Rangpur lime?

Brad starts with ...
Talking to the owner of my next house, she called a lime tree what I'd thought was a mandarin. I'm now confident it's a rangpur lime (sour mandarin). Anyone grow these and able to tell me how they use the fruit?

Down the track are there citrus that should / should not be grafted on it (additionally)? Perhaps mandarins as I've already got 3 potted lime trees: Tahitian west Indian and sunrise, and an as yet unidentified orange (i'd like valencia) There's also other citrus in the ground at the new place

brad says...
thanks for that Phil. For such a useful sounding citrus, I'm surprised nobody here seems to have grown them. I'm looking forward to owning one. I'll be happy to try and provide cuttings / grafting material / seed to anyone I can get it to down the track.

The better than seville orange for marmalade line caught my eye. Julie - were you a marmalade maker or did you just have the tree?

Brad says...
clearly a mandarin. I squeezed the juice of one and added water (no sugar) - pretty good!

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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James says...
Hi Julie, when you make marmalade with Rangpur Lime, I would appreciate it if you mail the seeds to me. Better yet if you can/will mail me a seedling(s) or a small plant or all of the above will be great. Please tell me the cost to make it worthwhile for you, I can pay you by paypal or by other means you choose. Mahalo for your time, James

Lachlann says...
We have a tree of rangpur lime here. At first we thought it was the worst mandarin and were going to cut it down, but then found that it made the best marmalade so the tree has risen to stardom.
Grows easy to a tidy trouble-free tree.
I have found the marmalade cooking time is less than for other marmalades. Has balanced sweet and sour notes in the marmalade, plus an orange-like fragrance.
Brazilians use it as grafting stock for oranges because of precociousness drought resistant and grows well, but the quality of the oranges is a little inferior to some other rootstocks.

Brad says...
i've got the rangpur lime. it is supposed to grow well from seed. I took a cutting a couple weeks ago to test that too and its still looking good so fingers crossed and it roots. I'll take some more later this month with hopefully some more pleasant weather. Julie - your name is on one if you want it.

only green fruit on the tree and silly me didn't harvest any seed when we first moved in and there were some ripe. James I've no idea about hawaii quarantine, are seeds in the post ok? Based on this page, I suspect you can find it locally: http://www.hawaiifruit.net/rangpur_kona_lime.htm

Lachlann says...
Julie I'm presuming Brad will help you out, but if you need seeds in the winter let me know, seeing as how I have one of your seville seedlings.
The rangpur marmalade is a hit with me.

Julie says...
Lachlann, thanks for the offer, but I will probably get seeds or a cutting from Brad. Hope the Seville is growing well.

MaryT says...
Thanks Lachlann. Citrus seems to do so well in Sydney

Mustakim says...
Hi joanna,
I'm from Rangpur,Bangladesh Since my great grandfather till today we export traditionally produced rangpur limes, to Tanqueray gin Ltd, UK. They produce Rangpur Gin.

http://cabbagetreefarm.blogspot.com/2009/04/rangpur-lime-marmalade.html
Marmalades are also produced.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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Julie says...
I wonder if these have to be sown fresh, like the Seville? Or are they OK when they dry out?

And please let us know what you think of the marmalade.

jakfruit etiquette says...
Rangpur is regarded as a "lemandarin", or hybrid of at least two Citrus types.
Calamondin is thought to be a CitrusXFortunella(Kumquat)hybrid.
Like many Citrus types they are multiple hybrids of other types.
Citrus seed should never be dried out in the same way as in vegetable/flower seed saving.

Lachlann says...
Brad,
I use a simple scientific method for all marmalades rather than a special formula. But I do find that the rangpur fruit soften and cook faster than other citrus.
Use fresh carefully scrubbed fruit to avoid surface fungi, which are bad for the liver.
Halve fruit and save the seed in some muslin (for their pectin content).
Finely slice, cut or shred, by hand or with a food processor attachment.
Soak fruit and seeds overnight together with a little water; not at all essential, but I think it is supposed to extract more pectin.
Measure fruit volume and add sugar, 80% to 100% of fruit volume. Unfortunately reducing the sugar content makes setting more difficult.
Put a saucer in the fridge.
Heat and stir to combine sugar.
Boil down until setting point is reached, judged by putting a teaspoon of mix on a saucer in the fridge.

MaryT says...
Thanks Brad for kindly offering seeds. I have had success with seeds from Julie's Seville Orange but I don't think I have enough time to see her seedling to fruit, let alone starting new ones now. Good news is the fruit from the Smooth Seville blends well with my Eureka Lemon and the Colomondin and Nagami cumquats to make a super marmalade. Sets quickly too.

Julie says...
I had no success with Brad's seeds, but just may have been too impatient. I gave some to a friend in Donnybrook, who gave up too.

She told me the other day she reused the same seedling mix for tomatoes, and now has little citrus-looking seedlings coming up!

So I am having another go, as Brad was kind enough to send me more seed. I have put them in a warm spot, covered in plastic, so here's hoping.

VF says...
Hi Brad, the seeds have arrived and have been planted. Many thanks for your kindness.

Julie says...
I have a couple of healthy looking Rangpur limes in pots, about 20cm high now. One has a double trunk - should I remove one of the stems? It has just started into new growth.

Julie says...
No, it divides in two a little way up the stem - it's one plant. I had a look yesterday, and the other one is the same. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to them over winter. I noticed when I gave them a feed.

Julie says...
I'm going to repeat my question from above, as I didn't get any answers. It's probably time to repot my two Rangpurs and cut off the second branch, or it will grow into a V shape.

Can I use this as a cutting? Is this a good time to do it?

Julie says...
Thanks Mary. I'll only be keeping one and probably do a swap with the other one. So I wanted it to look good.

I think I'll prune them - if the cuttings don't take, no loss.

VF says...
Rangpur lime must be one of the fastest citrus's to flower from seed. A plant grown from seed from Brad just over 2 years ago is now covered with flower buds.

Markmelb says...
Dont pull off your flowers or fruit - the plant knows what it can hold - Im really impressed with the pipsqueek range on flying dragon as they hold fruit easily on such small plants - even in their first year you get a taste :)

VF says...
I was planning on leaving the flowers. If any fruit form, I'll re-assess whether to leave on or not. I know conventionally to get plants to grow, fruit is removed in their earliest years, but size of this plant is not an issue as I'll be trying to keep it on the small side. (Mark, I like early tastes too.)
That's great about the Seville being early flowering too Julie. Hope mine will do the same next year.
Brain, I don't think a general node count applies. I have a monster of a bush lemon seedling that I cut back from about 3.5m to 1.5m this past winter. The growth on this tree is amazing and it's put on over a metres growth since and it'll be pruned again. The tree is about 3-4 yrs old. No flowers yet. (Wish my mango's would grow this fast). Maybe with the refined cv's, a specific count may apply to the variety?

Brain says...
I am excited the julie seville is flowering, it gives many of us hope. Though mine is only 10 cm, prob a few years to go, lol.

I think time + size + node + environmental conditions all has a bearing as to when citrus seedling flower, i just wish i know the exact way to get it to flower quickly.

Brain says...
I am fairly certain the mandarin limes are marketing name for the rangpurs. I recall checking the supplier website and did some cross reference on the scientific name.

Good on you for getting the flowers and hope you get some fruits soon.

jakfruit etiquette says...
It's one of the faster types to get to fruit, 4 to 6 years and 1.5m tall. The faster you can get it bigger, the shorter the time to flower. That involves extending the growing season by at least using a poly house over winter, and re potting to larger pots as it grows.

Brain says...
Rangpur are readily grown from seed - in fact they are used as rootstock.

Chris says...
Diggers do sell the limequat.

coffeexxx says...
can somebody send me rangpur lime seeds? I can send a stamped self address envelope.. can swap some tree tomato seeds which are truly bizarre tomatos..
coffeexxx AT hotmail dot com

(am also after limequat seeds, bergamot orange seeds/seedlings) can also swap othr things

Rohini says...
Hi Rangpur Lime tubestock is available from Greenharvest.com.au. The tubes I bought were very healthy.

Julie says...
mbuck, check the date of Brad's last post, he hasn't posted on the forum for many years. I will have some ripe Rangpur fruit fairly soon, quite a a few green fruit on the tree.

I don't have plants, but could send seeds if you want to grow one. email me at: julwood at aussiebroadband dot com dot au.