Author Topic: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?  (Read 1007 times)

FruitGrower

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I recently ordered a Red Australian Finger Lime and after ordering it I read a post from a knowledgeable grower in my area that the Red Finger lime doesn't fruit well in S. Florida due to a lack of cool weather and that he recommends the Green Finger lime (I already had that one). Does anyone have any experience they can share with this?

pagnr

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2022, 04:37:48 AM »
This was kind of discussed here.
https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=48658.0
To add to that, It has often been quoted that the Red Finger Lime is Citrus australasia var sanguine from Mt Tamborine, ( cool area )
however Red Finger Limes are found throughout the natural range of Finger Limes.
However these are still highly variable plants, some are from hotter areas and some from cool highlands.
Some selections might be affected differently by climate, i.e. flowering or fruit set.
The development of red pigmentation of some varieties seems to be climate affected.
It is possible that a particular selection of Red Fingerlime would perform poorly in some areas, but it is not a blanket rule for Red types as far as I know.
I think TFF member Mike from Cairns had Red Fingerlimes fruiting there, in the tropics.
As there are less Finger Lime selections available in USA, maybe see what happens, or grow it bigger to produce more flowers.
Not sure how different rootstocks might influence performance in hot climates ?

FruitGrower

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2022, 04:55:14 AM »
This was kind of discussed here.
https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=48658.0
To add to that, It has often been quoted that the Red Finger Lime is Citrus australasia var sanguine from Mt Tamborine, ( cool area )
however Red Finger Limes are found throughout the natural range of Finger Limes.
However these are still highly variable plants, some are from hotter areas and some from cool highlands.
Some selections might be affected differently by climate, i.e. flowering or fruit set.
The development of red pigmentation of some varieties seems to be climate affected.
It is possible that a particular selection of Red Fingerlime would perform poorly in some areas, but it is not a blanket rule for Red types as far as I know.
I think TFF member Mike from Cairns had Red Fingerlimes fruiting there, in the tropics.
As there are less Finger Lime selections available in USA, maybe see what happens, or grow it bigger to produce more flowers.
Not sure how different rootstocks might influence performance in hot climates ?

Thank you very much for your response, very interesting information. Hopefully I got a variety (although there was no variety name other than “Australian Red”) that fruits well here. I will report back here once I get results. Thanks again.

pagnr

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2022, 06:09:58 PM »
There is a limited number of Finger Limes available in USA.
Also because of greening restrictions possibly less types officially available in Florida ?
Possibly 'Australian Red' available in Florida is a particular release ?
I think UF has been working on them recently.
 

FruitGrower

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2022, 11:58:46 PM »
There is a limited number of Finger Limes available in USA.
Also because of greening restrictions possibly less types officially available in Florida ?
Possibly 'Australian Red' available in Florida is a particular release ?
I think UF has been working on them recently.

I spoke to the nursery where I purchased the “Australian
Red”, the actual variety name is “Sanguinea”.

pagnr

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2022, 12:52:49 AM »
I spoke to the nursery where I purchased the “Australian Red”, the actual variety name is “Sanguinea”.

Ok, that seems a bit odd. Citrus australasica var sanguinea is an older botanical term for all red pigmented Fingerlimes.
(It ignores the other pigmented types, yellow, pink etc ).
Many Fingerlimes with red pigment would be var sanguine.
On the other hand there does seem to be a UC riverside fingerlime accession var Sanguinea, but the information is a bit confusing.
Maybe it traces back to a UC release ?
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/sanguinea.html

FruitGrower

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2022, 10:43:41 AM »
I spoke to the nursery where I purchased the “Australian Red”, the actual variety name is “Sanguinea”.

Ok, that seems a bit odd. Citrus australasica var sanguinea is an older botanical term for all red pigmented Fingerlimes.
(It ignores the other pigmented types, yellow, pink etc ).
Many Fingerlimes with red pigment would be var sanguine.
On the other hand there does seem to be a UC riverside fingerlime accession var Sanguinea, but the information is a bit confusing.
Maybe it traces back to a UC release ?
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/sanguinea.html

Very interesting, thank you.

HalcyonJon

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Re: Does Red Australian Finger Lime Need Cool Weather to Flower/ Fruit?
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2022, 01:35:04 PM »
I've been growing a green finger lime for over 8 years (which I'm also looking to sell, though it's in a 15 gall pot, lol).  It flowers almost continuously, even indoors when I bring it in for the winter.  We get 95% humidity here in the summer, and it doesn't seem to interfere with the fruiting process.  Hope this helps!