My trees will never get big enough to worry about trimming limbs. Three of them are in ground.

Steve

Steve, Mine is and will always have to be in a container. It isn't very large, but all the limbs seems to be rubbing each other and overlapping. Just didn't know if that is normal behavior for them or if I need to thin the limbs out a bit. ?

Bonnie

Here ya go

I don't trim either. Mine produces caviar fruit. I got mine on Craigslist and I think it came from Logee's but am not sure.

Laura, the leaves of yours seem larger looking than mine. The limbs on mine overlap and have gone crazy! The bloom is in the middle of some crossing limbs, just past where the bend is in the older wood. I ordered mine from 98 Root Warehouse, I've had it about a year and a half. I even actually got a piece to root this winter, although I had read they were hard to root from cuttings. I moved it up to a larger pot this spring, although I probably shouldn't have. The root ball was not as root bound as I thought it was... This will be my first fruit from it if it holds. I ordered some fruit online and loved the flavor, so I hope mine will produce more next year!

Oh yeah, mine does look different. I’ve never heard of that supplier. I was disappointed with mine. I will give it more time, but may look around for the real thing.

It looks like FW has some in stock. Has anyone ordered theirs and can they verify that it is the right one?

They should have tiny leaves. Stan MacKenzie has both green and red finger lime plants. In fact he has a huge green finger lime (8 feet tall in a 30+ gallon pot) that is a massive tangle of limbs - though really pretty. I didn't snap a picture, but next time I visit. He offered to sell it to me since I was there with my truck. Of course, I don't have a greenhouse so, that would kill me moving in for winter. He is also grafting red finger limes.

It is nice to hear Stan's is a tangled mess! lol! Then I don't feel I
should prune mine to look better. LOL!! It's hard to tell from looking
at photos online, how the shape is. Most websites that show pictures
aren't close enough to tell. So I guess I will let mine do its thing.

Red Finger lime is the only item on my want list! No room for any more. Do you think he has any for sale now? It's not the rounder one is it? I want the one that is just like the regular finger lime, only red. If I could find one, it will be my last citrus plant! Honest!! Lol!!

Yes, I picked up a baby grafted red finger (10" total, 8" above the graft tape) from Stan last month - grafted in december 2018. You would need to call him for current inventory. Or maybe pre-order one from his next grafting if he's out.

If you can visit, Stan is such a great host and a super knowledgeable grower.

Fruity, that looks like the one I have, which I got from Stan. It is not like the finger lime we expect with caviar beads. Mine has produced fruit and is a healthy tree with leaves just like yours, but it is not like the one Bonnie has. The leaves of hers are much smaller. Yours looks just like mine. I am not faulting Stan, as he is a great guy, and probably did not realize the difference. What he has is probably a type of finger lime, but not the one I was expecting.

Not sure, but Stan told me he didn't have a red finger until last year, to graft from. Hopefully, he grafted the right scion. I saw a baby finger lime (the classic finger shape like an Italian pepper) on his red finger mother plant last year in the summer. Time will tell... I pass by his place a few times a year, so I can always pick up a replacement. I will probably pickup a minneola when I visit ... had one from the store and it was good and like the shape more than anything. I probably need to stop swinging by... I don't have room and there is always something new!

Fruity, I highly recommend the minneola. The fruit is excellent. From the looks of your tree, I suspect it is like mine, which does have the classic fruit shape, just not the inside ;). It’s still nice, just not what I expected.

Laura, the leaves on mine are tiny. The thorns are longer than the leaves! Mine are also more rounded, it seems than yours or the one Fruity shows. Mine is a green finger lime, so maybe the red has different type of leaf? Through my research, I understand the finger limes cross pollinate readily. And are not true to type from seed. Wish we could get the various types here in the states. I found they can come in yellow, green, red, pink and white 'caviar'. It would be cool to serve up a platter of they fruit! LOL!

I may have to call Stan and see what he has!

Bonnie

Bonnie, I think there should be a world citrus tour! There are so many variants I've read about, in italy, Australia, and so many variants in Asia. I often wonder how much the USDA quarantine process takes to import variants is! Hopefully, Stan has a red finger available for you.

Laura, I recall you were slimming down your collection, what variants are in the final cut?

Yep, I’m slimming down. I’m keeping all of my lemon varieties. I am planning to give away my kaffir lime because the Rangpur leaves taste indistinguishable in my opinion and I like the fruit of the Rangpur, a limequat, a sunquat, a nagami because I have two, an orange (navel or cara cara), and the baboon lemon. The baboon is a cool tree and the fruit is different from the average lemon, but it is not my favorite. I prefer the more traditional lemons. Frankly, that finger lime could be on the chopping block as well, although as it is not big, it is easy to manage. I’m focusing on the lemons, mandarins, and oranges. Want any? You’re not too far from me.

Laura, thanks for the offer. If you have something you're pushing out the door, I might be interested, but I was really inquiring to see if there was a good eating variant that I missed that held up well to pot life and our dreary winters. I don't have the baking talent that you share with us, so I focus on eating out of hand (or juicing). I have a key lime, calamondin, moro, cara cara, owari satsuma, and now the hopefully red finger. Might add the minneola, space is always such a factor on the winter rotation. I would think about moving south, but the darned greening disease.

A citrus world tour would be fun! I've seen photos of hundreds of different lemons they grow in Italy. And Australia has some cool looking citrus as well, not just finger limes. To be able to taste and see the worlds ways of culture would be wonderful.

Laura, I know what you mean to be slimming down. Mine are so large it is getting hard to move them in and out of the greenhouse. So I am looking at replacing some of my larger ones with smaller plants. Basically starting over. I have a Clementine that will probably not be replaced, as I haven't gotten fruit on it for the last three years. Probably due to having to cut it back to put it in the greenhouse! But the fruit weren't that great to begin with, I wound up juicing all the fruit.

I am sticking to lemons and limes, mostly. I've tried oranges in the past and they just didn't taste that good to me. Could have been the cultivar, but they tasted watery and bland. I have Ponderosa, Meyer, Variegated Eureka, and Lemonade Lemons, Key, Red, Finger, Kaffir, and a Thornless Key Lime, along with Calamondin, Buddha's Hand, Clementine and a Seedling Minneola. And I'm in the process of rooting a cutting of Lisbon Lemon. Oh and a Meiwa Kumquat. And six of those are LARGE! The rest are relatively young, so not huge yet. Lol. Way too many for my small greenhouse!

Fruity, if space is an issue then the minneola is not the way to go. That is by far my largest tree - an absolute monster! I would recommend a dekopon and a sanguinelli maybe. I really like both of those and they’re not as huge as the tangelo. I prefer the oranges over the mandarins, but my daughter loves all those mandarins.

Bonnie, I am still not totally sure about the clementine either, but I love the oranges and many of the mandarins. The cara cara oranges I’ve gotten have been spectacular.

Fruity, if you want to head my way to get a tree (or two;), send me a PM, I can’t send you one for some reason.

Laura, I had PMs disabled for some reason. Thanks for the heads up on the minneola size. How big is your tree, I assumed that pot management would keep it small. I had a had a sanguinelli, tarocco, and moro blood and decided, I liked the raspberry hints in the moro best and gifted the others. I haven't seen a dekopon plant listed for sale for a few years, but haven't been actively looking.

Bonnie, can't you leave your large citrus in the greenhouse and just leave the doors open and venting on? I have a friend who lives in Arizona who does that, some of his trees are in ground and during summer he puts a shade cloth over his garden and greenhouse during the summer.

Fruity Paws, it's a thought, but when I took them out this spring the key lime was already touching the top if the greenhouse. So, I pulled them out and pruned them a little. I would definitely have to put a shade cloth on it. The Buddha's Hand got sunburn before it came out of the greenhouse.

I ordered some Flying Dragon seed, hopefully in a year or two I can graft everything on to FD rootstock, and it wont get so big. Got to practice more on my grafting tho. 'Cause I suck at it! Lol!!

The Minneola is in a huge container and touched the ceiling this winter. It has a tree shape, not a bush. If you end up picking up some trees, you’ll see it. It is massive! I can give you a dekopon cutting if you want to graft.

My finger lime is a brambly thorny tangle, and is so productive, I have stopped counting! I find a ton of fallen fruit under it, and I have been giving them away, especially to families with little kids! So much fun!

KC