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klyons_ga8a

Give me all of the lemon trees!

8 years ago

I am a lemon fanatic! What varieties do you currently have or wish for? I have the following:


Santa Teresa Femminello

Genoa

Zagara Bianca

Bearss Lemon

Eureka

Meyer

Pink Variegated Eureka


I want any and all Italian varieties (especially the Sorrento and Amalfitano (pipe dream, I know lol)), Villafranc, NZL, and maybe a Lisbon. Currently, my VPE is the only tree with fruit on it, but if the rest produce, I will have lemons coming out of my ears! Lol



Comments (31)

  • 8 years ago

    Kelly, I have read that there is, I do believe an Arinian lime or lemon that is super healthy to drink early in the morning with a glas of water.

    Kelley_GA8a thanked Monyet
  • 8 years ago

    Save some lemons for me!

    I need to learn more about the Italian ones, but perhaps not- considering their current availability.

    I like to eat lemon peels- any idea which variety has the best?


    Kelley_GA8a thanked hibiscus909
  • 8 years ago

    I have Meyers and Ponderosas...sure like the meyer for whole-lemon sorbet!

    Kelley_GA8a thanked John 9a
  • 8 years ago

    Hibiscus, don’t give up! Lol. I have no idea, but I would guess that the Italian varieties with a higher oil content would have more flavor? (ST, Bearss, etc)

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Meyer, Eureka, and Pink variegated. Still looking for Pondarosa and Lisbon.

    Kelley_GA8a thanked Matt z5b - Greenhouse 10a
  • 8 years ago

    Matt, where are you located?

  • 8 years ago

    Southern Ontario, Canada

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    You'll probably hate me for this, but maybe you could start collecting Citron plants too. Citron is the species ancestor of lemon. There are several different cultivars of citron too, the Giant Yemeni Etrog cultivar has fruits that can get very big. Then of course there's the notorious Buddha's Hand cultivar. In China citrons are traditionally used to make a sort of marmalade tea.

    It is believed Ponderosa lemon (which can get pretty large but doesn't really have all that good flavor) is probably a hybrid between citron and lemon. Citron has a fragrance like lemon but a little bit stronger, more clean, and sometimes there's a hint of violet.

    Don't expect much juice from citrons though.

    Kelley_GA8a thanked socalnolympia
  • 8 years ago

    SoCal, I am not opposed to the idea of citrons! I received Buddha’s hand budwood recently, but it didn’t survive shipping.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago



    on the left Giant Yemenite Etrog citron, on the right another regular variety of citron (possibly a seedling of a regular Etrog citron or Diamante)

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago
    Kelley_GA8a thanked lucky_cloud
  • 8 years ago

    Haha, Lucky! Yes, i would wear it, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t been a size small since 3rd grade lol.

  • 8 years ago

    For me it would be the Yuzu & New Zealand lemons on my wishlist! I want to be able to eat a lemonade tasting fruit out of my hand and Yuzu's for making tea in the winter! I currently have a Meyer Lemon so you can probably tell I'm not much of a lemon tree hoarder

    Kelley_GA8a thanked kvetchlambkin (nyc 7b)
  • 8 years ago

    Oh, if you want to share lemon decor finds, I've got a bunch.

    Kelley_GA8a thanked hibiscus909
  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Kelley, I have all of the lemons that you listed minus the Zagara. I bought my daughter-in-law a NZL last year that I will take a cutting off of when it is a bit older. I have two citron, Etrog and a relatively new, Buddha's Hand also. The only other lemon I would truly like to have, like you, is the Amalfitano. Here is a new video I found on YouTube about the flying farmer, Gigino, who has been growing this lemon along the almalfi coast for years. Enjoy!

    https://youtu.be/udtMCxWrqtI

    Kelley_GA8a thanked jinnylea
  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Recipe for Spaghetti Al Limone using the wonderful almalfi lemon. Part 3 of the video series. Enjoy!

    https://youtu.be/bchRFlnx65I

    Kelley_GA8a thanked jinnylea
  • Kelley_GA8a thanked Vladimir (Zone 5b Massachusetts)
  • 8 years ago

    Great lemon collection Kelley! Jinny, thanks for sharing that recipe...I am going to mark this thread so I can go back to it. I think my favorite in terms of just flavor is the ST, followed closely by the meyer. I have still not tried the Villafranca, Genoa, or Bearss, but did try the Lisbon. It was fine, but nowhere near the complex flavor of the ST or Meyer. I have a ponderosa and it is among my least favorite. The flavor is just ok and the fruit, although large, is very seedy. I also finally harvested a Eureka pink lemon a few days ago. It was fine...nothing to write home about. If it were not because the foliage is so pretty, I would not have it. Although the baboon has beautiful flowers and nice leaves, the flavor is also not my favorite. To me it seems a bit medicinal, but others here may like it.

    Kelley_GA8a thanked Laura LaRosa (7b)
  • 8 years ago

    By the way, the book I mentioned above has a few Italian lemon recipes interspersed in it.

  • 8 years ago

    Jinny, Denise sent me that video last week :). I want to visit him and his grove so bad!! And, thank you for the recipe! I’m absolutely going to try it soon.

    Vladimir, thank you for the recommendation! I actually purchased the book about 6 months ago, but have yet to read it lol.

    Laura, it’s good to hear from you! Hope you’re doing well.

  • 8 years ago

    My ZB lemon just started putting out new growth this week. I can’t wait for it to get bigger.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Kelley, I will need to look up that ZB lemon. Good to hear it is pushing out some growth. Yes, if I ever have the chance to visit Italy I would love to visit his lemon groves and have a good chat with him. Laura, you are welcome. I hope you and the family are having a great summer. It is flying by pretty fast. I am going to try that recipe soon, my kitchen is being used daily for processing and canning lots of produce from the garden. I agree, the Santa Teresa Lemon has great flavor, I had to cut back branches on both trees this spring due to scale. One tree has a few nice looking, small lemons on it that I hope hold on through the winter. I dug my Bearss up and put it back into a pot. It was planted too close to a door and during the winter when the door opened the tree got a blast of cold air and it did not like it, dropped it's fruit.. I gave it a trim and it currently has tiny lemons. It is outdoors now but it will be moved upstairs on the balcony to get full sunshine and brought in before we get frost. I am really looking forward to getting lemons off of this variety. Meyer is only so-so for me. Vladimir, that book looks like something I would enjoy very much. I will try to see if our local library will be able to order it and get it in sometime during the winter months when I have a bit more time to relax and read, along with a good cup of tea. :)

    Kelley_GA8a thanked jinnylea
  • 8 years ago

    Jinny, share any good recipes please! We are having a good summer, but it is going by too fast. I’ve been busy and just have not checked in often. My trees are great though. I’ve just been checking the weather and before I see some big rain coming, I’ll try to go and sprinkle some of the Peters fertilizer on them (they’ve all had Oscomote plus too). They are green, happy, and growing. I have not potted up as many as I thought I would this year. I think they are fine where they are for another year. I have one with a broken container that does need to be repotted. That will be the last one likely for this year, except for a couple of grafts. My two ST grafts are growing like gangbusters and I need to give them a slightly larger container. Happy to see everyone is well here!

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Laura, will do. Likewise with you and other fellow citrus web friends. I love a good recipe..Happy to hear all is well with you and your trees. We went from having a drought most of the summer to torrential downpours over the last two weeks. Hard to believe but fall is just around the corner here. Blueberry bushes have turned red already..We had a few nights this past week get down into the low 40's and with all the rain and cold nights a few of my potted trees leaves have started to turn a bit yellow. A few already had sunburn on the leaves when we had weeks of temperature in the high 90's which is unusual for us. Despite that, they were and are still pushing out more growth in July and have fruit set. I can't wait to see pictures of your lovely ST. How is your Red lime doing? My red lime is a wide, spreading beast and is producing a lot of baby limes. Hope a few of them hold and mature this year. Have a beautiful weekend.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Kelley, you may be interested to know I am planning to do some work developing new varieties of lemons, especially ones that will be more cold-hardy, or sweet and juicy. I'm hybridizing citron, yuzu, Ichang papeda and Ichang lemon (not a true lemon), Minneola tangelo, mandarinquat, along with conventional lemons. I believe hybridizing Duncan grapefruit with citron would also make a very tasty lemon, and I'd also like to work on Ponderossa lemon to improve its flavor while maintaining its size, possibly hybridizing it with pomelo (as the fruit parent).

    Regular lemons don't tend to be very cold-hardy, less than oranges, but Meyer is the hardiest lemon variety (probably because it contains mandarin in its genes).

    Yuzu, Sudachi, Kabosu are all traditional Japanese varieties, very hardy, and used like lemons in traditional Japanese cuisine (although the flavor is uniquely different). This may be way too much info here, but unlike lemons, these Japanese varieties didn't descend from citron, but rather ultimately from C. ichangensis, and, in the case of Sudachi and Kabosu, a native mandarin-like subspecies native to Japan named C. tachibana (basically a wild sour mandarin).

  • 8 years ago

    I have major Italian citrus envy. Oscar Tintori has a website where Europeans (or maybe just Italians? I'm not sure how the plant sale rules work in the EU) can buy trees propagated at his greenhouse. Here's an example... blood orange X meyer lemon; that's a tree I'd love to grow!

    https://www.oscartintori.it/en/product/meyer-lemon-x-double-blood-orange/

    Kelley_GA8a thanked PacNorWreck
  • 8 years ago

    Jinny, my red lime is great! I just harvested another lime and it is growing lots more. It seems to be a very vigorous tree and great production. The limes have a nice flavor also. I’m away for a week at the beach, but I can photograph it when I get home so we can compare notes. All of my grafts, miraculously, are growing very very well - even the store mandarin twigs. The ST seems to love to Italian lemon rootstock it’s on bc it is growing lots. I was unsure they would take, and used small pots, so they definitely need to be bumped up before winter. I can’t believe I have two other ST. It is my favorite lemon!

    Kelley_GA8a thanked Laura LaRosa (7b)
  • 8 years ago

    Hey Laura,

    Do you have a preference between calamondin and red lime? Would you mind describing how they're different (either in growth habit or fruit character)? The CCPP is currently cleaning up red lime budwood and I'm tempted to order some when it's available.

  • 8 years ago

    PacNorWreck, I have been wanting one of those trees which you posted a link to as well for about a year now. The closest thing I can find to that is a variegated minneola which I finally ordered through Harris Citrus Nursery.

  • 8 years ago

    Pac, the red lime and calamondin are very different - in looks, taste, peel. I would not make jam out of the red lime. I wish I were home so I could take a pic. The red lime is just like a regular lime but with a pinkish interior. The flavor is nice, but I’ve not taste it side by side with a regular lime. To me the calamondin is like a little sour orange or mandarin.

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