I got a Finger Lime!

For years I have wanted a finger lime, but the citrus import laws kept getting in my way. Just as I was planning a trip to California (wink, wink), I tried to get a Phoenix nursurey to bring one in for me - at any cost. But they had already ordered them! I picked mine up yesterday. It is blooming and has a finger on it. I'm in heaven!

2nd Chance, I will drive to Phoenix for one. Can you share more info. with me? You may have seen my post some months ago looking for scion wood. A rooted tree would be even better.

Thanks, Don

There is a picture of the fruit of one on the back cover of the CRFG issue this month. Weird! At first I thought it was a pawpaw variant!

They are neat fruits.Sheerwood Atkin used to grow them.You should be able to grow them from seed.I don't think seed falls under import rules.

Don, you can get them from Four Winds Growers in CA. They have nice plants.

My first fruit came off today - there are two more set on already.

Ok, How do you eat it and what does it taste like?

Krowten, I know but I will let 2ndchanch answer. It is his fruit and I am envious.

Dlmcgrw - you haven't gotten yours yet?

I squeezed out the little balls of juice and ate half straight (bitter lime/grapefruit flavor). The others I floated in margaritas. Perfect.

2ndChanch, give them a try in salads, dresses up the look and little bursts of flavor. Also good on some hors' doeuvres. (forgive my spelling I have no idea how they are spelled and there is no spell check on this forum) Don

I bought one of these from Logees a year ago and it has grown better than any other citrus. It is a beautiful little shrub, about 18" tall and wide now. I can't wait for it to start blooming this spring.

ardesia, watch the thorns when you pick your fruit. The finger lime trees I have seen are vicious.

LOL, just moving the pot is dangerous.

No worse that any other citrus, though. And mighty worth it in my opinion.

Perhaps those of you growing this one in the US would save any seeds and offer them in trade to those less fortunate, as it sounds like a worthy and interesting citrus.

They are not true from seed, but Tradewinds ocassionally sells seeds.

2nd, Thanks for the source info. I was not asking for myself. I have tried to grow citrus in the past, but always fail. My climate and house is just not suited for success. Perhaps I'll get a greenhouse one of these days or move.

I am, however, curious as to what you specifically meant by "not true" Does the seed produce inferior types or is the finger lime some kind of unusual hybrid or other? I don't know much about it.

Most citrus comes true from seed unless two different cultivars are grown side by side.

Krowten & cowpea123, It is my understanding that virtually all citrus are hybrids. I believe there are only (4) natural citrus. (is natural the right word). I am not sure about the finger lime, that is, wither it is a true citrus or not. I kind of assume it must be because I have seen it at the U.C. R. citrus genome depository.

Almost all cultivated citrus are grafted clones because of the fact that they do not grow true from seed. Cultivars do not have to be growing side by side to pollinate one another. There are birds, insects and wind that carry pollen. Sometimes great distances. And then you have your seedless varieties, which is a whole other subject.

From what I heard most citrus produce seed which are clones of them selfs.I cannot think of the term for it.Finger lime is a citrus cousin so it should not cross with common citrus.

cowpea123, Interesting idea.

FYI, the picture on the back cover of the CRFG mag I mentioned in the post above turned out to NOT be a finger lime. There was a retraction of the picture in the current issue. Turns out the fruit displayed has not been totally ID'd, but definitely not a finger lime.

http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C2026-2

This is the finger lime I bought and it has grown beautifully. I have it in a container outdoors but we are expecting cold temps tonight and tomorrow night so I will have to bring it into the garage.

Nice pic, great price. You tempt me...

Don't forget that is a 2.5 inch pot!
Ardesia, does your fingerlime look like that one? I have some and the leaves look a lot smaller. Maybe it's just the photo.

This is from an expert grower and was posted to the Citrus Growers Forum:

Almost all sweet oranges, true grapefruit, lemons, limes, pure mandarins (other than King and Clementine) most tangelos, hybrid tangerines and tangors (except Temple) come true from seed. Pommelos, do not.

Meyer Lemons do not.

And:
I've always thought that the fun and exciting citrus seed to grow are, in fact, the ones that do not come true from seed. Seed like Temple, King, Meyer, Clementine. Those seed will produce a tree that is a one-of-a-kind, never seen before citrus tree. The trees that do come true from seed, can be purchased just about every where. Currently, I growing Temple seed and Clementine seed, we'll see what we get. Many of the "standard" citrus varieties sold in the stores today began as chance seedlings.

Most Clementine seedling produce a seedy mandarin type of fruit. However, it is always possible to get a fruit worth becoming a standard, as Eureka Lemon, Marsh Grapefruit, Hamlin orange, Temple, Pineapple orange and many others are examples of a chance seedling.

The Logee picture looke nothing like mine - fruit or leaves.

This is the one I got from Logees. This plant is about 2 years old; it has grown much faster than my other citrus and they came in 3 gallon container. This one was in a 2 1/2" pot.

I had to bring it into the garage because we are expecting nasty weather tonight and tomorrow.

That's really a nice healthy looking plant, congratulations!

Thanks, I am looking forward to this years flowers and fruit.

Lakesidecallas, The citrus growers forum you mentioned......I could not find it in the DG list of forums. Is it another website?

I grow some citrus, sucessfully, but I don't pretend to be an expert. I got the information about there only being (4) true/natural (or whatever is the correct terminology) varieties of citrus from UCR. Which has the worlds largest collection of citrus varieties. They are the premier citrus germplasm depository in the world, with two each of over 1,000 varieties, and they themselves have developed and introduced a long and impressive list of new varieties.

Their extensive orchards are closed to the public but our rare fruit growers society
has been fortunate enough to be invited for a tour now and then. On two different tours we were told that all citrus is derived from citron, pommelo, mandarin and lemon or derivatives of these basic plants. ( I repeat these names from memory and may have mistated one or another or misused terms, as I say, I am neither scientist nor expert. I may also have misunderstood).

I can also say their Austrailian Finger Limes are full size, but smallish, trees with the most vicious spines I have ever seen. They are not grown in small pots. You would need stout gloves to pick the fruit.

It was also my understanding of what they said, that they now work mostly with eradiating budwood rather than seeds in their quest for new and/or improved varieties. They do not sell or give away budwood, but they do license their successful new varieties, which are all propagated by budwood. While on the tours they allow you, even help you, to pick and taste fruit. It would be easy to carry off seeds. They are very strict about budwood and monitor all the tours to see that none is removed. The orchards are fenced and guarded against budwood thieves.

It may also be of interest to know that on their list of Australian Limes and their Hybrids, they have (10) varieties of Finger Lime, including two red and a brown.

I probably should not even be discussing these things since I have no training in botany and do not clearly understand all the descriptive terms and their meanings. Maybe someone, who is an expert can better explain what it was the director at UCR meant by saying there are only (4) known natural/true/parent citrus.



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The forum isn't a DG forum, you can find it if you google it, or use the name of it as a URL. Sorry to be kinda obtuse about that but I've heard DG has expelled members for linking to outside forums or certain websites. I only mentioned it because there is nothing like it on DG, many of the members are true experts and sometimes I don't even know what they are talking about, LOL. Polyembryonic seeds, d'oh! But they are very nice, and kind to newbies, don't get me wrong.

I've heard that about the 4 true citrus, also, I guess it means that all the different varieties in the world have been developed from those.

I'm by no means an expert, just started growing citrus a few years ago and have gotten the bug but BAD! lol

I'll explain the 4 true citrus another way:
There are all different colors and types of calla lilies, I keep track of the new named colors because callas are "my thing" (duh) and my list is up to 398 different named plants. But, all those colors came from 7 plants that are the species- and those 7 plants had the colors white, yellow, and pink. From those three colors, gardeners, breeders, growers or whoever have come up with the black, red, purple, peach, two-tones, etc. It's amazing when you think of it!

So I guess way back when maybe someone decided to mix their mandarin and lemon and came up with a new fruit. Or, they had an odd fruit on a tree and saved the seeds and grew something new.

The UCR doesn't do budwood, but there is a place called CCPP that does distribute it. Most of it goes to commercial growers, but they do allow some hobbyists to get some. Someday I'll take the plunge into learning to graft and then, look out! lol

I think I have said this before, but when I started I was crazy to get all the different varieties I could... Now I would just like to get enough of my favorites to have a decent amount of fruit when I want it.

I don't know the website off-hand, but there is a guy with an enormous database of citrus fruit, he has a lot of pictures of different stuff, including the different fingerlimes. There is also an Australian round lime that is prized.
And, I bought a hybrid of Fingerlime and Calamondin called a Faustrime, the fruit is like a fingerlime, but bigger. My husband hates the smell of the fruit, says it smells like citronella. But inside, tastes just fine.

Does anyone have a Razzlequat?I got one Sherwood Akins but he died in 07 and his nursery closed.Can anyone help?

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What is a Razzlequat!?? Sounds cute!