should I “cull” fruit from my trees?

Question

My lemon tree has clusters of up to 6 lemons on each stem, but they are all tiny (less than 1/2 inch in diameter); now they are all almost ripe – mostly yellow. Should I have trimmed them out so as to have only say 2 on each stem? or maybe even only one. If I had done that I would still have 20 – 30 lemons.
Same issue with my fig tree. Also, should I trim off some leaves from the fig tree so as to let the growing fruit get some light?

Answer 1

If these are small and yellow, then it is likely that they are being killed off by the tree, and not ripening. This is due to a lack of phosphorus and potassium, and sometimes lack of light.

A citrus fruit takes about 9 months to ripen after pollination. If it has been not even close to this time then it is likely that the lemons are killing themselves off.

The same will be true for the fig. You will not need to thin the herd, as the tree will do this on its own. I would recommend testing the soil and finding which deficiencies that you have. Once you correct these, the trees will produce as they should.