Q. I have a mature Eureka lemon tree that has always been a prolific producer. However, in the last two years it has been producing large round fruit that look more like grapefruit.
Do you have any idea what has gone wrong? The fruit is inedible. Is there anything I can do to rehabilitate it?
Cherie in Sunnyvale
A. That’s a common problem with citrus. Some owners get excited that they are growing monster-sized lemons but what they’ve actually got are pomelos or another citrus related to the grapefruit. The rinds on these fruits are dramatically thick and yes, in some cases, the fruit is not edible.
Your Eureka tree is actually two trees — the bottom is the rootstock and the top is your Eureka lemon, which was grafted onto the rootstock by the grower. This is a common practice in the industry, and I doubt you could even buy an ungrafted tree these days.
They do this for several reasons, but mostly because it improves the chances that the grafted tree will survive. The rootstocks chosen are hardy trees, able to grow in a variety of climates and soil conditions, and are generally more disease resistant. The rootstock doesn’t affect the taste of the fruit as it only serves as a base for the fruit tree.
Unfortunately, because the rootstock can be so strong, it puts out suckers that emerge below the graft. The tree then it puts all of its energy into producing its own fruit and neglecting the grafted tree. Because the rootstock was chosen for its durability and not its fruit, often the fruit is less than tasty.
As the tree ages, it can be more difficult to find where the graft starts, but if you can spot it, you can prune away the rootstock’s limbs and suckers below the graft, and your tree may recover. Your other option would be to create a new graft with a Eureka scion or plant a new tree.
Q. Last year, sparrows ate the flower buds from our wisteria vine. We didn’t get any blooms at all, and they’re back at it this year, too.
I love watching the birds, but I also love the beautiful wisteria blooms that we used to get.
The wisteria is up on a pergola over the patio. Do you have any suggestions for how I could get the birds to leave the wisteria buds alone?
Peggy Quillman, Fremont
A. That’s a problem. Normally, you would cover blooms with a fine mesh netting, but laying the net on top of the pergola would allow the birds to reach any buds that pop through.
It would be extra work, but you could build a structure on top of the pergola so you could stretch the netting above the wisteria. You’d have to make sure it was secured on all sides to keep the birds from slipping underneath and possibly getting tangled.
You also could try hanging shiny objects, such as old CDs or Mylar ribbons, above the pergola or string twinkle lights through the branches and hang small windchimes all around. Birds don’t like those things, and it might keep the sparrows away.
I’d also recommend setting up some seed feeders a good distance away from the wisteria to lure the sparrows elsewhere, but with a salmonella outbreak in full swing, you’ll need to wait until April to do that.
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