1. Introduction
As with growing any plant successfully, keep in mind that there are many different micro-climates in the Bay Area, so growing a kaffir lime tree in Concord or inland areas can be quite a different experience than growing one in Oakland, San Francisco or other coastal areas. There can even be different micro-climates in your very own garden. A kaffir lime tree can flourish beautifully in one part of the garden and die in another part of the garden with you following exactly the same expert advice.
With this in mind, perhaps the most important thing you need to do to successfully grow a kaffir lime tree is to get to know your particular plant and the particular location in your garden where you are going to place it. Let the plant communicate to you what it needs at that particular site. If I have to limit myself to just one single advice, this would be it. Period. End of story.
But many of you don't speak kaffir lime and aren't seasoned gardeners and probably prefer the security of more tangible guidelines to get you started in the right direction. I hope to give you enough of an earful of suggestions to pursue your new gardening interest. However, you should never follow any guideline, including the one below, religiously; fundamentalism is as bad for a kaffir lime plant as it is for humans. When I garden, I subscribe to very much the same philosophy as cooking: taste and adjust; a recipe on a printed page serves only as a guideline. In the case of growing kaffir lime, observe and adjust. Don't blindly follow instructions on a printed page or suggestions you hear from someone else, no matter how expert he/she may be, when your observation tells you otherwise. Rules are made to be broken. Sometimes.
Just as I don't have any formal culinary training and yet can cook fabulous Thai meals, I don't have any formal horticultural training and yet have a luscious jungle of a garden. The advice below comes primarily from more than 20 years of my own gardening experience with a wide range of plants including many tropicals, as well as from the varied experiences shared by students who grow kaffir lime trees in their garden – some with joyful success and others dismal failure. We can learn just as well from our mistakes as from our triumphs.
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2. Basic Needs
As with all plants, a kaffir lime tree is a living organism and needs the following essentials in order to survive:
food (proper nutrients and sufficient frequency of feeding)
water (the right amount at the right time)
good light for photosynthesis
good air circulation so that it can "breathe" properly and become less susceptible to bugs and diseases
companion plants to surround it with the humidity it loves and which is in low supply in California summer air
warmth during the cold months of the year
shelter from cold winds in winter and warm, drying winds in summer
TLC from its owner
3. Kaffir Lime is a Tropical Fruit
One of the most important things to know when growing a plant is to find out what its natural native habitat is, because by doing so, you are more likely able to keep it happy. Kaffir lime trees grow in very hot, humid countries where monsoonal rains drench the soil daily for nearly half the year. So growing a kaffir lime plant is going to be different than growing a Meyer lemon, a mandarin, a navel orange, or other temperate climate citrus.
Of course, you won't be able to duplicate such conditions exactly, but the closer you can provide such conditions, the more likely your kaffir lime tree will thrive. California, though, does have pretty nice weather most of the year, so you might just be able to easily coax your kaffir lime plant to adjust and stay around a while, like many Thais have. Fortunately, the kaffir lime tree you purchased from a local nursery is not seed grown and, therefore, not fully tropical. It has been grafted onto dwarf rootstock of a temperate climate citrus that will help it survive better in your cooler, dryer California garden. But unfortunately for some, this very same rootstock can turn out to be a killer if you don't watch out.
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4. Beware of Rootstock Taking Over
This is a very common problem, especially with those purchased as very young plants in 1- or 2-gallon-size pots, and even for 5-gallon size plants that haven't yet developed a sturdy woody branch structure when placed in a far-from-ideal situation at a time of year when conditions in the garden are drastically different from the nursery where it had lived all its life. I've heard plenty of stories from students who were amazed how vigorously their plant had grown and doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in size in just a few months, but wondered why it hadn't yet developed any of the double leaves with that wonderful kaffir lime aroma. And a few were even puzzled why the fruits on their tree smooth-skinned, though they'd grown as large as an orange or grapefruit! Well, I've had to break the bad news time and again: the tree you had nurtured was not a kaffir lime tree but a rootstock tree!
I've even had a student drop off a huge tree in my yard because he didn't want to take care of it any longer since the leaves just didn't taste like kaffir lime and he'd given up on Thai cooking. I ended up chopping the monster into pieces and dumping this murderer into the green bin to be hauled away. Yes, the rootstock can simply turn into a monster and kill its kaffir lime partner without you even knowing it – if you're not observant.
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5. Know Where the Graft is on Your Kaffir Lime
So, its' very important that you take notice where the graft is on the plant you purchased (usually a few inches above soil level; you'll notice a change in the color and texture of the bark)) and NEVER allow any growth to come from below the graft. When a vigorous branch appears all of a sudden from the lower part of the tree, check the leaves and make sure they are double and have that unique kaffir lime fragrance; if not, cut the branch off immediately! Don't be curious thinking that the branch will eventually mature into kaffir lime like the other branches, 'cuz every minute you allow it to stay on, this monster will zap the energy and strangle the dear life out of its true kaffir lime partner. If you are vigilant during the critical period of your plant's adjustment to your garden, the monster will eventually resign itself to the darkness of its underground dungeon and do what it does best in the underworld.
Once your kaffir lime plant has matured and developed a good woody branch structure above the graft, the monster will have been tamed and will not surface again unless your plant is badly stressed by poor care, adverse environmental conditions, or complete neglect.
Return to top
6. Buy a Larger More Established Plant
Because of the above problem, I have been advising students to buy larger, more established kaffir lime plants, such as one that is at least a 5-gallon size. That way the kaffir lime portion of the plant can more easily control the vigorous rootstock without being overtaken by it.
Most of my students who've had a kaffir lime plant die on them within a year of purchase happened to have purchased it as smaller 1- to 2-gallon-size plants. My suspicion is that because the plants were still quite young, they were less able to handle the culture shock that came from suddenly being removed from the security of the greenhouse nurseries where they were born and raised and thrown into a completely new and unfamiliar environment. On the other hand, larger, more established plants, such as 5- to 7-gallon sizes, are more likely able to cope with adverse conditions they find in your garden.
Although they do mail order, Four Winds Growers, the main producer of kaffir lime plants in northern California, recommends that you go to Orchard Supply (OSH) and have them order you one if there's not one already in their nursery. This way you won't have to pay for shipping. Four Winds sends many kinds of specialty citrus trees to OSH on a very regular basis. OSH also has a generous replacement policy: if any plant you purchased from them should die on you at any time for any reason, they will simply replace the plant no questions asked. And I've heard that kaffir lime is one of the plants that frequently is sent back to be replaced.
You can also order a kaffir lime tree through any nursery that carries citrus trees.
Return to top
7. Let Your Babies Mature Before Letting Them Have Babies
If you purchased your kaffir lime plant as a small baby with just a few short, flimsy branches and it begins to flower and fruit profusely within a few short weeks or months in your garden without putting out any significant new branch or leaf growth, don't rejoice just yet. Such behavior might just turn out to be a distress signal. It's like orchid growers trying to force an orchid to bloom out of season or for a show. What they do is stress the plant enough to make it think that it might die. The orchid will spend whatever energy it has left to force out an especially spectacular flower spike in hopes of attracting pollinators to help produce the seeds that would carry on its life line.
Your kaffir lime plant might very well be doing just that: using all the energy it has to produce enough fruit so that there would be seeds to carry on its gene pool. Instead of letting the fruits develop, it might be better for the plant's health in the long run to pick off the flowers and young fruits, or at least thin them down to just a few. At the same time, try your best to give the plant as ideal an environment as you can, coaxing it to adjust and settle in to its new home. It takes energy to adjust to a new environment; even humans get exhausted when they move to a new town they've never visited before. You can help divert the energy your tree is expending in fruit production into adjusting to its new environment. Let your baby kaffir lime plant grow up a little before letti
1. Introduction
As with growing any plant successfully, keep in mind that there are many different micro-climates in the Bay Area, so growing a kaffir lime tree in Concord or inland areas can be quite a different experience than growing one in Oakland, San Francisco or other coastal areas. There can even be different micro-climates in your very own garden. A kaffir lime tree can flourish beautifully in one part of the garden and die in another part of the garden with you following exactly the same expert advice.
With this in mind, perhaps the most important thing you need to do to successfully grow a kaffir lime tree is to get to know your particular plant and the particular location in your garden where you are going to place it. Let the plant communicate to you what it needs at that particular site. If I have to limit myself to just one single advice, this would be it. Period. End of story.
But many of you don't speak kaffir lime and aren't seasoned gardeners and probably prefer the security of more tangible guidelines to get you started in the right direction. I hope to give you enough of an earful of suggestions to pursue your new gardening interest. However, you should never follow any guideline, including the one below, religiously; fundamentalism is as bad for a kaffir lime plant as it is for humans. When I garden, I subscribe to very much the same philosophy as cooking: taste and adjust; a recipe on a printed page serves only as a guideline. In the case of growing kaffir lime, observe and adjust. Don't blindly follow instructions on a printed page or suggestions you hear from someone else, no matter how expert he/she may be, when your observation tells you otherwise. Rules are made to be broken. Sometimes.
Just as I don't have any formal culinary training and yet can cook fabulous Thai meals, I don't have any formal horticultural training and yet have a luscious jungle of a garden. The advice below comes primarily from more than 20 years of my own gardening experience with a wide range of plants including many tropicals, as well as from the varied experiences shared by students who grow kaffir lime trees in their garden – some with joyful success and others dismal failure. We can learn just as well from our mistakes as from our triumphs.
Return to top
2. Basic Needs
As with all plants, a kaffir lime tree is a living organism and needs the following essentials in order to survive:
food (proper nutrients and sufficient frequency of feeding)
water (the right amount at the right time)
good light for photosynthesis
good air circulation so that it can "breathe" properly and become less susceptible to bugs and diseases
companion plants to surround it with the humidity it loves and which is in low supply in California summer air
warmth during the cold months of the year
shelter from cold winds in winter and warm, drying winds in summer
TLC from its owner
3. Kaffir Lime is a Tropical Fruit
One of the most important things to know when growing a plant is to find out what its natural native habitat is, because by doing so, you are more likely able to keep it happy. Kaffir lime trees grow in very hot, humid countries where monsoonal rains drench the soil daily for nearly half the year. So growing a kaffir lime plant is going to be different than growing a Meyer lemon, a mandarin, a navel orange, or other temperate climate citrus.
Of course, you won't be able to duplicate such conditions exactly, but the closer you can provide such conditions, the more likely your kaffir lime tree will thrive. California, though, does have pretty nice weather most of the year, so you might just be able to easily coax your kaffir lime plant to adjust and stay around a while, like many Thais have. Fortunately, the kaffir lime tree you purchased from a local nursery is not seed grown and, therefore, not fully tropical. It has been grafted onto dwarf rootstock of a temperate climate citrus that will help it survive better in your cooler, dryer California garden. But unfortunately for some, this very same rootstock can turn out to be a killer if you don't watch out.
Return to top
4. Beware of Rootstock Taking Over
This is a very common problem, especially with those purchased as very young plants in 1- or 2-gallon-size pots, and even for 5-gallon size plants that haven't yet developed a sturdy woody branch structure when placed in a far-from-ideal situation at a time of year when conditions in the garden are drastically different from the nursery where it had lived all its life. I've heard plenty of stories from students who were amazed how vigorously their plant had grown and doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in size in just a few months, but wondered why it hadn't yet developed any of the double leaves with that wonderful kaffir lime aroma. And a few were even puzzled why the fruits on their tree smooth-skinned, though they'd grown as large as an orange or grapefruit! Well, I've had to break the bad news time and again: the tree you had nurtured was not a kaffir lime tree but a rootstock tree!
I've even had a student drop off a huge tree in my yard because he didn't want to take care of it any longer since the leaves just didn't taste like kaffir lime and he'd given up on Thai cooking. I ended up chopping the monster into pieces and dumping this murderer into the green bin to be hauled away. Yes, the rootstock can simply turn into a monster and kill its kaffir lime partner without you even knowing it – if you're not observant.
Return to top
5. Know Where the Graft is on Your Kaffir Lime
So, its' very important that you take notice where the graft is on the plant you purchased (usually a few inches above soil level; you'll notice a change in the color and texture of the bark)) and NEVER allow any growth to come from below the graft. When a vigorous branch appears all of a sudden from the lower part of the tree, check the leaves and make sure they are double and have that unique kaffir lime fragrance; if not, cut the branch off immediately! Don't be curious thinking that the branch will eventually mature into kaffir lime like the other branches, 'cuz every minute you allow it to stay on, this monster will zap the energy and strangle the dear life out of its true kaffir lime partner. If you are vigilant during the critical period of your plant's adjustment to your garden, the monster will eventually resign itself to the darkness of its underground dungeon and do what it does best in the underworld.
Once your kaffir lime plant has matured and developed a good woody branch structure above the graft, the monster will have been tamed and will not surface again unless your plant is badly stressed by poor care, adverse environmental conditions, or complete neglect.
Return to top
6. Buy a Larger More Established Plant
Because of the above problem, I have been advising students to buy larger, more established kaffir lime plants, such as one that is at least a 5-gallon size. That way the kaffir lime portion of the plant can more easily control the vigorous rootstock without being overtaken by it.
Most of my students who've had a kaffir lime plant die on them within a year of purchase happened to have purchased it as smaller 1- to 2-gallon-size plants. My suspicion is that because the plants were still quite young, they were less able to handle the culture shock that came from suddenly being removed from the security of the greenhouse nurseries where they were born and raised and thrown into a completely new and unfamiliar environment. On the other hand, larger, more established plants, such as 5- to 7-gallon sizes, are more likely able to cope with adverse conditions they find in your garden.
Although they do mail order, Four Winds Growers, the main producer of kaffir lime plants in northern California, recommends that you go to Orchard Supply (OSH) and have them order you one if there's not one already in their nursery. This way you won't have to pay for shipping. Four Winds sends many kinds of specialty citrus trees to OSH on a very regular basis. OSH also has a generous replacement policy: if any plant you purchased from them should die on you at any time for any reason, they will simply replace the plant no questions asked. And I've heard that kaffir lime is one of the plants that frequently is sent back to be replaced.
You can also order a kaffir lime tree through any nursery that carries citrus trees.
Return to top
7. Let Your Babies Mature Before Letting Them Have Babies
If you purchased your kaffir lime plant as a small baby with just a few short, flimsy branches and it begins to flower and fruit profusely within a few short weeks or months in your garden without putting out any significant new branch or leaf growth, don't rejoice just yet. Such behavior might just turn out to be a distress signal. It's like orchid growers trying to force an orchid to bloom out of season or for a show. What they do is stress the plant enough to make it think that it might die. The orchid will spend whatever energy it has left to force out an especially spectacular flower spike in hopes of attracting pollinators to help produce the seeds that would carry on its life line.
Your kaffir lime plant might very well be doing just that: using all the energy it has to produce enough fruit so that there would be seeds to carry on its gene pool. Instead of letting the fruits develop, it might be better for the plant's health in the long run to pick off the flowers and young fruits, or at least thin them down to just a few. At the same time, try your best to give the plant as ideal an environment as you can, coaxing it to adjust and settle in to its new home. It takes energy to adjust to a new environment; even humans get exhausted when they move to a new town they've never visited before. You can help divert the energy your tree is expending in fruit production into adjusting to its new environment. Let your baby kaffir lime plant grow up a little before letti
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