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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 12:04 pm |
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Hi again!
So I'd like to ask about my Calamondin, that I'd re-potted about a month ago, it had many many raw fruits, and that's how they look now:
And my question is: are they getting ripe or are they just drying and getting yellow?
Because when my aunt was visitting she said that the tree looks like it's lacking humidity and that the fruits are probably drying out... What do you think? And the fruits seem different from the ones I see on Calamondins in stores; in stores they seem more glossy and etc...
Also, the tree stopped dropping leaves heavily, but now like once a week one leave will dry out and stay on the tree, is this normal? |
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ivica Moderator
Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 658 Location: Sisak, Croatia, zone 7b
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 12:20 pm |
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Evaldas,
Your Calamondin looks quite normal to me assuming this time of the year.
Why not harvest a few fruits?
For some reason my 9 old daughter prefers Calamondin among other Citrus I grow, she eats fruit skin too. _________________
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 12:29 pm |
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Plus, the fruits seem way undersized.
Oh, I did harvest one today, that seemed the most ripe. It was pretty soft inside, and had a bit bitter taste. |
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Millet Citruholic
Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 6656 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 12:59 pm |
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Calamondins are a bitter fruit. Normally about the size of a ping pong ball or slightly smaller. The quantity of fruit correlated with the size of the fruit, also has a lot to do with tree size. - Millet (1,040-) |
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 1:08 pm |
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They're about 1cm in diameter... |
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JoeReal Site Admin
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 4726 Location: Davis, California
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 10:31 pm |
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Those are tiny calamondins. You don't eat calamondins as you don't eat key limes either. You can make calamondinade out of them, jusy like lemonade, but use calamondin juice.
Calamondins are best used as condiments, replace lemon juice with calamondin juice in many recipes to get another unique pleasant flavor. And use it just like limes. They are best as condiments when they are yellow green. When they turn yellow or orange, the best use for them would be marmalades.
Some people eat whole calamondins like they would eat kumquats when they become dark orange in color. After all, it is a fortunella hybrid. |
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JoeReal Site Admin
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 4726 Location: Davis, California
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Posted: Fri 12 Mar, 2010 10:34 pm |
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Still another excellent use of calamondins.
When I go fishing, I snip off young dark green small sized calamondins. Before heading home, I wash my hands with soap, water, and then, I crush the calamondins in my hands and rub them all over my hands. All the bait and fish smell are gone, replaced with the pleasant citrusy aroma. |
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Sun 14 Mar, 2010 10:14 am |
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But the ripe Calamondins that were on the tree when I bought and the ones that are on other Calamondin trees in the stores seem like they're... I don't know... made of WAX, they seem healthy and mine don't look like that, they seem dry, dusty, dull...
I'm even thinking about taking off ALL the fruit of the tree..
And why do the leaves seem dusty, shouldn't they be shiny? |
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Sun 14 Mar, 2010 5:40 pm |
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Plus, the fruits have dimples, that look like lovules.
IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG? |
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Mon 15 Mar, 2010 6:56 am |
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The leaves were definitely shinier when I just bought the tree, compare:
this picture of the just bought Calamondin, with the photo in the initial post... |
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Rand542
Joined: 24 Nov 2009 Posts: 9 Location: MA, US
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Posted: Thu 18 Mar, 2010 1:46 pm |
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If you haven't taken the fruits off then you can spray them with water and this might help. I've noticed that when I don't mist my plants and use my fan for air circulation that dust builds up on the leaves. That is what it seems to be to me. _________________ Growing plants, reading. |
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Evaldas Citruholic
Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 303 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, Zone 5
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Posted: Thu 18 Mar, 2010 2:05 pm |
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I've taken off the fruit. And I try to mist spray it every day.
I think the plant is SORT OF drying out, but not really, because I've re-planted it recently from that nursery soil into pine bark/peat mixture, and I'd left a big part of the old, nursery soil on the roots, and as it's in a bigger pot, the bark dries out quicker on the edges, but in the middle the old soil still is wet. So now I'm gonna water it more frequently on the edges, hopefully it will help... |
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