|
Post by pepperhead212 on May 6, 2019 23:18:24 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by davidjp on May 6, 2019 23:24:34 GMT -5
Those are some serious thorns. I don't have those on mine.
My tree is about 8 Ft tall and about 5 years since transplanting and quite heavily pruned. I also have a feeling mine is a slightly different cultivar from the ones I normally see around, a local park has two fairly large mature trees of these that look a little different than mine.
I've heard that a lot of young citrus have thorns early on to protect them from grazers.
I was going to offer to send anyone some of the fruits but it seems mine have fallen off and the new small fruits are just forming, abut the size of peas now. it seemed before they carried fruit for most of the year, both my Mexican and Persian lime trees next door both have lots of fruit now
|
|
|
Post by Mumsey on May 7, 2019 5:03:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on May 8, 2019 23:11:15 GMT -5
I re-potted the small lime tree today; first time I had used the fabric pots, and was sort of surprised to find that the roots were smaller than when I had used plastic pots, in which some got very thick, and circled the pots. The soil had sort of lost its porosity, despite starting out very porous, with extra perlite added, to help with the drainage. Does perlite degrade? It seemed almost muddy; granted, it had been raining, and it was wet, but normally that would just drain through, and it would squeeze out, like a sponge, but not this time. This is probably why the plant had sort of slowed down, and didn't suddenly get new growth, this last time that I trimmed it severely. The other is about the same, though has gotten a little new growth. Here's a photo showing what the roots looked like. They definitely didn't get as large as the many times I've re-potted these before. I used a larger fabric pot this time - around 10 gal. I'll have to put a label on this - I don't remember if it had been 3 or 4 years, since I re-potted, but it was the plant that told me to re-pot, not the time, really. Roots and soil from re-potting smaller. kaffir lime tree. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by Mumsey on May 9, 2019 4:41:31 GMT -5
pepperhead212 , I was curious so looked and found this, it tells why your roots are this way, supposedly a good thing! But I wonder why your tree didn't grow as fast as usual? I had never considered fabric pots before and have never seen them anywhere. www.grassrootsfabricpots.com/shop/
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on May 9, 2019 19:00:48 GMT -5
Mumsey, I had heard about that "self pruning" aspect of the fabric pots, but I was dubious, as I usually am of things like that. But it seems to have worked as advertised! The plants grew well, until the end of the winter, so I figured they needed re-potting. I'm waiting to see if it starts growing, which they normally do fairly quickly after re-potting, until I re-pot the other plant. Usually, as soon as they are put outside in spring, there is new growth all over, but not this time, on these or the curry tree.
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on May 24, 2019 7:04:52 GMT -5
That large plant is growing like crazy since I re-potted it! I think the smaller one didn't take off so fast because I trimmed more of the roots, though it is starting to get the new growth, just nothing like this. Here's a photo showing many of the countless areas of new growth (the small, reddish leaves): Older kaffir lime, less than a week after re-potting, with countless areas of new growth. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Usually, after I trim the tops way back, and I put them outside, this happens. When I only got a little new growth, I knew they had to be re-potted.
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on May 29, 2019 20:54:52 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Apr 23, 2021 23:07:23 GMT -5
Today, I re-potted that small kaffir lime tree - I thought it had been 3 years, until I saw this thread again, and found out it had been only 2 years. However, I could tell that all of these indoor plants needed re-potting, as they had the signs - dried out fast, and didn't really absorb as much when watered, plus they were dropping some leaves. Today, even though it was 63° out there when I started working, I had to come back in and put a long sleeved shirt on - that wind just won't let up! I didn't finish my SIPs, due to the wind - would have blown the covers away, as I would be trying to cover them. Plus, making the soil mix would not have been easy, with the perlite and vermiculite blowing all over. I already had the mix made up for re-potting the kaffir lime trees, so I did the smaller one today. It was definitely rootbound, with some roots growing upwards, into the mulch. This soil mix I made with 2/3 peat, and 1/3 coir, plus some perlite, a little less vermiculite, some granular diatomaceous earth, some DE powder, for the upper few inches, plus some mycorrhizae powder, to inoculate it. The lime tree was put outside a couple of weeks ago, when I trimmed it considerably, brought indoors the last couple of nights, due to the cold, and I trimmed it even more. Looks a little scraggly, because I trimmed all the branches I had to, that were growing on top of each other. It will recover quickly, as always, and I had already seen several areas of new growth, triggered by the first trimming. The rootbound kaffir lime tree, showing the roots that had grown up, into the mulching medium. by pepperhead212, on Flickr A couple of the leaves are showing a little sunburn, since putting it outside a couple of weeks ago, but nothing serious. Kaffir lime tree, finished with the Re-potting. 4-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 14, 2022 19:00:39 GMT -5
My older plant - around 21 years old - got a generous trimming today, as it was getting too dense. The other one needs trimming, too, but I left it, so you could see the difference! I'll trim that tomorrow. You can also see a lot of the leaves that I knocked off the one on the left one. The curry and bay plants didn't grow as much, but still have plenty of leaves on them, and I've used a lot of them. Middle lime tree trimmed, 2-14-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Branches trimmed from the older lime tree, as it was getting too dense. 2-14-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by breezygardener on Feb 15, 2022 12:34:37 GMT -5
I'm thinking of ordering both curry & lime trees this season. Any vendors you would recommend?
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 15, 2022 14:27:44 GMT -5
I wouldn't even know where to get them, it has been so long since I got mine! I only bought the old kaffir lime tree in 2001; the curry tree I got from a friend in CA in 2009 or 2010. I checked Richter's, and they had curry tree, but not the limes. Too bad...I always had great results with Richter's, and even though they are in Canada, they have lower shipping! For plants you have to order 6 - easy to do, lol! And they have countless items you cannot start from seed - that Hill Hardy rosemary, Syrian Oregano, and Large Leaf Sage are three I got in one order. Have to search around some popular herb vendors, to see if you can find both.
Both of these had close to 100 leaves after 1 year of growth, starting small 5-6" seedlings in 2 gal pots. And about 11 or 12 years after starting the lime tree, I air layered it, and about 7 months later I cut that branch off, to start another tree! That's where the second plant came from, and the only reason I did that was because I actually started with 2 plants in 2001, and both of them took off, and I had full sized plants! Eventually, I sold one to a couple that I knew that started an Asian restaurant, with some Thai food, and even restaurants couldn't get lime leaves around here (the import was banned, due to some disease, the reason I had to start growing it). I didn't know how long it would live, which is why I air layered the one. Now I know, they last forever, if treated right!
|
|
|
Post by breezygardener on Feb 15, 2022 17:48:47 GMT -5
Amazon has a few well-reviewed vendors of both, & Logee's carries both of them as well. I just wondered if you had a favorite.
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 1, 2022 16:46:33 GMT -5
breezygardener Sorry I didn't answer that for 7 months! I really didn't have an answer, since, as I said, I hadn't bought the curry or lime trees from any of these places, and don't know anyone who has. I have bought other things from Logees, with good results. Today I trimmed those Makrut/Kaffir lime trees, that I have trimmed several times through the summer (they had a bunch more new growth, from last time I trimmed them), but they needed a lot of trimming, to ready them for re-potting (might only do the large one, as it is older), before bringing them indoors, for the off-season. I probably have to trim a little more, but it started drizzling out there again. The younger, 11 year old makrut/Kaffir lime tree, trimmed way back, to re-pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr The older lime tree, a little over 21 years old, trimmed way back, before re-potting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr A lot of trimmed branches from both of the lime trees, prepping them for re-potting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by breezygardener on Oct 1, 2022 16:52:37 GMT -5
pepperhead212, Thanks! I didn't order anything new this past Spring apart from a fig seedling, so will most likely wait till Spring 2023 to try my hand at anything new. I have two now-foot-tall avocado seedlings & a "Red Dragon" hibiscus rooted cutting that need dealing with, so that will keep me occupied.
|
|