excellent quality and taste IMHO.

This is only a guess, but maybe it is some type of unknown seedling or a grafted lemon that lost its graft somehow and the rootstock is what's left and bearing fruit. This happened to a friend's neighbor. He gave me some of the lemon fruit, it looks and smells like lemons...but was "horrible"! He told me its some type of unknown lemon that grew after the hurricane broke the tree, this seedling grew from the ground and now these are the lemons that it produces. He has since replaced it with a Meyer Lemon tree. Again, this is just a guess... hopefully someone here might be of more help.

The description of smells and looks like a lemon, but not sour at all, to me sounds like a meyer, i have a meyer and thats how i would describe it, to me i would also use words like nasty about the meyer
I would think if it was rootstock off the tree, then maybe a volkamer lemon as it is used as a rootstock sometimes, they taste like a regular lemon, the usual trifolate rootstocks etc all have very nasty taste and i would say were very very sour and bitter, not sweet at all, most do not look like lemons either

Thanks for the in-put, everyone. I will look up the meyer lemons and see if this is what I have.

Interesting note about the rootstock. I will have to look into this, as well.

Also, my home was vacant for about 2 years before we bought it, so I know that the lemon tree and other plants have not been tended to in at least that long. And since we live quite inland from the coast, it gets very hot here during the spring and summer months. If the lemons still taste this bad after several months of proper care, then I think I will replace it. It's a big tree though, so hopefully we don't have to take it out.

If it isnt one you like, it would probably be better to graft onto the tree as its already established, just add extra varietys to it

I agree I do think it is a Palestine sweet lime. I am new here and actually just found this thread because I was trying to figure out what our lemon looking fruit is. I knew it wasnt lemon because we do have a lemon tree already. I was thinking maybe it was some awful grapefruit. I dont take care of it because I dont like the fruit so I thought that may have been why the flavor was off but after reading up on this sweet lime the description fits exactly. Dont know what to do with ours now that I know tho, maybe take it out. :(

Agree with Dr. Manners on this one. Improved Meyer is slightly sweeter than say a Eureka, but not "sweet" by any stretch. Not like an orange "sweet". Still makes ME pucker up :-) And I'm still laughing at your description, Dr. Manners, HAH!! Love the "baby shampoo" after taste. Or, you can just call in "insipid", lol!

Watch for my post about trying to identify a citrus in my yard. It is the mystery fruit for now...

Patty S.

Purchased Sunkist Meyer Lemons from Costco yesterday. Cut into one this morning and it has a kind of medicine-like smell and taste. I plan to return the bag to Costco today but wanted to look up bad tasting meyer lemons on line first and found this old conversation. Any new thoughts about bad tasting Meyer lemons? Thanks

I hear they get nasty if left on the tree too long. But my dislike for Meyers is well known here so I have no first hand knowledge.

Sounds right to me. +prutessa, I see your post is from January. Even warm climates have certain seasons, and I venture to say lemons bought in January probably come off a cargo ship from Thailand. Possible it was picked so early, that the acid didn't have enough time to produce it's distinct bitter taste and was bland. Hope this helps.

December - January is prime lemon harvest season in southern California's desert. Probably just a bad batch of lemons or they were picked too early.

Evan

So glad I found this thread. Reading description of Palestine Lime it seems clear that is what I have in my "new" yard. Info found at www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/Palestine.html

The thorns are also enormous and the tree itself super vigorous. I'll read on here to see if there is grafting info.

Dr Manners,

Good to find you here; it seems you have been absent for a long time. I have learned so much from many of your post.

I have a lemon tree in my back yard. It was here when I bought the house. Tree is about 15 feet tall. Lemons are the size of a naval orange. The fruit is very yellow, bumpy skin, and more round then any of the football shaped lemons in the grocery store. The taste is very sour and actually very sweet at first. Then the flavor faids to a very metallic after taste that is horrible. The lemons also have a very floral scent when cut.

I believe it to be a ponderosa lemon, but the after taste is so bad I can't eat them.

I trimmed the tree back, used fertilizer, and waited a year for new fruit to developed. The lemons taste better this year, but still have the very metallic, kinda bitter, after taste. The tree is grown in partial sun protected from frost by my house and woods behind it.

Is there anything else I can do to improve the flavor?

Ryan, if you could post pictures of the 'lemon' someone here might be able to identify it. Also post photos of the leaves, including the leaf stem. Could be it's not a true lemon. Could even be rootstock of some kind.

My meyers lemons are this year so nasty

Have youchanged fertilizer? What is your location?

Zebras?... When you hear hoofbeats, your mind thinks horses.... but they could be zebras. I would at least consider the possiblity that something is affecting your taste; it is more likely than something has changed the lemon... it is a product of nature....not really capable of change.

I am also having the same problem. This is the second year that I have had the worse tasting lemons. We planted our Meyers lemon tree 6 years ago. I live in Southern California. Have had great lemons for years 4 years until until a year ago. Nothings change and have no clue why all of a sudden they tasted awful. All I can remember is that we had the worse winds and lost most of my lemons last year. What was left when ripe tasted awful, so bad, I had to throw them all away. I can’t figure it out. It’s always been watered. Never had to fertilize. Only when we first planted it. I seriously need help. I love and use lemons a lot. That’s why I planted the tree.

HU

You probably had a rootstock branch that survived the storm.

If you don’t like it , cut the sucker down and graft a variety that you like, couple years later you got what you want, no biggee.

My tree has a meyer lemon label and they taste awful, as well.

Left on the tree too long. They can be picked when not complete yellow.

mine taste amazing , so do my Eureka's and Lisbon's.

Meyer lemons do not taste good. They are just the new thing citrus tree sellers push

Taste is an opinion. Just because one person does not like something does not mean that nobody can.

agreed ken, most people do not like tahoe golds but mine taste great. beauty like flavor/taste is in the eye of the beholder. :)

I have experienced variability with meyers, but they always have tasted tops for me ; meaning taste test winners. If you don't have the proper climate / environment, then you may not get the chance to reach Meyer nirvana.

Could it be something else... rootstock?

I'm also trying to figure out what type of lemon I have. I read all the comments and nothing seems to fit perfectly. I just bought a home in Sonora Mexico and I have a lemon tree that's at least 10 years old. I know for a fact that it hadn't been fertilized for several years. It was watered well for the last 8 months. And produced heavily this winter. The fruit is nice. It is round and yellow turning from Green. It is sweet and watery with no tartness at all. I'm wondering if it's a Meyer lemon but never got fertilized. Any ideas on how I can get at least a little sourness to the lemons???

I disagree with every one, as my Lime .. fruited for sevel years produced spuer Limes .. but this time we have same lovely fruit but it is totally bland ..!! Not souer at all !! .. we both would like to know why ..?? Brigitte

If your lime tree is on a sweet lime rootstock your rootstock may have taken over.

no it's definitely not , all one stem 6foot tall ... it can only be the soil .. fertiliser or something ??

Could you take a picture of the tree and a close up of the trunk. This may be a bad year.