The Tropical Fruit Forum
Citrus => Citrus General Discussion => Topic started by: Millet on August 27, 2022, 03:02:25 PM
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n Australia what is the average summer daytime high temperature in the area where Finger Limes live in the wild?
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Thats a tough question.
Wild Finger limes grow from Ballina on the coast in NSW, up to the Gold Coast area in QLD. That is about 115 km.
Not sure where the northern border of their range is, but sure they stop before Brisbane.
( C. australis the Round Lime or Dooja grows around Brisbane and a bit further north, again about 100 km plus ).
Finger Limes occur on the coast, where it is hotter, and well up into the Border Ranges into the cool mountain forests.
Mt Tamborine is considered a summer escape from the coastal summer weather, and is well known for Finger Limes.
If You go higher up to O'reilleys or Green Mountain, 900m elevation, it is much cooler and plenty of Finger Limes up there.
Higher up there are remnant Antarctic Forest tree species, and I did see a few Finger Limes seedlings up there too.
As for temperatures, if you consider the NSW coast area around Byron Bay, inland to Lismore, about in the middle of the Finger Lime area,
the December Jan average is like 30'c day and 20'c night. It is quite a rainy humid area, so that drops the temp compared to inland.
I think the temp around that area got well into the high 30's at times.
Again it is a lot cooler in the higher areas.
Mt Tambourine averages 25'c day 16 'c night, and that his lower down than O'reilleys etc.
Finger Limes have been successfully grown in hotter areas in Australia, in the high 30's to 40's C range, with irrigation as per other Citrus.
I think the night temp is as important as the day temp, I noticed some of my FL plants flush better during warm night spells.
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pagnr, good information. I appreciate your information. Thanks
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Тhe December Jan average is like 30'c day and 20'c night. It is quite a rainy humid area, so that drops the temp compared to inland.
I think the temp around that area got well into the high 30's at times.
Do you mean June-July? This is Southern Hemisphere :o
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In the Southern Hemisphere December and January are the hot (Summer) months.
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Cheers, Millet.
Fingerlimes are most common as understory trees in rainforest.
It is cooler under the shade, than a few metres away in exposed sunshine on the road or property.
Often Fingerlime trees can be found in open cow pastures or exposed on fences.
There they resemble large prickle bushes/tumbleweeds, a mass of small leaves and spines.
Rather different to the straggling tall bushes or trees seen in the rainforest.
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Pagnr, again very helpful information. My green Finger Lime is growing in direct full summer sun, and looks exactly as you describe in the above post. The tree is a container tree, so I will move it into a partial sun/shade environment and watch how it does. Thanks.