Kaffir Lime Tree

Souness

Been looking for a Kaffir Lime tree for the past while and cannot locate one in Ireland. The leaves of the tree are used in Thai and other south east asian cooking. I see that MrMagnolia was asking the same question on here 2 years ago (gardening forum). Hoping that there has been some success in that time since. So anyone know where one can be sourced? Or anyone have one that would be willing to give me a cutting? (Posted this in the gardening forum also-hope this is ok with the mods)

irish_goat

Maybe try seeing if this crowd will deliver to Ireland. http://plants4presents.co.uk/plants.aspx?sit=14

Souness

Checked out the site and in their FAQ they say they wont deliver internationally. But as it happens am heading over to London by Ferry in a few weeks so will have one sent to my bros house there.irish_goat thanks for your reply cos that had not occurred to me until your suggestion.:)

Minder

If you are doing it that way, also check out Cross common Nursery (Based in Cornwall). They do a 40cm kaffir lime for £25.

Not to discourage you, but I bought a kaffir lime tree some years ago. Was brilliant for a season or two, then it got red citrus spider mites. They make thousands of tiny pin holes in the leaves a suck out the sap. I tried everything to get rid of them, but they always came back.

I tried the sprays. The mites came back. I cut all the leaves off the plant. The leaves grew back and the mites came back. I then tried cutting all the leaves off, and completely washed the root ball of all the soil - repotted it in clean soil. I even scrubbed the branches with a brush. It lived, the leaves came back, then the mites came back.

In the end the tree didn't survive. The mites eggs can lay dormant in the soil then hatch, and the plant may look fine when you buy it.

There are a lot of treatments for citrus spider mites - mostly suitable for citrus fruit trees where the leaves aren't used in cooking. Spraying with dilute washing up liquid, or dilute alcohol, or a solution or citrus peel. Odd that a solution made from citrus peel will kill a mite that lives on citrus plants. There are also chemical treatments - again not suitable for a plant where you eat the leaves. The treatments will kill the mites - not the eggs (the alcohol might). So there is this constant cycle of spraying - fine if its a lemon or orange tree where you only want the fruit.

Anyway - its just a heads up - if you do get one and it develops mites, it will be difficult to return it.

longshanks

you probably already know this but the leaves can be bought in superquinn, tesco etc.

obviously not the same as owning your own plant but just in case you weren't aware...

duploelabs

I'd also be a bit more PC about the title as Kaffir refers to the people who picked the leaves rather than the breed of tree

Souness

Minder, thanks for the heads up. You went to a lot of trouble trying to save it. Hopefully it is not common for this to happen beacuse as you say this will be a nonreturnable purchase.

longshanks, did not know the supermarket chains sold them, been using leaves from local Asian supermarket but as you say having your own freshly picked is always better.:)