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Dieter starts with ... Last year I bought a wonderful looking Kaffir lime (grafted), bearing fruit. During the summer it grew sporadically. When I moved it into a shelter in october, the temperatures could drop to 15 °C and even to 11 °C and it lost a LOT of leaves. I then moved it into my living room near a sun exposed window where it was warm and well lit. By the time it was december the tree was slowly dying and branches started getting brown. I was forced to cut them off. In January I noticed armored scale feasting on the remaining green branches, this lasted for 2 months, in this time I had to manually remove each pest by hand and then use horticultural oil/soap based products to get rid of them, but by the time they were gone, the tree was reduced to 2 branches and no leafs. In spring and early summer it had a sudden growth spurt after I re-potted it in a mix of 50% white sand + 50% compost + healthy bacteria and it grown a whole bunch of branches and leafs again. One month ago we had a heatwave and it got to 50°C in the greenhouse, since everyone said this plant loves sun it was engulfed in the sun but a whole set of leafs got burn spots, so I moved it against a foil covered wall of the greenhouse. It gets proper citrus food, calcium/magnesium supplements, Ph - to make the soil mildly acidic as the mix is very alkaline, I used to water it too much, but since a month or so I reduced it a lot and water once a week or once every 2 weeks depending on how moist the soil measures. Since I am not seeing new growth yet I am worried this tree will not grow big / strong enough to endure another winter like the last one, let alone another aphid / scale attack (since I can only visibly see the adult ones and usually when the plant is half dead already) So basically my questions are: - Are short growth spurts with kaffir limes normal and how to maximize growth given our limited summer? - How to limit / prevent aphid / scale infestations since it is taking a long while to eradicate them, simply spraying with water only works for small black scale but not the armored ones. - temperature: inside greenhouse or not when living in Zone 8 country in west europe? (or how to make a kaffir more sunburn resistant?) - since i now moved it close to a glass wall that is covered with a transparent greenhouse foil (the milk white UV resistant one) to provide protection from sunburn in general, will the kaffir lime still get enough sunlight? the greenhouse is positioned so that it gets sub for 6 - 8h on a full sunny day - does a kaffir start grow new leafs after the other ones have grown dark green (grown more robust/resistant) as mine are medium green and feel quite thin, young and fragile. (picture included from early summer before it had the sunburn and before it was moved to the foil area)
| About the Author Dieter Belgium 16th July 2019 11:28pm #UserID: 20587 Posts: 3 View All Dieter's Edible Fruit Trees |
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jakfruit etiquette says... Hi Dieter. First from the pic, your KL is grafted on Poncirus trifoliata. This is a deciduous Citrus rootstock that induces winter dormancy on the grafted variety. This will shorten the growth season for your plant. Further, it looks like the Poncirus is var Flying Dragon, not 100% sure but the trunk seem zig zag, not straight. If so this will further induce a longer winter dormancy. Basically you need to house your tree in a warm a spot as possible to extend the growing season and hold off winter dormancy. pH of the pot mix is one of the most important factors,if too acid or too alkaline fertilizers will be imbalanced. Not sure about your UV question, but plants housed indoors/glasshouse for long periods become UV and sunburn sensitive. You can first move them outside to shade, not direct sun. Then gradually increase daily sun exposure until plant can take it. | About the Author jakfruit etiquette vic 18th July 2019 10:23pm #UserID: 5133 Posts: 915 View All jakfruit etiquette's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Dieter says... I kindof tried to extend the growth period during last winter, as mentioned i ended up putting it in my living room which was warm enough, and I kept fertilizing it during the winter months. However it lost all its leafsf most likely due to the combination of overwatering and aphids, so as I learned from the past experience I hope not to have such a tragedy again. What is in your opinion the best method of extending growth period besides putting it in a warm spot? I can put a LED grow light on it but since I also have a Key lime and other plants, it won't be enough to cover all. I wanted to propage this tree by air layering but it is too small atm, it needs more older branches and I didn't want to risk it this year so I will wait for next spring/summer. | About the Author Dieter Belgium 19th July 2019 7:38am #UserID: 20587 Posts: 3 View All Dieter's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Manfred says... I am not seeing what you are seeing JE. There does not seem to be any sprouting below the graft in the picture. It looks to me like a healthy plant which has gone through a rough time and come out of it a bit deformed but generally OK. No, Dieter, growth spurts are not characteristic of citrus, but a response to varying growing conditions. It looks like you are on track now, but we probably are not the people to ask about greenhouse conditions because we tend not to need them. | About the Author Manfred Wamboin 19th July 2019 5:56pm #UserID: 9565 Posts: 243 View All Manfred's Edible Fruit Trees |
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jakfruit etiquette says... Hi Manfred, Im not talking about any rootstock suckers, just looking at the clean rootstock trunk, that looks like Poncirus. This rootstock is a deciduous Citrus,induces winter dormancy. This is an advantage in cold climates, as it shuts down the grafted var. giving extra cold protection. Other Citrus rootstocks will give a longer growth season. Poncirus is not the most vigorous rootstock choice, but probably good for Belgium. Also Hystrix/Kaffir Lime is an evergreen tropical, and not the biggest Citrus tree either, If you are pulling leaves off for cooking,you will be further reducing growth potential. So you have a small growing Citrus var, on a dwarfing or semi dwarfing rootstock, in a cold winter climate, it's only going to grow so much anyway. I agree, the tree still looks good, just a bit worse for wear. There's all kinds of stuff for growing plants indoors, ie bottom heat pads to lift the soil temp etc, Infra Red plastics to retain heat. Dieter,are you involved in any European or North American Citrus Forums, a lot of people are growing in cold climates, as Manfred says, more direct experience there. https://agrumes-passion.com/ | About the Author jakfruit etiquette vic 20th July 2019 11:04am #UserID: 5133 Posts: 915 View All jakfruit etiquette's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 21st July 2019 7:32pm | |||||||
Dieter says... Well, I was looking for a forum dealing with citrus plants, I stumbled upon this one since google picked up other topics related to kaffir limes. Before I went to UBC botanical garden forum but they stopped replying somehow. I stopped picking leafs of the tree since october last year because it started to drop massive amounts of leafs then, only now it is recovering, but I won't pick anything until it has grown much more bushy. Right now we have hot summers of 32 - 38 °C this week, I had to take it out of the greenhouse or else it would get a sunburn again. During the winter, using heat mats will not help, the pot is a 45cm diameter one, 60+kg, the mat will be crushed and the heat will not rise, unless more flexible pads are used that can be wrapped around the pot. But in any case, thanks for the advice and information! | About the Author Dieter Belgium 22nd July 2019 5:59pm #UserID: 20587 Posts: 3 View All Dieter's Edible Fruit Trees |
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denise1 says... You may have a restricted sunny growing season but at least your summer days are long so you are still well off. You can put a temporary shadecloth over your greenhouse to avoid sunburn or just drape frostcloth over you plants and they will still get good light. If you ever have trouble with any of your trees getting bark damage from hot sun, you can put whitewash or white water based paint on the bark to reflect heat. | About the Author denise1 auckland NZ 23rd July 2019 7:37am #UserID: 6832 Posts: 688 View All denise1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 23rd July 2019 7:49am | |||||||
jakfruit etiquette says... If you are getting sunburn inside a greenhouse, its not UV, its possibly a lens effect from water on leaves, or heat magnified thru the glass. Many glass houses are whitewashed with lime or dilute water based housepaint or even plastic houses have shadecloth covers or whitewashed also. This Citrus Forum is now active again http://citrusgrowersv2.proboards.com/ | About the Author jakfruit etiquette vic 23rd July 2019 11:25am #UserID: 5133 Posts: 915 View All jakfruit etiquette's Edible Fruit Trees |
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