When to Pick Lemon Fruit?

Lemon trees produce fruit much of the year so you can be picky about when to harvest it. Avoid picking while they're still completely green: they're bitter with little juice. But you don't have to wait until they're solid dark yellow to pick them either.

Time Frame

• Lemons may be picked when their skin turns from green to yellow. Fruit tends to get sweeter and juicier as the skin yellows. If the pointed ends of the fruit are still green, the timing is just about perfect.

Commercial Production

• Commercial growers will often pick lemons before they are ripe, then cure them in storage. The lemons are doused with anti-fungal treatments, kept at controlled temperatures and dipped in wax to keep them attractive for sale. Curing is not necessary in the home environment unless you have multiple trees and wish to store more than will fit in the fridge.

Home Storage

• If a lot of the lemons are ready for harvest at once, some can be stored in the refrigerator in a container with an air-tight lid for several weeks. This is not the same as curing since the temperature is too low for the lemons to mature properly.