wild lemon tree?

[Tina Huba]

Does anyone know if lemons off of a wild lemon tree are edible?  The neighbor has one in his yard and says we are welcome to them but he's not sure if they're edible or not.  Its very tall and has thorns.  I could e-mail a picture if needed.   Thanks, Tina

[Eliza]

The only "wild lemon" I know of that will really grow here is trifoliate
orange. If it is a trifoliate orange then yes, it is edible. The fruits
are a little larger than a golf ball and roundish, very seedy, and have
a good lemony-orange flavor. The thorns on this plant are BIG. So, it
sounds like what you are talking about. You may want to Google some
images of this plant (Poncirus trifoliata) to make sure that is what
your neighbor has.

Eliza

[Linda]

While picking grape tomatoes (on this particular plant they are extra large
- about 2" long) I noticed some spiders crawling around on one of them.
They were in a group congregated only on this one tomato, had red bodies and
very long black legs. They look like something out of a horror movie the
way that they walk! They are much bigger than aphids, but I'm thinking
maybe they're some kind of mutant aphid, except wouldn't aphids concentrate
more on the leaves instead of the fruit? I'd say each one was 1/8"-1/4"
long.

Thanks,
Linda

[Eliza]

That sounds like juvenile leaf-footed bugs, which are insects. Does this
look like them?

http://www.dpughphoto.com/images/leaffooted%20bug%20nymphs%20eno%20cole%2061506.JPG

If so, they are pests on your tomatoes. They use a straw-like mouth to
suck juices from the plant's leaves and fruit (similar to how mosquitoes
suck blood.)

This is the adult:

http://bugguide.net/images/raw/YHNHYHEHYHWHAZSLOHRLGZHLTH4HPZMHPZ8HPZIH4ZXHBH2HZRUH3H4L3H2H3H5LNZWHUZHL1HQL.jpg

Eliza

[Linda]

No, but I have those too! I thought those are called "stink bugs". Don't
ask me where I got that from. I pushed those off some of the tomatoes that
I picked tonight. Is that why some of the tomatoes have small brown holes?
Tomorrow I'll try to get out there with my camera to take a picture of the
little red spiders. When they walk they pick their long legs straight up.
They almost look mechanical. Do you know how to get rid of the leaf-footed
bugs? I had them last year too, but there are more this year.