Citrus Growers Forum

hoosierquilt · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 12:21 pm

Tri, are you near me? Your Meyer sounds just like mine. And yes WD40, I leave my lemons on my Meyer for months, and pick as I need. They hold on the tree extremely well. And, they are extremely juicy. They are just such reliable little citrus, I have a soft spot for my little Meyer because, despite its neglect, it just continued to produce its its little heart out. And now I have quite the bumper crop this year.

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Patty S.

TRI · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 3:29 pm

I try to pick mine as soon as they become yellow because it seems if you let them become orange off flavors develop. The juice from only two Meyer lemons is almost one cup! The tress are relatively small and easy to protect form cold. They are probably the most prolific citrus and the best for container growing. This is the best citrus fruit for making lemonade and margaritas!

hoosierquilt · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 7:05 pm

Tri, I haven't noticed a difference between my ripe and very ripe Meyers, but I'll check next season and see if I can tell a difference. What about the very ripe orangish Meyers tastes off? Can you describe it to me? And you're not kidding about the juice content. I used 1/4 of a Meyer to get a tablespoon for a recipe last night. I was able to squeeze nearly 1/4 of a cup just by hand-squeezed that 1/4 piece. They're amazing. Yumm!!

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Patty S.

Tom · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 7:49 pm

I know the off taste you are refering too. Its hard to describe and I thought it was because my Meyer is pretty young and was loaded with fruit. It just did not taste right or "good", sorta tainted.Almost like some of the peel got in the taste and the peel was not "fresh". Sorry if that doesn't make sense but that's the best I can describe it.Maybe a "tinny"taste like aluminum but not horrible or toxic....It was worse two years ago and not as bad this year. Maybe this year will be the best yet.....

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Tom in central Alabama

TRI · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 7:51 pm

hoosierquilt wrote:

Tri, I haven't noticed a difference between my ripe and very ripe Meyers, but I'll check next season and see if I can tell a difference. What about the very ripe orangish Meyers tastes off? Can you describe it to me? And you're not kidding about the juice content. I used 1/4 of a Meyer to get a tablespoon for a recipe last night. I was able to squeeze nearly 1/4 of a cup just by hand-squeezed that 1/4 piece. They're amazing. Yumm!!

It is possible that not all the orange Meyer lemons are off flavored. I may have sampled too few orange fruit to know for sure and the ones I tasted were on the tree a long long time.

Most of the Meyer lemon fruit on my plants are very large some almost as large as grapefruit!

I read some place that the Meyer lemon plant was first discovered in Beijing China growing in a pot. Correct me if I am wrong about the history of the Meyer lemon because my memory may be off.

TRI · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 8:00 pm

I think the man who discovered it was named Frank Meyer. Is that right?

hoosierquilt · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 8:14 pm

WOW! My lemons are big, but I would say the biggest are more along the lines of a large navel, but elongated. Not quite as footballish as my Eureka, but not round. And yes, to my understanding, the Meyer was introduced to the United States in 1908 by the agricultural explorer Frank Nicholas Meyer, who was an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture who collected a sample of the plant on a trip to China (per Wikipedia, which is not always the most reliable source, but confirms what I have read everywhere else).

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Patty S.

Darkman · Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 5:13 am

wd40 wrote:

They do seem to be heavy producers. They hold on the tree very well and are useful from first yellow on to full orange.

Randy

Very good to know. I'm hoping to enjoy fresh lemonade from this tree for an extended harvest.

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Charles in Pensacola

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

wd40 · Citruholic Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 105

wd40 · Citruholic Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 105

I posted a couple more Meyer Lemon pictures on my blog from last year. One with a Meyer's next to a pound cake I make and a good picture that shows the color and the Lemon loading on the tree.

http://hotdogschilisandsauces.blogspot.com/

Randy

hoosierquilt · Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 1:37 pm

Okay, that is truly a monsterous Meyer lemon - the size of a grapefruit. Wow. They are just the most prolific citrus trees.

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Patty S.

wd40 · Citruholic Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 105

Patty, there are also regular size lemons well large regular size lemons. It is interesting to watch the color as the yellow fades to an orange.

Randy

hoosierquilt · Posted: Wed 30 Mar, 2011 6:54 pm

I also have a fair amount of variability in the shape, but no so much the size of my Meyer lemons. I have some that are more round, with no little pointy end, and others that are more oval-shaped with a pointy end. All on the same tree.

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Patty S.

wd40 · Citruholic Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 105

hoosierquilt · Posted: Thu 31 Mar, 2011 12:37 pm

Interesting theory. I don't have a Brix meter, would love to test that out since I still have a tree full of fruit. One of the things on the list of "stuff to buy", but really hard to figure out which of the many brix meters to buy. You can go from $20.00 to $300.00 for a brix meter!

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Patty S.