11

I inherited 3 trees when I bought my house and all three have thorns on the branches with two trees having what appear to be lemons with orange highlights. When opened they have a very thick skin, are easy to peel and have a light orange and lemon smell. They are not sweet and not as tart as a lemon but edible nonetheless. The third tree has what I think are lemons and limes but they are all small and mostly I think to be limes. I cant seem to find any grafting on the trees, however they are over 5 years old.

What the heck is going on here? Does anyone have any idea what they might be?

enter image description here

GardenerJ
  • 5,899
  • 3
  • 19
  • 35
Marvin
  • 111
  • 3

2 Answers2

2

Could be a mandarin. As mentioned above, hybrids are quite common. Also if it is a mandarin, the fruit will taste sour (like a lemon or lime) if it is not ripening properly, or is lacking in vitamins.

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
  • 6,315
  • 8
  • 45
  • 77
Viv
  • 921
  • 4
  • 12
2

I would guess that is a tangelo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangelo

The 'characteristic "nipple" at the stem' (from wikipedia) seems to hold true for the photo.

The fruit looks ok but not fantastic, the leaves are mostly healthy but show a slight yellowing. I would foliar spray with manganese, water in some iron chelate and mound around the drip line with sheep manure (or goat/cow/horse, not chicken) and mulch well. It's also a good idea to clean up the dropped fruit to avoid encouraging pests.

Ed'
  • 326
  • 1
  • 5