Well, sorry to see no responses, if you haven't germinated seeds I've started almost 80 so if you have a few years to spend finding out come to Lori's or Silvia's swap and I'll give you a few seedlings.

Tom

Thanks for responding, Tom.

Unfortunately those swaps are a 6 hour or more drive from where I live, so I won't be coming. I wish I could! I'll have to live vicariously through the pictures that are (hopefully) posted after the parties.

Since I am so far away, I was thinking of begging a few seeds off someone. (If anyone still has any they haven't planted already!)

I'm happy to provide a SASE or whatever. As for trades, since I am just starting back with gardening this year, my seed selection is small and mostly run-of-the-mill stuff. I do have a few yellow-fleshed Moon & Stars watermelon seeds, and my Owari Satsuma mandarin orange tree still has a few fruit that I could harvest seed from.

Laura

Hi Laura

To be successful with the seeds, they have to be planted as fresh as you can get...I will send you some seeds, just send me your address.
Maybe one day you can come to any of the swaps, it will be a nice road trip and maybe you can come with other gardener, a lot of people come from far away places.
I will take your offer on the seeds some other time, thanks.

About your questions on the tree, when young I protected from the cold but now I don't. It is about 5 feet tall and has the same productions as a Meyer lemon that I also have. They both have blossoms and small fruits now.

Here it is today with the pots around.

Silvia

Thank you, Silvia. I just sent you a email with my address. I'll be sure to protect the tree(s) from the cold when they are small. I'm excited to try growing these - I have always wanted a lime tree and these red limes look amazing.

I'd love to come to one of the swaps someday. The trouble with coming is not so much the road trip as leaving all the kids with DH for a couple of days. Maybe I can work an Orlando vacation around the time of a swap someday. "Okay, honey - you take the kids to the park while I go trade plants today. Bye!" Think that would work? :-)

Laura - I got your email and the seeds will be send tomorrow. Another thing that I like is that the tree is thornless, I had it in a container for a year before I transplanted, because of the small size it is easy to cover from the frost.

And yes about the trip, that would work... we have to be creative sometimes,lol

Silvia

Silvia, did you say they don't have thorns? Of the three seeds I started last year from the limes you sent me this one has the most growth....

Tom

Hi Tom

I have to look at the tree tomorrow but I am kind of sure they don't have thorns, at least not wicked like the Meyer lemon,lol.
Maybe we will get some seedlings with thorns and others not, the future will tell...

Silvia

Hi Silvia, whatever happens I don't care, the germination rate is amazing. These seeds are a lot of fun :-)

Tom

Hurray, something else thorny to bring inside when it's cold! It's probably been long enough that DH has forgiven me for overwintering a large pineapple plant in our bedroom...

@ Silvia: My last comment in the "Red Lime Cold Hardiness?" thread was meant to be funny - a joke about crazy things we gardeners do as a result of our obsession with plants. I realized after I posted it that I might seem ungrateful for your gift of seeds. That's not the case at all! I'm really looking forward to them, thorns or not. I already knew that most citrus seedlings (and many mature citrus trees) have thorns.

I need to learn to think before I hit "submit."

@Tom: My satsuma had a few thorns when it was young, but quit producing them after it gained some size. Perhaps these will grow out of their thorns as they age and be thornless like Silvia's? Time will tell.

GardenWeb won't let you reply to the same topic twice in a row unless you change the subject line when you make the second reply. Strange.

Then it posts the second reply (with a different subject line) in the original thread. Even stranger!

So in my last post I said, "My last comment in the "Red Lime Cold Hardiness?" thread..." instead of just "My last comment..." thinking my reply would be in a new thread. But GW put it in the original thread, so it sounds like I am crazy. Okay, maybe I am a little strange, but not that kind of crazy. I just didn't realize my post was going to end up *here.*

I think I had better turn off my computer and go outside now...

Laura - Don't worry about the small stuff,lol.
What you said made sense maybe they outgrow the thorns as they age. In any case as long as they have good tasting fruit and are productive, that is all that matters.

Tom - I am glad that you are having fun with the seedlings, you get to use that sophisticated equipment that you have for growing.:)

Silvia

Tom - I am glad that you are having fun with the seedlings, you get to use that sophisticated equipment that you have for growing :-)

That's half the fun of it, so far 18/20 seeds from the original batch have come up and apparently I had some doubles and didn't know about. I'm happy with a 90% germination rate :-)

Tom

Tom

Laura, Interesting about the thorns. Let me know how the seeds do you you, if you have any problems I can send you some seedlings since they are doing well here.

Tom

Thanks, Tom. I will definitely let you know if I have any problems. How long should I expect germination to take? 2-3 weeks?

@ Silvia: I am still waiting for the seeds in the mail. The Post Office must be too busy with Spring Break postcards to deliver the seeds, heh. I will let you know when they arrive.

Right on, mine emerged between 14-28 days.

Tom

Silvia, I received and planted the seeds today. Hopefully I will have seedlings in a few weeks. Thanks again!

Laura

Laura - You are welcome and good luck with the seeds!

Silvia

The red lime plants look beautiful. I would love to have 2 or 3. Sylvia or Tom can you help me with this? My email is the1ronald@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Silvia and all, I thought I would give an update.

Silvia sent me 18 seeds and from them got 6 seedlings. One was wimpy and died right off the bat. The other 5 are all still alive.

There is some variability in the plants. The largest three are mini-trees, about 4' tall. The smallest two are more bushy, 1'-2' tall. I have been letting them assume their natural size and shape so far (no pruning). All have wicked thorns!

None have bloomed yet. If they are like key limes, they might fruit next year. If they are like oranges, it may be 5 more years. I will just have to wait and see.

When we had two nights that dropped into the teens last winter, I brought three of them into the garage. The other two stayed outside. I put a small one near my satsuma tree, out in the open. I put one of the big ones near a south-facing brick wall. No lights or covers for either of them.

Both survived, though the small one in the open took more damage, of course. The bigger one by the south-facing wall only took a teensy bit of tip damage on tender new growth. Both have completely recovered and are now bigger than they were before the freeze.

All the plants stayed outside, in the open, for all of the other frosts and freezes. No problems.

So, the claim that *mature trees* can survive 10F doesn't seem too far-fetched at all.

Still, I intend to plant one or more of them in the ground near that south-facing wall, to give them a little more protection.

Still, I intend to plant one or more of them in the ground near that south-facing wall, to give them a little more protection.

Make sure they are not too far from a south wall or heat radiation from the wall at night won't get to them to protect them, less than the height of the wall....

I still have seven left, all as you say with wicked thorns so I hope we do get red limes as they may have reverted back to one of the parental lines. I pruned mine pretty hard as I want them to stay squatty, and I'm keeping them pot-bound deliberatly as I really don't want them to be very big when they start blooming.

Ron, send me an email from (My Page), if you're close enough I'll give you a couple of plants.

Tom

Hi Laura, is good to know that you are successfully growing some seedlings, I really hope that you and Tom get some fruits soon. What I like about this variety is that for some reason it is very low care and not showing signs of insects or disease and it is very cold hardy for me.

Hi Tom, my tree was kept in a container for some time and I kept it pruned maybe that is the reason that now it only gets 4 or 5 feet tall, I like to keep it small.

Silvia

Hi Silvia,

I am a little concerned about the thorns, only time will tell what we really have. As long as I get some sort of lime not subject to greening I'll be happy.

Tom

Tom -

Thanks for the tip about not planting the tree too far from the wall. I was thinking 5' or so from the wall, since these will hopefully be small trees. The wall is pretty tall there, since the roofline goes up to a gable on that side of the house. (The tall wall also means the good protection from cold north and northwest winds, too.)

Silvia -

Like Tom said, as long as it's some sort of lime and survives my winters, I am happy. Greening is not bad up here - yet - but if the tree is not susceptible to greening that would be awesome.

My little trees have been very healthy so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing their fruit some year soon. Thanks again for the seeds!