Spanish Limes (Quenepas)

[CRiSP]

Hi,

Does anybody have experience with or access to Spanish Limes?

[dolomis]

experience yes, access no.
 they are popular in miami/hollyood area during season. you can also buy them on a few reputable websites

[brian]

Larafarms in homestead/miami sells boxes of them.  I ordered one last season, they taste nice but all you can do is suck the juice off the flesh there isn't really anything to eat.

I have a grafted one growing in a small container, also.  Was really struggling for over a year since I got it but finally seems to be getting its stride.

[Jaboticaba45]

These are a bit more sensitive to cold than lychee and not as widely grown. For some reason I haven't seen them much past the Miami/Homestead area.
I tried several at Julian's place and there are some that make your mouth dry and some that taste like applesauce.
Also there are male/female trees.
Make sure to get a grafted one.
There are hermaphrodite selections too but I'm forgetting the variety name right now.

[Altrexy]

Montgomery is a hermaphrodite CV. I have one that has already flowered but not set fruit and is currently in the ground. I can update you guys more next year. I have two 7+ year old seedlings which have not flowered in the ground and they are enormous. One thing I can tell you is I’m almost certain there’s many species all lumped into “quenepas” and Mamoncillos. The Montgomery has such different foliage from the seedlings it’s hard to believe they’re the same species. Fruits vary dramatically which adds to my theory. Some of the best ones I’ve had have been almost perfectly round and very pale on the inside. A great Mamoncillo holds its own against great lychees, as hard as that may be to believe for anyone who hasn’t had one.

[CRiSP]

Thank you, all. From what I'm hearing, they are probably best in a greenhouse here in New Orleans, zone 9b.

[dolomis]

they are very tropical plants grow very very tall. All the ones ive ever seen tower about 50-60ft tall. I grew up with maybe 6 trees on property and they are all mostly similar,  one tree had exceptional fruit every year; Better than most i buy on the streets. needless to say but im still going to, harvest time is important you really dont want to pick them early.

[elouicious]

So. Cold. Intolerant.

Combine that with mediocre fruit and everything else listed here- not worth growing in my book

A tasty novelty for sure, and I have not tried the "superior" cultivars like Jose Pabon which is supposed to be both hermie and have larger fruits with smaller seeds, but these get a pass from me

[murahilin]

I think it's one of those fruit that are more nostalgic than good. I grew up eating them, but I think there are much better options and I don't go actively searching out the fruit.

I did waste a lot of time years ago collecting the "improved" cultivards from PR. I had a few different grafted ones. One eBay seller even scammed me out of $150 for a single tree from PR back around 2008. I think I gave Excalibur my grafted trees. I don't know what ever happened to them though.

There are probably old posts in the forum where I listed the varities that I had.

[canito 17]

Nostalgic? You have to try Sasa! 3 cultivars. I give them
to Julian.

[murahilin]

Nostalgic? You have to try Sasa! 3 cultivars. I give them
to Julian.

I had a grafted Sasa tree around 15 years ago and I gave it away before it ever fruited so I did not get to try the fruit. I also had Jose Pabon.

TREC in Homestead also had Sasa and Jose Pabon over 15 years ago as well if I remember correctly.

By nostalgic, I meant that the fruit are just something that was available when I was kid so I'd eat it now just because it's something that I was fond of as a child, as opposed to it being a high quality fruit.