Pick but don't pluck if you want lemons to last

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Question: The Meyers lemon fruit didn't last long after I picked them. What's up with that?

Answer: Usually you would pick Meyers lemons when the background color of the fruit turns from dark green to light green but you should be able to keep it on the tree for quite a long time, maybe a month or so, after the color changes.

The other thing you need to do when you pick lemons is to not remove the entire woody stem from the fruit. The fruit is attached to the branch by a woody stem. If you remove that stem from the fruit you will leave a hole in the skin that will allow rotting organisms to enter. This can reduce the keeping quality of the fruit dramatically.

Cut the stem from the fruit leaving a short piece of wood remaining. This will give the fruit some extra insurance and keep longer. The other possibility was that it got hit by some freezing temperatures.

Q: How do I promote the pretty seed plumes and greener leaf-blades on the Regal Mist grass? The older brown grass shoots are mixed in with the newer shoots and leaves. It would be near impossible to pick each one out. What do I do to make the plant look better than a clump of straw? I am not really sure that this is Regal Mist because it does not bloom pink. But otherwise it looks the same.

A: You will have to consider that your grass may not be Regal Mist if you are not getting any colored plumes. This should occur naturally if you are (1) watering appropriately, (2) fertilizing with a balanced fertilizer high in phosphorus and nitrogen, and (3) cleaning up the clump appropriately.

This plant takes frequent watering to look good. I would say similar to a water-loving groundcover, perhaps 2-3 times per week in the summer with about 2 gallons of water at each watering. You can't overwater it.

Fertilize with a lawn-type fertilizer or even a rose-type fertilizer high in phosphorus to encourage flower production. Cut back the tops of the plants in the early spring to encourage new growth.

Cleaning it up can be time consuming. Try using a rake and raking out the older brown stems from the newer green ones. You might want to consider a less time consuming plant if this is a problem for you.

Q: When we moved down here in 1978 there was a "non-bearing" olive tree in our front yard. Up until about three years ago, there was no problem with it. For the last two years it has borne olives, causing a mess in the front yard. I have gone out during the pollen season and sprayed, with high pressure water, to keep down the pollen. Other than cutting it down and hauling it away, is there any solution to keep it from bearing fruit each year?

A: The options that you have include cutting it down as you suggest, spraying it with chemicals to stop the fruiting or pruning in such a way to eliminate all past years' growth every year in a technique called pollarding. This of course requires annual pruning and the cost associated with it. Your certified arborist should know how to do that.

There are two basic chemicals that can be sprayed on the tree to reduce or eliminate fruiting and in some cases pollen release from the flowers. The first is the traditional Olive Stop, which is sprayed on the flowers at the time the flowers are open.

The second is called Maintain and can be sprayed on the leaves a month or more prior to bloom. Maintain cannot be purchased by homeowners and must be applied by companies who do it professionally. Pest control operators and arborists will be able to spray this product.

Q: Some friends of ours gave us a Eureka lemon tree and I am wondering if we should plant it in the ground or in a pot, so we can move it under our patio cover when the nights get really cold. We had two nights of 20 and 26 here in December, and I don't know if it could survive temps like that, and we certainly want it to do well. We just moved into this area last summer and have never had a lemon tree before.

A: There are two primary types of true lemons. Eureka originated in California and is probably the major variety there. Eureka forms an open, spreading tree, with relatively few branches and twigs which are nearly thornless.

Lisbon is the second type and originated in Australia. It is a rather dense tree with many upright, thorny branches. Production on Eureka occurs mostly in spring and summer, while that of Lisbon is mostly in the summer and fall. Lisbon fruit are seedier than Eurekas and are produced inside the canopy. Eureka fruit are on the outside of the canopy.

A number of others exist, most of which are selections from either Eureka or Lisbon. Meyers lemon was introduced from China in 1908. It is a cross between a lemon and some sort of sweet orange. It is not known exactly. While not a true lemon, its fruit are used as a lemon substitute despite being less acidic than true lemons.

Meyers lemon is the most cold tolerant of the so-called lemons and will take temperatures down to about 24 degrees, maybe somewhat lower if out of the wind. Eureka could be damaged at about 26 or 28 degrees.

There are some Internet vendors claiming they have cold hardy down to freezing but I would beware. Even if the tree does tolerate these types of temperatures, if it bears fruit during this time the fruit will be damaged at about 25 to 28 degrees.

If the container gets sufficiently cold, the roots, which are more tender than the above ground parts, will be damaged or die. I would move these into an unheated garage during these temperatures or at least wrap the container with a blanket and plastic until these temperatures are over. If you wrap the trunk when anticipating a freeze, it would be best to unwrap it each day and wrap it again at night. It would not be necessary to wrap the container daily.

Q: I recently moved into a home here in Las Vegas. There are two large pine trees, at least 30 feet tall, with the lower branches that are dry in places. There is also a front lawn under it that does not grow very well. Maybe too much shade. It was on a drip system twice a day, but we adjusted it to once a day. Do I need to water it more or fertilize it?

A: If you are watering a lawn under the tree the lawn watering should be enough for the tree if you periodically deep water it. You have a mixed planting of grass and pine trees with two different root systems; one shallow and one deep. Both root systems need to be addressed when watering.

Pine trees should get deep watering under the canopy periodically and drip emitters coming on every day won't do that. If the lawn is not doing well you might be better off mulching the area under the trees with wood mulch and plant some smaller shade tolerant shrubs underneath.

Plants that don't flower would be best because you may not have enough sunlight to support flowering under the tree if grass can't grow there. You might find it relatively easy to convert the irrigation under the tree from sprinklers to a bubbler system that would deep water the pine trees and shrubs. I would not recommend drip irrigation on large trees like pines.

If these pines are Aleppo pines it might be Aleppo pine blight, which is frequently not a huge problem for the trees. Some trees are hit harder with this disorder or disease than others.

They usually recover from this wintertime disorder in the spring and summer if given fertilizer and enough irrigation. Aleppo pine blight is not curable and usually doesn't cause anything more than unsightliness. Sometimes the damage can kill limbs, which must be removed.

Fertilize it now with fertilizer granules under the emitters -- like a 20-5-10 fertilizer or similar product high in nitrogen -- or fertilizer stakes, which are very convenient for you. It will be extremely important to get this tree on less frequent deep watering.

Bob Morris is a horticulture specialist with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.