I picked all of the lemons last night, most of the Meyer lemons were brown inside :( but the variegated lemons are good! We made lemon drops to drink as we decorated the Christmas tree, they were delicious!
The Meyer lemons were all bad, except for one juicy specimen; so far, all of the variegated lemons are great.
Lemon Drops
The end result of babying lemons through the winter in Portland, Oregon
1 comment:
I asked my Mom, a Oregon State Master Gardener, to check at the extension office for ideas about what could cause the lemons to be brown with the thick skin. She talked with a fellow MG who moved here from California, with actual citrus growing experience. Her thoughts were that the brown pulp was from sitting on the plant too long, and that the thick skin is related to the culture (either water or fertilizer). I have been carefull to keep them watered and I try to shade the pots on the hot days, so I think it is fertilizer related. Next spring I will fertilize them and put a temporary fence around them to keep the dogs out of the soil. The dogs are the reason I neglected fertilizing a lot of the garden this past year.
Another interesting thing is that this MG from California has grown citrus successfully in the ground here in the Portland area for seven years, up until last winter (2005/2006) when it died. )I would think from the cold weather, however we did have an exceptionally wet January (2006), and Citrus need well-drained soil.
Post a Comment