Thread: Lime Trees

Anyone have any experience growing Lime Trees ?

Would it be worth considering to grow few hundred trees if land was available ? I think 1 Lime = 3 Baht.
Think you could start taking fruit from tree after 3 or 4 years.

I know they need a lot of water.

Just not sure how much fruit you could take from 1 tree in any month. Do they produce fruit all year round ?

I planted a lime tree out front about two years ago. It was in a pot and stood maybe 2 feet high and is now about 4 feet high. I give it plenty of good care but have yet to see one lime.

Hope you have better luck.

^^ seem to recall many years ago when I was planting a lemon tree that you need two for the cross polination I guess in the range of bees (or what ever) = fruit?? Limes...same same??

I planted two in our garden when they were about 2 foot tall.
They sat there and looked very sad for two years but now look a lot healthier.
They grow very slowly so I would allow 4 years before expecting some limes

Yes 3 years to get lime , need plenty of water , spray for insect , food , and labour intensive when picking and souting into 3 sizes .
Then when you sell could be good but could only get 1bhateach and the market allways will get 100- orso for free. 5 rai just the other side of my carport in avater.

grown limes
in the dry season you get a good price
but during the rains the price drops to the point it is not viable to pick them

While I am not experienced, I have been reading the literature about the best way to plant and grow limes in preparation for doing some planting myself. Below is a summary of what I found:

Biophysical limits

Limes can grow at over 1000 meter altitude on poor soils provided good drainage prevents water logging.

Propagation methods

Limes can be grown by seeds, as long as they are fresh and moist.

Self pollinated trees will only have limited fruit. Multiple trees are necessary for optimum fruit set. Fruit requires 5.5-6 months from flowering to harvest. In Thailand there is little fruit in March-April.

Tree Management


The trees are best set 25 ft (7.5 m) apart each way, which allows for 70 trees per acre (28/ha). Closer spacings of 15 or 20 ft (4.5-6 m) do not permit enough room for good cultural practices.


Under no circumstances should soil around the proposed planting site be removed to form a shallow basin for watering--to do so almost guarantees that the young lime tree will contract foot rot and die before its fifth year. The soil in the planting site should be at least as high as the surrounding yard, if not higher.

Mixing topsoil, compost, peat or other materials with the backfill soil is neither necessary nor desirable in good soils.

The watering interval should be every few days for the first couple of weeks, then gradually increased to 7 to 10 days over the next couple of months.

All weeds and grass should be eliminated around the base of the tree as the developing lime tree cannot compete well.

Mulching is not recommended for citrus because it increases the possibility of the tree contracting foot rot, for which there is no cure.

Unpruned trees have a dense twiggy canopy and crowded branches may die back due to competition. Hence, trees are pruned to thin the branches and to remove suckers and infected limbs.

To influence the harvest time, irrigation is withheld for 3 weeks in the dry season; resumption of irrigation triggers a flush which brings on flowering.

There are very few lime tree problems that are life-threatening--and the home gardener cannot do anything about those anyway. Many of the rest of the insects and diseases that afflict lime trees can generally be ignored in the home garden, as blemishes to the peel affect only the appearance, and, in some cases, size of the fruit.

Seedlings will begin to fruit in 3 to 6 years and reach full production in 8 to 10 years. The fruits ripen and fall 5 to 6 months after flowering. Trees grown from cuttings tend to fruit the first year and then cease fruiting until they have attained some growth. If the trees have been correctly pruned when young, there is no further need for pruning except to remove deadwood and water-sprouts, or for the purpose of thinning the fruits to increase size.

Harvest

The trees produce some fruits more or less the year around, but there are two main seasons–May/June and November/December.
The average yield of lime in Thailand during the 1988/1989 season was 2400 kg/ha.

Storage

The lime ripens to full yellow and loses weight rapidly at normal room temperature in warm climates. In the home, the fruits can be held fresh for 2 or 3 weeks if kept in water in a closed jar. They are prone to cold injury under refrigeration at 44.6º F (7º C).

Originally Posted by Thetyim

I planted two in our garden when they were about 2 foot tall.
They sat there and looked very sad for two years but now look a lot healthier.
They grow very slowly so I would allow 4 years before expecting some limes

We've a few ourselves. No production, just for the family.
Planted several years ago....grow accordingly and reasonably fast.

Type of soil is vital as it concerns citrus and fruit in general.

I would have thought that spacing the trees 7 metres apart is bit excessive. I did not know they were so demanding or would grow that big. Maybe it is to do with the roots rather than the branching out ?

Water every 10 days. May be problem during dry season. Would mean sprinklers and reliable water source

info on lime trees available here:

Home Fruit Production

I've got a few small lime trees in the garden all about 1.5m high. A couple of normal ones and a couple with those more nobly limes they use in soups. We've had no trouble with fruit, the trees had fruit on them when we bought them and I would guess I take about 10 limes of each tree a month. (just enough to keep up with my G&T consumption).

Our soil is dark with quite high levels of clay, not sure if that makes any difference.

They are now selling for 8 baht a lime in market. 20 limes per tree per month would not be so great even with that price. I think if you take care of tree, you could get up to 100 and more per tree every month

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

I have three lime trees (bushes really) about 3/4 meter tall - two years old 'pumping' out a lime or two per tree every few months. Then, the wife planted a bunch a bananas in the area and shade has cut down production on the lime front. Soil here is heavy in clay which may account for the low productivity.

------------------------------------#
3/4 metres tall ? That is either very big difference or one quarter of a small height.
I am thinking that proper care/pruning of 1 tree can make a big differecnce to its return. Bonzai !! Maybe not possible to know until you get the moolah and start to count it with one good eye !

Forget the fruit, get into the dried leaves business.



It is selling for £1.69 (£8.45/10g)

That's £845/Kg or 41,400 TBH per Kilo.

Interesting ! Never knew lime leaves were used as ingredient for making food. Wonder what percentage the farmer selling would see of that final shop floor price.

Looks like Keffir limes are different to the "Persian" limes that you would use to sour up your whisky and soda. Not sure the same business would be available for Persian lime leaves ??

Oops, posted in the wrong thread..

Originally Posted by POThailand

Interesting ! Never knew lime leaves were used as ingredient for making food. Wonder what percentage the farmer selling would see of that final shop floor price.

Looks like Keffir limes are different to the "Persian" limes that you would use to sour up your whisky and soda. Not sure the same business would be available for Persian lime leaves ??

More importantly how long does a Lime bush take to grow a kilo of dried leaves?

We have 3 Kaffer (Kiffer) Lime trees in our yard. MIL has many. We just purchased a lot across the street that has three trees. They are all old trees, at least 15 years old plus and all bear all year round. I am located in the Korat area. As for the leaves - every time you eat Tom Yam Kung you get lime tree leaves in your soup. They are also use in many other ways in Thailand. How to care for them - we don't and never have. My wife has orchaids hanging from them in coconut husk so they get a little water when she waters the flowers. Other than that nothing.

I've been growing a Kiffer Lime tree in a planter for five years now. It is about six feet tall and in the fall before the night time temp drops below 50 F I bring it inside. You can pick the leaves as you need them or if your gifting a friend take off up to a third. The leaves grow back quickly and have a better flavor when they are new. Lime trees are acid loving so keep your soil pH below 7. I also have a Persian and Myer lime tree in planters that are fruiting, not a lot but they are very smaller maybe a foot high. I allowed my one lime to turn yellow and it was the best lime I have ever had.

Originally Posted by POThailand

They are now selling for 8 baht a lime in market.

WTF? They were 2 or 3 for 5bt when I lived there. I had a huge minao tree and always shared. When the price rose to 2/5Bt, the whole bladdy village was scrounging. Meh, share and share alike. Gave them free access to my chilis, basil and other fruit trees. Forget the name of the one like apricots. Bladdy yummy and only once a year.

Thanks for your photo, what size is your tree/bush?