To pick citrus without tearing the peel, clip the stem and leave the small green cap, the button, on the fruit. Taste one fruit before you pick the rest, because citrus does not ripen or sweeten once it leaves the branch. Picked this way and kept dry, it lasts about 4 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
How do you tell if an orange is ripe on the tree?
Taste one. Rind color misleads in both directions. In their Growing Citrus in Sacramento notes, UC Master Gardeners write that "just because the fruit has turned color doesn't mean it is ripe." The reverse happens too. UC IPM points out that Valencia oranges can look greenish and still be fully ripe, and that citrus turns color when fall nights get cold, a change that does nothing for sweetness.
So pick a single fruit, cut it open and taste it. If it's sour, leave the rest and try another in a week or two. Picking early gains you nothing. Citrus ripens only on the tree, and once it's off, UC IPM says, it "does not increase in sweetness or ripen more fully."
The calendar narrows the guessing. Navels are a winter fruit that may not be ready until late winter, while Valencias usually mature in summer. Our guide to when oranges are in season has the month-by-month dates for California varieties.
Should you twist or clip oranges off the tree?
Clip them. The UC Davis citrus postharvest guide says not to harvest by pulling fruit from the tree, and to clip the stem close to the fruit so the button stays intact. A healthy button limits both disease and drying after harvest.
Yanking an orange risks a defect called plugging: the stem tears away a chunk of rind and leaves an open hole at the top of the fruit. The University of Florida's guide to citrus fruit disorders has a photo of exactly that. A plugged fruit has lost the seal the button provides, and it won't store.
Mandarins and tangerines need the gentlest hands. Their peel is thinner than an orange's and damages more easily, so UC Davis advises lowering them into a bin rather than pouring them in.
A sharp pair of short-bladed clippers makes the job faster. Our tool of choice has been made right here in Southern California for over 100 years by a company deeply rooted in the citrus industry. They know what they're doing because they've worked alongside the pros, and the design protects both your fruit and your tree. Click here to see our favorite harvesting tool. It's the same tool used by industry pros and made right here in SoCal.
Keep the clippers clean. UC Cooperative Extension's Pruning Citrus notes that viruses and viroids can travel from tree to tree on pruning shears, and our citrus tree care tips cover rinsing tools in a 10% bleach solution between trees.
How to pick lemons
Lemons follow a looser rule than oranges. The Riverside County UC Master Gardeners say a lemon is ready when it's yellow or yellow-green, firm, glossy and 2 to 3 inches across. Wrinkled, dull or squishy skin means you waited too long, and their advice is that it's better to pick a lemon too early than too late.
Lemon trees are evergreen and fruit all year, so a single tree usually carries lemons at several stages. Clip the ones that are ready and leave the green ones to size up.
Season still changes the fruit. Our Eureka lemons grow in a heritage grove in Redlands planted in 1897, and we harvest them in summer, when our warm inland climate leaves them with a softer acidity. That's the fruit in our Eureka lemon marmalade.
How long can oranges stay on the tree?
For weeks or months after ripening, in most cases. UC IPM calls the tree "the best place to store the fruit," and the Sacramento notes say citrus generally stores best on the tree without losing quality. The one exception they name is the Satsuma mandarin, which should be picked as soon as it's ripe.
We think of a loaded tree as a pantry you forgot you stocked. Need an orange today? Pick one. Need three lemons next month? Grab them then.
A hard freeze cuts the wait short. Depending on how ripe it is, citrus fruit can be damaged below 27°F, and damage to green fruit may not show until harvest, when the "ripe" fruit turns out dry and pithy. If a hard freeze is forecast, UC's advice is to pick the ripe fruit for immediate use or freeze the juice.
So does an invasive fruit fly quarantine. In an Oriental fruit fly quarantine area, the California Department of Food and Agriculture asks residents not to move homegrown fruit off their property, and to double-bag mature unharvested fruit and fallen fruit for the regular trash, not the green waste bin. You can check whether your address is in a zone at CAFruitFly.com. If you have to strip a tree at short notice, clippers make fast work of that too.
How to store fresh-picked citrus
Pick when the fruit is dry, get it into the shade, and refrigerate it. UC Davis notes that citrus harvested wet develops blemishes, and UC IPM puts refrigerated life at about 4 to 6 weeks. An earlier version of this article said up to 3 months. Plan around UC's figure.
Colder is not always better for citrus.
UC Davis's guidance for growers is to hold citrus at 41–46°F (5–8°C) for 3 to 6 weeks, because citrus is sensitive to chilling, and lower temperatures leave brown spots on the peel. Handle the fruit gently, and eat any bruised or soft pieces first rather than storing them.
If the tree outruns the refrigerator, juice it. Juice from lemons, limes and Valencia oranges keeps up to 4 months in the freezer, according to UC IPM. Or cook it down: our citrus collection holds the single-variety marmalades we make from California citrus, from Navel orange to Duncan grapefruit.
For more, watch my Instagram reel. If you like gardening tips and citrus, there are more posts on my blog.
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