Commercially, both lemons and limes are picked by size (using ring gages with large openings, any fruit that doesn’t fit through the opening is harvested). Commercial growers are trying to minimize the number of harvesting trips through their orchard, home growers can “afford” to revisit their trees as often as they wish to check for harvestability. Both lemons and limes will turn yellow on the tree and eventually even drop. Usually internal quality doesn’t degrade during this time, but stylar end breakdown of the peel can become an issue with some cultivars (see my earlier post in this thread on that subject).
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this doesnt seem to apply to limes since consumers equate limes with being green and lemons being yellow. i would imagine most places that commercially grow citrus are high humidity so how are they getting the lemons perfectly yellow w/o getting seb? or are there flaws in my assumptions?
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Most (all) lemons grown commercially are picked with green peels and de-greened with ethylene just before shipping. Limes are picked green, but not de-greened (because consumers expect limes to be green).
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