What's up with these lemons

March 13, 2022 11:12 AM

Y'all, what's up with these jacked up lemons on my tree? Also some leave mutation...

I checked if the giant pomelo-looking fruits were growing straight from the grafted root stock but they are not, there are branches that have a mix of regular lemons, mutant lemons, and giant monster orb lemons.

posted by latkes to Science & Nature (8 answers total)

Response by poster: LOL.. LEAF mutation.
posted by latkes at 11:13 AM on March 13, 2022

They look closer to citron than pomelo. Could be some sort of reversion to form due to environmental factors
posted by Ferreous at 11:25 AM on March 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Add citrus fertilizer to soil 2x year.
posted by artdrectr at 11:47 AM on March 13, 2022

Are the mutant leaves trifoliate? (scroll down).

If so, I’d say it probably is rootstock asserting itself somehow, though I’ve never heard of a single branch with mixed stocks.
posted by jamjam at 12:28 PM on March 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Why Citrus Fruit Get Thick Peels And Little Pulp suggests either too much nitrogen or too little phosphorus.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

How consistently do you pick them? I notice that lemons I leave on the tree for a long time tend to develop this set of characteristics.
posted by Lady Li at 6:09 PM on March 13, 2022

(a long time here meaning basically an extra year or sometimes longer)
posted by Lady Li at 6:10 PM on March 13, 2022

Came here to mention the nitrogen /phosphorus issue. I've seen this in a friend's lemons.
posted by rednikki at 7:39 PM on March 13, 2022