lime tree care

[NehaJain]

 

 

Hi all,

I am new here and new to gardening scene but I have started with indoor and outdoor plants specially fruiting trees. 
last month I bought lime plant from Aldi Grafted dwarf Tahitian Lime and at the moment I have planted the lime tree in the pot of size 46X36cm (shown in the 2nd photo) and looking for some tips from experienced people on how to care for it. As I am currently renting and I have planted the lime plant in a big pot, so please pour in your suggestions and tips. I have currently used citrus potting mix, organic compost, slow releasing fertiliser, Epsom salt and once a month seasol water.

PS- I live in Melbourne 

Thanks in advance for all your guidance.

[Jason]

Good to have you join in the discussion @NehaJain. I'm sure the Workshop community will be happy to assist you with your lime tree as well as any other projects around the house and garden in future. 

Welcome aboard. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand or have something to share. And please let me know if you need assistance for getting the most out of the site.

Jason

[MartyH]

Lots of good advice here - https://www.bunnings.com.au/diy-advice/garden/planting-and-growing/how-to-grow-and-care-for-a-lemon-... - but I'd be curious as to whether there are any significant differences between caring for a lemon and a lime. Perhaps an expert like @Noelle might like to confirm.

[Noelle · Accepted solution]

@MartyH  - Lemon and lime trees need pretty much the same sort and level of care - they enjoy very similar conditions. They are also both susceptible to the same pests (including citrus leaf miner and gall wasp) and diseases. If you adopt the same watering and feeding regime for both, they should both do well for you.

@NehaJain  - it is not a good idea to take a plant direct from a small pot to a very large one. It is much better to do it in stages over a couple of years, moving up one or two pot sizes each time. If you go from a small pot into a large pot, there's going to be a lot of excess potting mix surrounding the roots that is not being used. This may turn sour and smelly over time and could damage young root tips as they venture into it in a couple of years' time.

Plants in pots need to be repotted into fresh potting every 2-3 years anyway, as the mix becomes exhausted of nutrients and loses texture, so best to increase the pot size gradually each time you repot.

[NehaJain]

Thanks @MartyH and @Noelle, the lime plant that I have is Grafted dwarf Tahitian Lime and at the moment I have planted the lime tree in the pot of size 46X36cm (shown in the 2nd photo) which is fairly big so I will surely repot it in a smaller pot soon.
Though while planting I have used citrus potting soil and used organic compost both from bunnings and as for other fertilisers I have added some slow releasing fertiliser, Epsom salt and once a month use seasol water(as per instructions).
Let me know if I need to do anything more or if I am doing something wrong.
Thanks

[Noelle]

Hi again NehaJain

If you are using a citrus and fruit tree potting mix as well as a citrus slow release fertiliser, there is no need to also apply Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate - which should be dissolved in a watering can and watered in).  Epsom Salts is usually only added when there is an obvious magnesium deficiency showing in the leaves as obvious yellowing of leaves with distinct green veins.

Using a seaweed solution two or three times at fortnightly intervals after repotting will help overcome the stress of disturbance but shouldn't be necessary after that.

Main thing to watch with citrus in pots is that you water regularly, especially over summer. Pots can dry out quite quickly when the weather is warm.

[NehaJain]

Thanks a ton @Noelle for the advice.. surely will keep it in mind. And Next time before potting a plant will seek advise here..

[chefyash]

Hi Neha, what you can do as well to save it from drying out is either use coir mulch or get one of those automatic watering bottle spike things. alernatively a milk bottle with holes in it will work too, just doesnt look very attractive. I had lots of citrus in Nz (2 lemon, 2 lime, calamansi, kaffir lime, mandarin ) and they all were flourishing.All i fed them was worm wee and epsom salt. they were in the ground though, so needed less care, but watering for sure .