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| I've just bought a small kaffir lime (see photo), but have no experience dealing with citrus plants. I've learned a lot from reading past posts about kaffir lime, but have a few questions:
1. The tree seems healthy, but there doesn't seem to be much new growth. Should I pick some of the leaves to encourage new growth? 2. I don't know what the rootstock is, but from the leaves it smells very similar to kaffir lime. There's a bud growing out of the rootstock - should I cut this off, regardless of the genus of the rootstock? 3. It's getting plenty of sun, but should I give it any additional feeding? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by houstontexas123 z9a (My Page) on Tue, Jul 24, 12 at 7:02
| prune everything that is below the graft. leave the top alone till it gets bigger. there's probably some slow release fertilizer in the potting mix, so wait about a month before fertilizing. |
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| First check to be sure you know what is the bud union. Unless it is a seedling (grown from seed), in which case there is no bud union, the leaves from the rootstock will be notably different than the kaffir leaves. If the leaves of what you think is coming from the rootstock are different, cut off the growth at the stem. I just visited my Son's kaffir and took off a root sucker whose leaves looked more like lemon than kaffir; it is easy to tell the difference, even for a beginner. |
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- Posted by meyermike_1micha 5 (mikerno_1@yahoo.com) on Tue, Jul 24, 12 at 20:55
| Are you sure it's not a cutting!? Around these parts, all my Asian friends own Kaffir plants that are not grafted. Please make sure. Is there anyway you can find the graft point and snap a pic? I don't see a graft at all. The bottom leaves look like mature ones taken from a mother plant and then rooted. Mike |
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| It appears that all the leaves are kaffir lime. The leaves have two lobes when compared to other citrus trees. My kaffir grew slowly after the first year I bought it and put it in the ground. Three years in, it it now almost 6 feet tall and grows quite quickly. it loves hot weather and usually has a growth spurt between now and the end of September. Make sure it has plenty of water in good soil. |
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- Posted by houstontexas123 z9a (My Page) on Wed, Jul 25, 12 at 1:03
| could we get a close up of the white bandage. to me it looks like a side graft(dont know the correct term). the leaves on top are definitely different than the larger bottom leaves below the white bandage. the upper leaves have lobes that are similar in size. the lower leaves have a giant lobe and a tiny lobe. |
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- Posted by houstontexas123 z9a (My Page) on Wed, Jul 25, 12 at 1:16
| i cut and enlarged the area i mentioned. looks like a cut and graft. |
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| Thanks for the responses! Yes it's definitely a graft - houstantexas' enlargement correctly identifies the location of the union. The bottom leaves (below the graft) do indeed have one small love and one giant lobe, but they do have the distinctive double leaves - do any other plants besides kaffir lime have these double leaves? |
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- Posted by houstontexas123 z9a (My Page) on Wed, Jul 25, 12 at 6:20
| ahh, from this doc, the smaller lobes are petiole wings. from the doc, i would guess sour orange. also check out this site, it has probably all the different varieties of citrus on it. http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/limes.html#kaffir |
Here is a link that might be useful: Dr Malcolm Manners leaf id
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| Thanks houstontexas, I think you're spot on. The lower leaves smell similar to kaffir lime, but with a distinctly more sour note, so a sour orange would make perfect sense. I'll trim them off. |
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