CITRUS Crisis: My Yuzu Looks Lemony This Year!!!

peebee · October 12, 2016

This will be my precious Yuzu tree's 4th year; until now, the fruits looked like Yuzus, rather squat and smallish. Well, this year all the fruit so far (they are still green and unripe so I can't tell about taste yet) are elongated with the classic lemon pointy tip at the end

! It is in my front yard, there is only 1 small Tango tangerine near it that has small round tangerine-ish fruit. Why is this happening? I read that it is a myth that citrus can cross, and for the life of me I cannot imagine why they all appear like that this year. There are only 2 main stems and the fruits have all been from them so far.
Any ideas?

PhilaGardener · October 12, 2016

A picture or two would be great to see. Interesting!

peebee · October 13, 2016

Ok I will try and get one in the next couple of days, but try to imagine a large green lemon as that is exactly what the fruit looks like. Yuzu is supposed to be pebbly, round, small and squatish. Really strange to have a tree suddenly grow a completely different variety.

peebee · November 2, 2016

When I was taking pics of the strange elongated yuzus, I noticed that their leaves were much lighter in color than the ones of branches with the "real" yuzus. My eyes went downward and I noticed that yup, sure enough, all these wrong ones were from a main branch that was close to the ground--NOT the main stem!
Somewhere along the way, I missed pruning out this sucker and I think it is from the root stock. So of course in my excitement I forgot to take pics of this stem, so I will hopefully remember and do so this week.

But doesn't this explain why I am getting different fruit?
I plan to wait till they ripen, just out of curiosity.
Question: is there a time of year I should prune? I usually do this in the spring or later.

MarianneW · November 3, 2016

I was going to ask--sucker? It seems you found it. Bummer! Hope next season brings you yuzus!

Prune suckers as soon as you see them. That's why you're getting different fruit, the different fruit part of your plant has overpowered and stolen the energy from the yuzu part. Hack that sucker off!

October 12, 2016	#1
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	CITRUS Crisis: My Yuzu Looks Lemony This Year!!! This will be my precious Yuzu tree's 4th year; until now, the fruits looked like Yuzus, rather squat and smallish. Well, this year all the fruit so far (they are still green and unripe so I can't tell about taste yet) are elongated with the classic lemon pointy tip at the end ! It is in my front yard, there is only 1 small Tango tangerine near it that has small round tangerine-ish fruit. Why is this happening? I read that it is a myth that citrus can cross, and for the life of me I cannot imagine why they all appear like that this year. There are only 2 main stems and the fruits have all been from them so far. Any ideas?

October 12, 2016	#2
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	A picture or two would be great to see. Interesting!

October 13, 2016	#3
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	Ok I will try and get one in the next couple of days, but try to imagine a large green lemon as that is exactly what the fruit looks like. Yuzu is supposed to be pebbly, round, small and squatish. Really strange to have a tree suddenly grow a completely different variety.

November 2, 2016	#4
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	When I was taking pics of the strange elongated yuzus, I noticed that their leaves were much lighter in color than the ones of branches with the "real" yuzus. My eyes went downward and I noticed that yup, sure enough, all these wrong ones were from a main branch that was close to the ground--NOT the main stem! Somewhere along the way, I missed pruning out this sucker and I think it is from the root stock. So of course in my excitement I forgot to take pics of this stem, so I will hopefully remember and do so this week. But doesn't this explain why I am getting different fruit? I plan to wait till they ripen, just out of curiosity. Question: is there a time of year I should prune? I usually do this in the spring or later.

November 3, 2016	#5
MarianneW Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Arizona Posts: 153	I was going to ask--sucker? It seems you found it. Bummer! Hope next season brings you yuzus! Prune suckers as soon as you see them. That's why you're getting different fruit, the different fruit part of your plant has overpowered and stolen the energy from the yuzu part. Hack that sucker off!