Posted on Wednesday, 10/07/2009 - 5:22 p.m. PDT — by Marybuzz
I'm hoping to have input from all of you in e-land regarding my lemons. For many, many years my lemon bush/tree has been producing lovely, normal lemons. Last year I discovered hidden away deep inside my tree, a huge lemon, grown in one blooming generation, circum. 26", which I will call my "mutant lemon." It was a single mutant lemon, meaning no other lemons from that season were like it. Now, this Summer, ALMOST ALL of the lemons are growing to a large, unusual size....almost like that of a cantelope. I want my old lemons back. I want to make lemonade. Does anyone know why this is happening? Can I stop it? Do I now have a mutant tree? Help!
Joined: Aug 2005
Current Posts: 7
Hey Marybuzz. You need to do some serious pruning. I suspect that the mutant lemons are actually pomelos and are growing on the rootstock of your lemon tree. In order to make our fruit and citrus trees more resistant to a variety of commonplace diseases, growers graft a healthy slip of the tree onto a rootstock. For lemons and oranges, that rootstock is usually the pomelo tree. Sometimes the rootstock can produce branches on its own, which grow more vigorously than the graft. I have something similar with an orange tree. Although it hasn't produced fruit, it does grow these wicked, thorny branches and I have to keep them pruned back. The difficult part will be finding where the original graft is -- every limb growing below it will be from the rootstock. Try pruning branches from the lowest part of the tree and work your way up. Good luck!
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 5
Awesome Joan, thank you for the advice. I just noticed a "pomelo" in the grocery store today....first time. What is it? I wondered if it was the same....but how could it be? Now I know why it could be on my tree. Thank you. I do prune back my tree bush all the time. However....I don't start from the bottom up. Now I will. And, to think of it, all the major huge "mutants" are towards the bottom.
Question.....why the pomelo? Why not a young, new sapling from a similar type of lemon tree? ....ie: Meyer tree/Lisbon graft. I understand the science, just not the reason for a radical change in fruit type.
I've been in my home 8 years. Wouldn't the new graft have shown up before now if that's what it truly is?
Thank you very much for your answer. This is the first time I did a "blog" and thought my Mutant Lemon heading wasn't sensational enough to attract. Very Funny. You restored my faith.
BTW....I asked you the Crusader Rabbit question a few months back at a luncheon. Loved the go-to spot you recommended to get my answer. Thank you for that as well.
Joined: Aug 2005
Current Posts: 7
You'd be hard-pressed to find any fruit tree anywhere that isn't the product of grafting. In some ways that's good because it means we can grow all our fruits and citrus with little danger of disease. Whether it's good in the long run, well that's a debate for greater minds than mine.
Nurseries are in the business of selling plants, and the quicker they can do that, the better for them. If they grew from seed, it would have to be under very strict conditions (a seed you plant will be the product of cross pollination -- and you never know what you'll get). By grafting, they can ensure that the Meyer lemon is really a Meyer lemon. And they don't have to wait three to five years for the tree to be large enough to sell.
Not sure why the rootstock started growing instead of the scion. Could be the lemon graft was stressed and the rootstock took advantage. Might just be nature asserting itself. In my case, my orange tree is suffering from an infestation of scale that I haven't been able to get rid of, but the rootstock is flourishing.
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 5
Thank you very much for all your input. By nature, I am a pruner....not a planter. I like the shears not the soil. So your expertise fills up a very empty glass...or should I say "flowerpot." I will do some investigating around the underside of my tree while trying to avoid the 3" thorns. It will be a challenge. I will keep you posted.
Joined: Aug 2009
Current Posts: 18
this thread made me smile.... thanks folks!
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 111
they are always a product of grafting.
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 5
I will be investigating my Lemon tree/bush this coming weekend. I need someone to hold up all the limbs and lemon mutants now resting on the ground. Also, I need to get my hands on a small saw. This will be an adventure. My adult children are amazed that I get myself into these things.....but, honestly.....I didn't do a thing.
Joined: Oct 2009
Current Posts: 5
This is Sunday.....a Beautiful Fall day. The four members of my family of the male species is huddled inside the house, around a huge TV screen, all with laptops going on their laps.....watching the current selection of a dozen football games going on today, on TV and on their laps....allthewhile managing their Fantasy Football teams and team stats. There is also a TV channel they can go to that jumps from one game to another catching ALL the spectacular plays of ALL the games currently in play....call it Crack-Football Sunday. To the point....the men are out of circulation today. Soooooo.....I took my plant cutting shears in hand and out to my mutant Lemon tree I jog. Oh boy....I need more than a shears. I just finished reading Jeannette Walls book "Half Broke Horses", a story about her grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, who has become my new hero.....the MOST resourceful person I have EVER read about. Well, once I start a project I am not likely to get up, readdress the situation, go to the store for new equipment etc., and beat it back to my project because then I am "out of the moment." So, I grab a couple of serrated steak knives out of the kitchen (my husbands cherished possessions), my gardening gloves, a couple of towels to protect my arms from thorns, swimming goggles for the eyes (thorns again) and reattacked my Mutant Lemon tree. The original response to this blog that my tree needed serious pruning was an understatement. I always pruned from the top down....WRONG. It appears to prune correctly one must go from the underside up, from the inside out....then top down, etc. Now I know why I have a gray thumb. I just came in for a beverage (most likely a beer which is the selected fluid of Crack-Football Sunday) leaving a pile of green bowling balls, branches, and leaves on the patio. I will return later to my Mutant Lemon tree after I run cold water over my swollen fingers and take a nap. Oh....and the football game....it's half time....the mutant men are watching recaps. I'll keep you posted.