North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

Title: Message

I've never ordered from them, but Four Winds Growers has a lot of info about potted citrus on its Web site, http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/.  The citrus it recommends for growing in pots are Meyer lemon, Bearss seedless lime, Calamondin orange (kalamansi), Trovita orange, and Oro Blanco grapefruit.  I believe many of these are grafted on a special dwarfing rootstock.

 

Personally, I grow kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) in a pot so I have the extremely aromatic leaves to use in Thai, Cambodian and Indonesian dishes.  The grated rind of the kaffir lime fruit is also used in some dishes, but I don't know whether my plant (which is only about 1 ft. tall and 1 ft. in diameter) will ever fruit.  Incidentally, the local grower who sold me the plant said he'd found that few kaffir lime seeds germinate and in his experience, the plants seem to decline and die when they're several years old.  So far, my plant looks very healthy, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. -- Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn. (USDA Hardiness Zone 4b)

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Deb Schneider
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 9:47 AM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] indoor citrus

I am interested in possibly growing a small citrus.  We are  in zone 5b, so it would have to be something that I can cart indoors in the colder weather.  I'd love to have a lemon or tangerine.  Are there any very small varieties that would thrive in a pot and that produce fruit worth eating?

deb