bought a finger lime from a nursery in march. potted in 25gal pot. kept in on the patio, used same fertilizer as for lemon, avocado and tangerine trees but smaller amt. it had only a few buds which fell off with first stiff patio breezes. Nursery guy said it'd be done budding for the year: boo hoo. But about a month and some cool weather later, about 34 buds popped out and fruited. Hot, hot weather spurt started browning the leaves and I read that in Australia they like a canopy so I moved it under a shade tree (filtered light) which it seemed to like much better...no more browning leaves. But I watered it and all but 15 fruit fell off. I pampered it which is hard to do when you don't know what you're doing. Now it's July 15 and suddenly there are tons of buds again! Weather is cool for this time of year and perhaps it's being fooled into thinking it's springtime again. I can't believe it's budded three times though, and I just bought it in March. So far, no mature fruit bud the tiny 1/2" fruits are still hanging on there.

I just bought a red finger lime tree from home Depot. If you go to the citrus section and look at the lime trees they each have different tags with the varieties on them. I found one left. It was 39$ I'm in st Pete Florida. It specifically says it can only be sold in Florida not shipped.

Laura (and Nancy) - I bookmarked a couple recipes as I run into them - Seared scallops Blood lime marmalade Lemon and blood lime marmalade Blood lime creme brulee Blood lime and finger lime curd Also a couple that call for finger limes but I expect you an use these limes too - Oysters with charred finger limes Panamanian ceviche with finger lime I expect you can also just use it where you would use limes. I did see a cool suggestion to use a garlic press as a good way to juice them (halves) since they are so small and the hand-held presses usually have inserts for different sized holes, they should fit perfectly in one and you could either just juice or juice and maybe include some pulp depending on the insert. Nancy -- the one that I got from Logee's, despite being the "bigger" 4" size, was still small when I got it and not like the larger ones that they offer overseas and the rootstock is flying dragon so it has stayed relatively "small" - mine is still in the 8" pot that I originally put it in. This was it when I first got it during the summer of 2017 (the little black plastic-wrapped pot) - For the size, it has really been productive! Plus the blooms start out a dark pink, open as white, and have a nice rose scent (not citrusy at all). It reminds me of a cotoneaster the way the blooms go up and down the branches. the new foliage starts off as a dark wine so it is ornamental too. It was Laura's 2016/2017 pics of hers that enabled me to buy one as the habit is cascading - at least the way this was grafted. It does have some needle-like thorns but so far I haven't yet been impaled by them. The other thing that I had read about them is that they naturally grow "in the understory" so they don't require the same amount of sun as other citrus, which was fine with me because I have so many other plants competing for optimum sun on my small patio (not just citrus). I had it facing N/NW but it did get about 3 - 4 hours of overhead sun (mostly morning). Plus it was recommended not to over-fertilize it so I basically only fertilized every other time that I fertilized my other citrus. I haven't pruned it yet but am considering doing so just to narrow its profile and maybe get it to go a little more upright - but will probably do so after I harvest the fruit.

I have found that annual dieback is more severe when I fertilise with commercial fertilisers, even when I stick to a weak solution. I now use worm tea and potassium only for the potted ones and this has been the first year that I haven’t had any dieback on any. It’s just slow growing, esp. the bonsai. This is just my own experience of course, but it’s typical for finger lime orchards to suggest light fertilisation or at least definitely a low-phosphorus NPK, as with all Australian plants. Hybrids and New Guinea species would be okay, I guess, since they’re used to phosphorus-rich soils. Anyway, would love to see the progess!