Is anybody out there growing finger limes or any of the Australian citrus? They seem pretty cool, I hear they are quite tender but I'm not sure just how tender, are they as bad as citron? Also, is there much commercial interest in it?

Yes, I am growing most of them.

Yes, I'm growing fingerlimes. The fingerlime available as budwood from the CCPP. I had some frost damage to my two, but nothing very significant. There is a market for the fingerlime in the gourmet restaurant/grocery store marketplace. I believe I posted an article in the "Citrus News" section about fingerlimes a while back, and I know there is this article on our forum:

link

Hoosierquilt, at what temperature did they get the damage? Laaz, I'm sure you must use some fairly heavy protection measures. In a few years I aspire to move back to a citrus friendly climate where I can have a few acres to grow citrus as a hobby but also sell it at farmers markets and such, I thought the finger lime would be a nice novelty to have.

Well, we had 5 nights in a row with temps down to between 26 and 28 degrees. It was pretty terribly awful. We are NOT used to temps like that at all here. I believe this set a record. I am only 6-7 miles from the ocean in N. San Diego county. They did extremely well. And, they're in containers to boot, not in the ground. Very hardy. Was surprised they fared this well. I don't baby my citrus.

That's really nice to hear, I had assumed they were much more tropical than that, sounds like they might be more in the ballpark of grapefruit or lemon for hardiness.

I grow both the Australian Finger Lime and the Australian Sydney Hybrid (M. australis X M. australasica). They are a great tree for container cultivation. They do very well in containers. - Millet

I think it was you, Millet, who had told me that, which is why I put them into some very pretty Talavera pots. This is a photo of them from last year. They are substantially larger than that now, but here's the photo from last year. A little hard to see against a green background, but they really like it in this location. Lots of morning and afternoon sun, then some shade after about 3:00 pm:

[/url]

Interesting about the hybrid, out of 6 Microcitrus species, the finger lime is the one I hear most about by far, Millet, you must have a sizable greenhouse to grow so much citrus in CO?

Hey nice Howea forsteriana as well

So far, Faustrime is my winner.

Thank you, Xerarch. Yes, it is a very happy Kentia for sure We actually had a Phoenix canariensis in that spot, planted by the previous owners. I took one look at that already too big palm with those enormous eye-seeking 1' long thorns, and decided it need to find another home on our property! Replaced it with the Kentia, and it provides some very lovely shade right there by the pool. Nice for sitting in, when things heat up in the summer. It, too, has gotten much larger and mainly taller, providing some nice canopy.

very nice kentia palm.

Thank you, Esmark It is very happy where it is, which is a little surprising, as it probably gets more sun than it would actually like. But, it seems to be adapting, and is certainly a much better choice than the Canary Island Date palm that was there, planted by the previous homeowner. Those horrid 6 to 12 inch long thorns were right at eye level. So, it had to go. Not exactly conducive to a nice swim and a sit by the pool. Especially after a couple of margaritas, lol!!

In addition to the fact that the Kentia is a better choice for that spot than CIDP, you So. Cal guys ought to take pride in the fact that palms like that would be a very difficult grow in almost any other state. CIDP can grow in just about any state that can grow palms at all while the Howea genus would be tough anywhere but California as it will not take a lot of heat or extreme cold.

You're in a real sweet spot where you can grow the cool loving palms like Howea, Parajubaea, Jubaea, Rhopalostylis, etc.