any experience with citrus Italian Lemon (Femminello)?

18 years ago

Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone has tried planting Italian Lemon ( Santa Teresa Femminello), especially in a pot?

I am spoiled by Trader Joe's Italian Lemon soda. So, I recently picked it up (semi-drarf) at local store. I am planning to put it in a pot.

I wonder if anyone has tried this Citrus/lemon variety and can share some expereince planting specifically this variety (e.g. sun, fertilizer, mositure,etc. needs, how well it does in US/California). If you could share photos of your plant, that would be super.

I found this URL bit useful that talks about this variety:

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/homecitrusgrowers/sorrento.htm

Thanks.

Featured Answer

nkt38238
Original Author

18 years ago

well, I got the response from her fairly quickly. Anyway, here it is:

>>+ Is there a difference between Santa Teresa Lemon and >>Femminello Lemon?

Santa Teresa is a selection of the variety of Femminello and Willits
and Newcomb may have one that is called just Femminello lemon, these would
just be different selections of an original Femminello cultivar. So there
are a bunch of Femminello selections such as Femminello Ovale, Femminello
Santa Teresa, Femminello Sfusato and others. They will be similar with
slight differences. See link below.

http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html#acid

>>+ We were told that the difference is the region of Italy >>each of these varieties come from. Can you please tell us >>what region of Italy specifically Santa Teresa variety >>comes from along with other varieties as
>>well?

I can't remember for sure, but I think they were named based on the region
thew were found, but it doesn't mean they can't be grown other places or
that they aren't grown other places in Italy.

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Comments (11)

rickjames
18 years ago
Willits and Newcomb again, huh? Yeah, me too ;) ....I've got a couple types (just got 'em maybe a month ago, growth appears more vigorous for the 'Santa Teresa' compared to the 'Berna'--BTW thanks for the Costco tip...) Gonna keep 'em in containers too; I suspect they will act just like any other lemon, and will prolly taste like a "common" lemon...I am going to treat it like a Lisbon/Eureka. Can't have enough lemons in my opinion. I will have to try that lemon soda; I have had the blood orange one and it was pretty good. According to the grower Sorrento Lemons encompass a few different cultivars.

I've read that they are very similar to our typical lemons--'Berna' is supposed to be very similar to Lisbons in CA. 'Santa Teresa' is supposed to be a disease-free Femminello Ovale, the disease being "mal secco". The "dry bad"? LOL I don't know much Italian, and haven't bothered to look that up. Hmmmm, let me guess. I bet it is some sort of virus. That dries out the fruit. Probably pretty badly. Awww man, I should go to sleep now...

The only other type I have seen for sale in CA is Villafranca.

Enjoy your tree!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lemons
nkt38238
Original Author
18 years ago
rickjames, thanks for information. It's good to know that someone else it growing Femminello lemon as well. Well, maybe, we can compare ours down the road to see how they do.

Well, I actually sent email to Willits and Newcomb few weeks ago asking about difference between Santa Teresa and Femminello and here what I'd received:

"
The primary difference between the many varieties of Italian Lemons is what region in Italy they orginated from. The trees and fruit are all VERY similar.
"

When I asked what region these 2 varieties came from, they asked me to contact the person in charge of Citrus Variety Collection at University of California Riverside. I am going to email her about this just to satisfy my curiousity.

'will see if I get any response.
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jackpines
17 years ago
I just noticed this older post but thought I'd chime in. From my experience visiting family in Sicily, the Femminello is the most common lemon. Wish I could get my hands on a small one.:)
Tony
rickjames
17 years ago
That a hint, Tony? :)
jackpines
17 years ago
Would I do that rickjames? :) :)
jxa44
17 years ago
nkt38238,

I am desperately looking for this tree -- I have a post on this forum asking for sources. I live in California too -- Santa Cruz area. Would you mind telling me where you bought your tree? Also, I'd like to know if this tree will grow true from seed. And if so, does any one have a source for seed?

Thanx all
rickjames
17 years ago
Home Depot in Northern Cali will have some occasionally, and Costco had them last year (but their merchandise changes frequently and seasonally).

I'd go ask the garden center *manager* (or the person that does the citrus tree ordering) at your nearest Home Depot and see if they are getting any or if you can order one. The grower is Willits and Newcomb (no retail sales). This may be a good time to check since the spring plants should be coming in soon.
tutticooks_aol_com
12 years ago
.i got the Italian lemon and a dwarf meyer at costco. The meyer has small green fruit and loads of blossoms but the Italian doesn't have anything on it. We are wondering why. It looks healthy in the pot we put it in and we fertilized it. Shouldn't it have something going on now in the spring ?
vivianrichardson
10 years ago
i bought this lemon several years ago in the spring at costco. they have it every spring. it took two years to bud and bear (i was going to return it but kept forgetting) and now has a number of lemons and blossoms on it. it is very similar to the eureka lemon. it is thick skinned and very tart. i much prefer my meyer lemons. they are much more flavorful and in my opinion make a much nicer lemoncello (and lemon marmalade).
Nikki Miller
3 years ago
I bought this lemon tree at Costco about five years ago, it lives in a pot in a sunny location. In summer of 2018 it made a few lemons, most fell off until only one was left. I left it on out of curiosity, it grew to a fairly large size. I fanally harvested my "basketball " Feb of 2019. It has not produced any flowers (therefore no fruit) since.