Finger limes (forum)

Fruitcake starts with ...
I am the proud owner of a finger lime, recently purchased and barely 18 inches tall. It arrived with a few blossoms and now has 3 or 4 tiny limes. Should they be removed? as is recommended one does for young lemon trees.

Time: 30th October 2014 11:10am

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About the Author Fruitcake
Avoca Beach
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MaryT1 says...
Here's a link to some advice about growing finger limes (they advocate removing fruit in the first three years):

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/320272/growing-australian-native-finger-limes.pdf

Time: 30th October 2014 11:18am

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About the Author MaryT1
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sternus1 says...
you can largely ignore that parking lot science that is churned out of the current DPI. It's the dunce sector of Australian research.

Don't remove fruit from grafted trees if they're producing. If you want quality over abundance thin the fruit. While it is true that the larger the tree gets the larger the fruit get, which is true of all citrus, the speed advantage in growth rate accrued by removing fruit is unlike that of standard citrus to the point that in laymans terms, it isn't worth doing. The DPI might know that if they had anybody working for them with some grasp of weighting and scaling, but apparently this is not the case.

my tips:

free draining soil that is always kept moist. Standing free draining. Coconut coir and pearlite work well, as does washed river sand. Fine grade, not coarse as this will clog the holes of the container over time leading to waterlogging.

Acid soil. Mix in pine chips.

Grow in weak filtered light. about 2 bours of full sun per day is ideal.

expect leaf drop either aorund the time or shortly after fruiting, followed by new growth.

Cox orange hybrid is a much better root stock for Queensland, tri is better for NSW. It's owing to temperature and humidity differences.


Granulated citrus fertilizer works better than osmocote.

Time: 30th October 2014 12:51pm

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About the Author sternus1
Australia
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Fruitcake says...
Thanks. Both replies extremely helpful.

Time: 1st November 2014 10:15am

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About the Author Fruitcake
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Parkesy says...
I've also recently got 2 finger limes that are about 18 inches tall. A chartreuse and pink ice I think they were. The tag on the plant said to plant in full sun? I thought it strange considering they're an understory plant, but thought maybe these ones bred for the home garden are meant for full sun? Any thoughts? They both had a bit of leaf drop recently and some branch tips turned brown and dried so I've cut them back. They're getting sun from around 10.30 - 6pm this time of year.

Time: 1st November 2014 11:36am

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About the Author Parkesy
Tootgarook Vic
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sternus1 says...
Don't place them in full sun, this will only lead to poorer quality fruit, leaf burning, flower drop and dieback owing to fluctuating moisture levels in the soil. Dappled, filtered light--if you can get them about 2 hours of direct light per day, this is perfect.

Time: 1st November 2014 12:04pm

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About the Author sternus1
Australia
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