Q&A for How to Ripen Lemons

I went through an eternity with green lemons, I thought maybe I purchased lime trees that were mislabeled! I just picked my first ripened lemon and it took about 9 months from flower to ripened fruit.

It could be the soil or clay underground, or exposure to the elements. Plant another one in a different spot and test which one has better lemons.

Try spraying the tree with a mixture of 1 ounce dishwashing liquid (like Dawn) with 1 gallon of water, every 5 days.

I use Miracle-Gro Palm, Cactus, and Citrus soil, which works very well. Also, make sure to fertilize the tree with citrus fertilizer every 3 months.

They may be edible, but it is a sign that the lemons are not fully ripe.

No. It is very bitter and it tastes terrible in my opinion.

If they are not ripe at the time, they will taste awful. If you have lemon trees in pots, you can move them in when it's too chilly. Otherwise, consider covering them before the freeze, so they can continue to ripen.

Pluck sufficient fruit off by hand, so that those remaining are spaced evenly along the branch, far enough apart that each one can grow to full size without touching another fruit. Remove small, blemished or misshapen fruit first, and only then remove healthy fruit. Toss thinned fruit on the ground for later clean-up.

Lemons and other citrus plants ripen on the tree; once you pick a lemon, it can still ripen. If you picked an under-ripe lemon, you may have some success with leaving it in a bright location until it turns yellow, but you won't be able to make the lemon taste sweeter.