You can make an effective rust and tarnish busting scrub by mixing salt and lemon juice into a paste. Add a few slices of lemon into a pot of simmering water. You can also add a few other fragrant herbs to compliment the lemon, such as rosemary.
Lemon trees need to mature before they can bear ripe fruit. Some lemon trees may bear fruit sooner, but the fruit won’t be ripe. In general, lemon trees produce ripe fruit after they are three years old. If your tree is bearing fruit, but they never ripen, check the tree’s age. Expect lemons to be ripe between late November and mid-January. Try to harvest your crop before mid-January, or you will risk hampering the following year’s harvest.
For the same reasons, do not mulch lemon (or any citrus) trees. Mulch will only hold moisture against the roots, increasing the probability of root rot. Most home citrus gardeners also keep the area under the drip line of the tree free of weeds and grass to promote better evaporation of any standing water.
Lemon trees need a lot of nitrogen to grow. The fertilizer should contain more nitrogen than phosphorus or potassium. [10] X Research source
Myer lemons will have a deeper yellow color; some might be more orange.
Myer lemons have a thinner skin than regular lemons. They are ripe when they are soft. If you can push the skin of the lemon in more than ½ inch (1. 27 centimeters) it may be over-ripe. [15] X Research source
Watch out for wrinkling. This is a sign your lemon is overripe.
Use a refractometer if you don’t want to test by taste, sight, or touch. Squeeze a drop of juice from the lemon onto the refractometer and look at the Brix scale. Pick lemons that have a sucrose level between 6 and 12, with 8 to 12 percent being the best.
