Bitter lemon tree fruit

[Adele]

I have a Meyer's lemon tree I grew from a nursery seedling. It's about 8 years old and started bearing fruit about 3 years ago. It's a very healthy tree, about 400 lemons per season, the leaves are dark, it has no visible pests, fungus or disease and it is not an over-root, meaning it has a single main trunk not a root off-shoot. The problem is every year each lemon is almost all seeds meaning it has 20-30 seeds in each lemon, and the fruit is very bitter, almost a gamey taste, definitely inedible/unjuiceable. Does anyone know if this can be rectified?

 

[Chuck]

I have a Meyer's lemon tree I grew from a nursery seedling. It's about 8 years old and started bearing fruit about 3 years ago. It's a very healthy tree, about 400 lemons per season, the leaves are dark, it has no visible pests, fungus or disease and it is not an over-root, meaning it has a single main trunk not a root off-shoot. The problem is every year each lemon is almost all seeds meaning it has 20-30 seeds in each lemon, and the fruit is very bitter, almost a gamey taste, definitely inedible/unjuiceable. Does anyone know if this can be rectified?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think your tree is a Myers Lemon. I think it is a Volkamer Lemon. Volkamer's are used as root stock for Myers and are known as Bitter or Sour Lemon. What happened was that either the graft didn't take or the nursery made a mistake and didn't graft the scion and just let the rootstock grow.

 

[Adele]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think your tree is a Myers Lemon. I think it is a Volkamer Lemon. Volkamer's are used as root stock for Myers and are known as Bitter or Sour Lemon. What happened was that either the graft didn't take or the nursery made a mistake and didn't graft the scion and just let the rootstock grow.

Thanks, Chuck. I think you're right! I only assumed it was a Meyer's based on the appearance. So can anything be done to reduce/eliminate the amount of fruit since it's inedible & a bother to pick up & throw away (or do people ever actually use Volkamer lemons for anything?)

 

[Chuck]

Thanks, Chuck. I think you're right! I only assumed it was a Meyer's based on the appearance. So can anything be done to reduce/eliminate the amount of fruit since it's inedible & a bother to pick up & throw away (or do people ever actually use Volkamer lemons for anything?)

About all you could do is to graft good lemon, tangerine and perhaps orange cuttings onto the existing limbs but in all reality you would be better off just replacing the tree. Sorry

 

[Bwein1200]

I have a Meyer's lemon tree I grew from a nursery seedling. It's about 8 years old and started bearing fruit about 3 years ago. It's a very healthy tree, about 400 lemons per season, the leaves are dark, it has no visible pests, fungus or disease and it is not an over-root, meaning it has a single main trunk not a root off-shoot. The problem is every year each lemon is almost all seeds meaning it has 20-30 seeds in each lemon, and the fruit is very bitter, almost a gamey taste, definitely inedible/unjuiceable. Does anyone know if this can be rectified?

 

[Bwein1200]

My citrus trees died last winter when my heater went off during a freeze but the bitter lemon roots survived and grew up. I now have a crop of bitter lemons.
Do you have any use for bitter lemons or bitter lemon trees? The trees may survive our winters, they did once!

 

[cpp gardener]

You could use the tree as rootstock for any other citrus. If it has multiple branches, you can make a ‘fruit salad’ tree with several varieties on one plant.