Kaffir Lime Tree Update

I had been worried about the poor thing since it had been sitting in the plant hutch for so long and had started loosing more leaves than it was putting out.  Since I moved it to the piano where it's closer to a window it's put forth more leaves and bigger even than it had before. I probably still need to put it in a bigger pot but that's for some other day.  For now I'm happy it's recovering.  I'll have to get the wife to make me some curry soon...

Lemon and Other Citrus Propagation from Seed

It was about two and a half years ago when I posted about starting citrus from seeds.

http://gardentimeline.blogspot.com/2009/02/sprouting-citurs-seeds-lemon-lime.html

Since then there have been multiple copies of that post and others who have posted how they would sprout citrus seeds. One of the stranger ones had you planting the whole fruit. Although I must admit that I haven't tried this method, I highly doubt that that method would work very well.
I have a number of seeds now trying to germinate and since I don't currently have a lot of citrus plants I figure now is a good time to start some more and review the steps and information to go about doing so.
The seeds I will be using are a bit older but they don't seem to have lost any volume so I'll just stick with what I have. Results are usually pretty quick so I'll know if I have to go buy some more limes or whatnot.
I even have the lemon seeds that were in an older post about seeds and what they look like, still pretty good hits on the google image search. They're still different colors too so I know which ones are meyer lemons.
All I really need to do is get some larger pots and good soil. Then peel the outer shell off of the seed and plant. Water when needed. Wait patiently.
A good rule of thumb, is the more you're waiting for the shorter the wait. Typically something will happen every few days of you have a lot of stuff germinating. If you want to see results quickly then plant some beans while you're at it. It will make the wait for everything else seem shorter.

In the Hutch

The fairytale castle cactus is getting bigger. It still looks like just a tower, almost an inch tall, but at least it's growing. It's not meant to be an outside plant except in the spring and fall. Likes water, but not too much, and mild temperatures.

The plumeria and kaffir lime tree are also in the hutch and recuperating from the heat. I'll put them back outside at the end of the month or possibly next month depending on the heat. I've kept them alive this long and really don't want to kill them off by being in too much of a hurry. Kaffir lime seeds aren't that easy to come by.

Updated

Well, as I feared, the bird of paradise sprouted and promptly died. It is being buried in the compost pile with everything else.
The kaffir lime tree has almost doubled in size in the last two weeks! I don't know what made it want to grow so vigorously but I refuse to complain. I checked to make sure it wasn't a waterspout and I even used a few of it's leaves in a red curry dish (beef) a few days ago.
My kitchen compost bin has gotten a lot of egg shells recently due to a lot of baking, but the recent eggs I have come in contact with had to be thrown away. No, they weren't the recalled eggs in the news recently but they were the eggs of my sweet little cockatiel Lacy. She laid two of them. They both cracked on the cage bottom since she doesn't have a nest. I plan to remedy that soon.

Watering

July heat is upon us and about all I can do now is water and hope everything lives.
I put my plumeria sprout out today in a shady spot so it can have some real sunlight even if it is indirect. it seems to be struggling under the grow light.
The cat has eaten quite a few sprouts we had on the window sill. He hasn't bothered the big plants at least. That would probably cause a little bit of a mess.
The kaffir lime tree is still putting out new leaves and getting a little taller.

More Spring Cruise 2010

One of my favorite pics of the trip was this plant. It was a bit taller than we were which afforded this neat perspective straight into the middle of the wavy stems.
I particularly liked the way they twisted as they went out.



Among my other great loves is the sundial. This one particularly struck me a neat because it tells you exactly when we took the picture. As long as you know it's spring then you can look and see where the shadow is falling and read the date. I think it was April 28.



Although I don't have a pic yet. The kaffir lime tree is really showing the beginning leaves more evenly now. Two more have started and show real promise.

Kaffir Lime Tree

It's been over a year now since this little one has sprouted. I remember it like it was yesterday, the little guy fighting to grow and not mind too much when I would forget to water him for a week. He's gotten quite used to the outside where the heat can really be unbearable. The rain of course helped and unlike the plumeria (shown in the background behind it), it's leaves haven't gotten too burned.
You're probably thinking, if you know a lot about kaffir lime trees, the leaves look all wrong. That can't be a true kaffir lime tree! Well, truth be told I have no guarantee that it is. All I know is that the seed I planted came out of a kaffir lime. In theory then it is possible that this is a kaffir lime hybrid. but I haven't found any information on what the leaves look like on such a young plant. It very well may develop more distinct leaves once it gets bigger. The smaller parts have been getting bigger as it has aged and I don't have any reason to believe it will stop or continue this trend. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Citrus Family Health

Ok, I know I've been needing pictures so here they are.

As you can see the lemon tree has gotten a lot bigger since spring. It might even intimidate the cats. I've had a time with the caterpillars though.

Next is the kaffir lime tree in all of it's glory. I had to pick off quite a few rolly pollies beore taking this picture though. I didn't know they would like it.

The key lime sprouts, and yes they're still sprouts, are mostly doing ok. They are still in order with 1 at the bottom left and 12 at the top right. 6 is, as you can see, dead. I will keep it in the pot just in case it comes back from the root but I'm not holding my breath or anything.

First frost is still some time away and they won't come in until then and hopefully most of the key lime sprouts will have new homes by then.

Kaffir Lime Tree

I believe I will finally start calling it a tree. It's still not very big but it has to face some big problems. Winter is coming and the cats can smell the dirt about to be brought into their domain. Even outside though it has had to face caterpillars eating it's leaves and outside cats knocking it's pot over.
For it's resiliance in the face of these obsticlesI believe it has earned the right to be called a tree.