Beautiful, Dave.

Cory

Looking good. One of the hardest things for me is to estimate the crop size before they begin to color; a lot of my Meyers are in climates that do not color on the tree; so if we think we have X number, it is likely we have 2X or 3x.

I am a little surprised that in SE Texas the fruits color so well.

Nice pics Dave and John! I have a fully yellow ponderosa that I need to harvest to give the tree a breather since it has a bunch more...nothing even remotely close to an in-ground tree, but good for a young container tree. Dave, those look great. The Armstrong cutting looks great...how’s the oroblanco? JohnM, my Meyers color up well here - even indoors, but our summers here are hot and muggy. My key limes are turning yellow also...time for more pie ;-)

Laura,

I would expect all citrus to color well in your climate, but not so much in the humid, almost semi-tropical climate of SE Texas.

Dave, you have more fruit on your potted Satsuma than I have on my in-ground, mature Satsuma. I may have added fertilizer at the wrong time this year and have a very small crop....they are really big ones though!

JohnM, maybe it's the dry season that helps the lemons color up. We had historic flooding the end of August and then it has hardly rained since then. After the dry month, we got a few nights in the low 50s and, bam!, yellow lemons!

Laura, you have lots of lemon varieties, do your Ponderosas seem to have an especially bright lemony aroma when you scratch and sniff the peel? Maybe it's just because the peel and zest is so thick but I would almost be as happy inhaling the aroma of a lemon than juice and drink one :>)

I too had poor performance from my mature Satsumas this year in SW Louisiana, I have 3 mature 15+ year old in ground trees, 2 of which performed poorly this year, 1 of the 2 had significant freeze damage from last year so has an excuse, but the other one is about 10 tall and 12 feet wide with a total of 1 Satsuma fruit on it.

Ike, I have heard some citrus trees like to take a year off now and then but I wonder if that's just how we rationalize our own failure to fertilize at the right times...re the tendency for trees to drop blooms if we give too much nitrogen during blossom time.

I have neighbors close by whose satsumas are loaded so I tend to believe my management was somehow different from theirs. I actually know people who just don't even fertilize and they have a nice crop....maybe our abundant organic soil content cycles nutrients enough so some get away with that...or the folks I spoke with just didn't realize their citrus got fertilized from the lawn runoff :>)

John 9a: I had eaten about 1/3 of the fruit before that pic! I think my Armstrong satsuma is settling into alternate bearing as well. Not many fruit last year, but exuberant leaf growth! This year, not much in the way of leaf growth, but many fruit.

Laura: Oroblanco seems very happy.

John 9a, it looks like you will be doing a lot of baking/cooking/juicing again this year. Always like to see your creations.

Cory

Thanks, we shall see what the ole recipe book has to offer this winter. FIY, I tried a lemon/ginger drink recently that I enjoyed....thin-slice a ginger root, boil with a quart of water and a tablespoon of honey. Filter out the ginger bits and add the ginger water to a gallon jug with a cup or so of fresh lemon juice. Bring up to a gallon and sweeten or not as you wish.

I am happy as long as all of mine don't take the same year off. As it stands even with just one mature tree that produced well this year (18 or so feet wide and 12+ feet tall) I will get more citrus than I can possibly eat.

John, even I feel a bit overrun with key limes and limes in general. I am starting to just use one or two a day to squeeze in my water since I have read it is so healthy. I do not add sugar to it. I have a huge ponderosa that I will use for lemonade. I found a sugar substitute that seems fairly healthy and does not raise the glycemic index. I have been using it in my coffee for quite a while now and it is pretty good. I read up on it and it seems ok - I have never used any other sugar substitutes so this is a big leap for me. I think I will use it in the lemonade. Here is a link:

Swerve Sweetener, Confectioners, 12 oz bag (Pack of 3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006T37W6M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_1hN8zbD2JRRAN

Just in case you want to make guilt-free lemonade with all those lemons ;-)

Thanks, Laura, for the recommendation. I also "swerve" away from sugar substitutes since we generally have a terrible record, i.e., margarine, sucralose, saccharine, etc., etc., etc.,

I followed your link and did a little reading up on Swerve....interesting. I generally substitute honey or maple syrup to reduce "sugar". I know those still run up your insulin but we do get some other benefits from them beyond just making things sweet....problem is they change the flavor and you just can't use honey....possibly someone knows how.....as a substitute when making meringue :>)

I use monkfruit or pure stevia leave extract. Next year planning to buy a stevia plant. There are so many sugar substitutes and some of them don't have a good reputation either.

I have refused to use any sugar substitute ever till I read up on this one. I guess only time will tell. I only use a little bit in my morning coffee and so far so good.