Author Topic: Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice  (Read 1046 times)

Patrich9

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Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice
« on: February 25, 2018, 03:36:05 PM »
Hello!

I have a kaffir lime tree about 4’ y’all that was very prolific and fruited the first season I had it. Subsequently in following seasons it still fruits and I get maybe 40+ little limes the size of a pea, but then hey all invariably fall off and never get any bigger. 

The first time this happened I thought maybe the wind blew them all off and so I brought the tree indoors and it rests in an out of the way area with lots of windows. The tree looks very healthy with big redolent leaves and it continues to sprout new leaves, flowers, and the pea-limes.

Is there something I could be doing wrong that is causing my tree to drop its baby limes?  I water it regularly (I have a soil dampness monitor in the soil) and I put a fertilizer spike in the soil every 4 months.

Thanks so much for your expertise and advice!

-patrick

laidbackdood

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Re: Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2018, 12:52:16 PM »
Citrus are usually greedy flower and fruiters. they will invariably drop fruit if there are too many for the tree to look after.........If id had 40 fruitlets......>I would have thinned them out......to give them space to grow......visualize a full size fruit in that spot with no neighbours........I would have thinned to 10 to 15........Over watering can cause fruit drop as well.....keeping the watering schedule even is important too and the wind can cause fruit drop as well......Slow release food high in nitrogen will help fruit establish......not a fan of those sticks.....small and often is far better.......I am using a slow release organic fert high in carbon and humus and getting good results with my citrus.......I currently have 6 lemons on my dwarf lemon tree and i am happy with that......its a young tree and with good feeding and watering.....they will reach a good size.

laidbackdood

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Re: Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2018, 12:55:27 PM »
P.s Dont bother growing fruits on kaffir limes anyway.........the fruits are yuk ! .....these trees are not grown for their fruit......they are grown for their "heady" leaves which are traditionally used in Thai cooking........If you are feeding and watering correctly....the leaves have the most heavenly scent....use the leaves in curries etc......fruits are high in oils and are used for something but not for eating/juice  my friend.(they look like a 90 year olds testicles!  :D)
« Last Edit: February 26, 2018, 12:58:24 PM by laidbackdood »

Millet

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Re: Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2018, 04:54:19 PM »
I don't know if Kaffir lime is an alternate bearing tree or not. If you don't know about alternate bearing citrus tree look it up on the Internet. As Laidbackdude wrote, all citrus trees drop most of their flowers and fruit, but the tree should hold the amount of fruit that it is capable of bring to maturity for the size of the tree .  One common practice by citrus growers to insure a good crop is to foliar spray the citrus tree with low biuret urea 30 to 45 days before the expected bloom date.  Doing so gives the tree extra energy needed to produce a good crop of fruit.

Yorgos

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Re: Kaffir like dropping all it’s baby fruits - seeking advice
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2018, 02:02:22 PM »
I have use kaffir limes to flavor kumquat marmalade.  I drop two or three whole fruits in a 3 quart batch while the batch is cooking (before adding the sugar).  It imparts an imperceptible but nice flavor to the marm. I discard the fruit after the first boil.  I also throw in a few small chilies for a slight kick.
Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a