Wanted to update with some more pics. These three trees are doing quite well. I did have to cover them when it froze and I did lose a bit of growth, but they are aggressively growing again this spring. No blooms so far, but I read it could take a while. The small one was the original that froze to the ground! It has made a comeback!

Thanks for the likes and comments. Once I get some blooms and hopefully fruit, I will update again.

Happy Growing!

Wish granted. They bloomed! They did bloom once before this, and we have two or three small finger limes growing, but they are hard to get a good pic of. Here is the bigger bloom.

I di not see a picture of the bloom... i am salivating here. I wonder if they will do well in containers.

Well I guess my iPhone did not upload the pictures... Sorry about that.

Hopefully these will upload.

Here is some of the new growth on these trees. I know they say these are slow growers, but mine seem to love their spot in the yard. Mine did great in containers, but I really wanted them in the yard and to get as large as possible. I had mine in 3-5 gallon pots after they arrived. I took your advice on starting that way, and it has paid off in spades. The original I planted is also doing well but is half the size of these two. Honestly they may do better in containers, but since I have 17 other fruit trees in my yard, I figured what the heck.

Once I see the fruit is big enough to take a picture of, I will upload it (hopefully on the first try).

I still find the growth in 2 months amazing.

Thanks! Detharal.

WOW those trees do look healthy. Can you imagine if every one of those blossoms make a fruit. What a feast!!!! Pink blossoms. Who would have thunk.

I ordered mine march2019 from uscitrus as a tube tree and about 20 bux cheaper than the going rate this year. Its grown ok ended up having to trim a few limbs longer than 2 ft over the winter as they were bigger than the trunk. Its since bulked out quite a bit and I'll be up potting in the next couple of months.

well the price gouging is not good to hear. But great to hear the continuing growth of your trees.

Have a few of these guys, the rest are still on the smaller side. Amazing how fast these grow. These trees are pacing my Nellie Stevens holly behind them.

That is so exciting. I can't wait to see you cut the first one up and eat it. All I can say ;is there better be pictures.

What an interesting fruit. I've loved reading about them and seeing all of your photos!

Here's an interesting side story on finger limes. Listen, or scroll down to read: Exotic Australian Fruit May Help Save Florida's Citrus Industry. Not to speak of Texas citrus industry as well.

@detharalDo you cover up the fingerlimes in the winter? I have 2 in pots and was thinking to plant one in ground. I live in Houston too.

So Detheral; have you eaten any fruit of the tree yet? I am dying to hear about the act of consumption. LOL. Are they sinfully delish?

@ Phuong Le; I don't have first hand experience. The Finger Lime Site listed above and here says that they are hardy to Zone 8 and gives a very generous map. BUT then they say hardy to 20ºF and that is Zone 9 a in my book of hardiness zones. Z8a can get to a rare minimum of 10º. Either way I would think that Houston would do. Get some frost cloth or a big sheet to drape it. Place it on the south side of a masonry wall will buy you some degrees. I am 8b and that is supposedly a 15º minimum.

Hi! How can I buy a tree? I’d LOVE one but the link I saw in previous comments no longer works. Thanks in advance!! The trees in the previous comments look amazing! I’m in the Austin area and hoping to add this to my collection.

Wanton - I did try one that fell for some reason, it was not mature yet. Could tell it would take another month or so to get ripe. A definite lime taste and cool texture!
Elena - Unfortunately no known retail supplier has them available to ship to Texas any longer. US Citrus has stopped selling trees due to hurricane and USDA quarantine. Really sad situation for them during these times. The only way I know to get them now is Etsy or Amazon but you take a risk there and they are overpriced... saw a red one for over $500!!!
I am going to try to germinate some of the ones I get this year just to see if I can. I have read it is a challenge. Might try cloning when I prune them after harvest as well.
Will update when I open a ripe one up.

Some updated pics.

Just in case you are wondering, those are not weeds under the tree. It is borage and lemon balm :)

Detharal, are you in houston? maybe I could get a clipping from you to graft onto another citrus. Worth a shot?

Yes I am, I will message or post here before I prune. We will figure out a way to get a branch or two, to you. I usually prune these late as they love to grow after pruning.

detharal, another H-towner here. If you can share a clipping, I'd love one to graft, too.

Would love an update, I’m in Houston and new to all this but looking to buy them somewhere. Has anyone found a place to purchase if not growing

My fellow growers. While I did try to clone and graft a few branches before the Winter Freeze, all were unsuccessful.

While I double bagged my Finger Limes before the storms (with frost and freeze bags to the ground), all three trees took major damage. I know they will come back but I guess I lost at least 1/2 of each tree.

Hopefully once these start growing again, I will know the extent of the damage.

I will keep y'all informed.

That is super sweet of you to think of it in the midst of the craziness a couple of weeks ago. Hope that things went smoothly for you and your family with power and water. Hang in there on the trees. I worked to protect my citrus, but they still look bad, too. FWIW, I see the tiniest of green buds along the branches that suggest the trees may pull through. We all cross our fingers and wait. For the record, my deal with H-town is that I put up with the summer soupy heat for gorgeous winters. I want my money back for Feb 2021, heck for most of 2020, too.

Gosh, I read this thread and was like: I need to know if they made it through the freeze! Glad to see they didn’t completely die!

@Elena Ochoa-Albiztegui did you ever find one? I’m in South Austin and looking as well!

No worries about trying to clone and grow from seed. I love doing that and hopefully these trees will pull through. All of my citrus got hit really hard! A lot more damage than I originally thought. I am hoping these will come back, but I know it can take months.

In total I had 21 Fruit trees in my backyard and only two of those are growing right now. Apple and Fig. I am feeding and mulching them as I would normally, so hopefully they will come back.

I am also in houston and have been trying really hard to find finger lime trees. would love to get some grafts or seeds from someone.

Does anyone know the variety that us citrus was selling in Texas a few years ago? I think it's austinville or wg2 but I'm not certain.

I found some finger lime trees at a nursery in TX if you guys are interested!

uscitrusnursery.com

i just bought one for delivery!

I live in South Texas and am in the agriculture industry. I was recently at US Citrus and saw that, because of the Feb. freeze they lost all of their Pursian lime trees, the Austrailian are thriving. I am not sure if they are back up to shipping trees due to the USDA quarantine for the Citrus greening virus, I would call them and at least ask. The freeze occurred right at the bloom stage so they did not have a crop this season.

I also live in South Texas. McAllen to be specific and I bought an Australian finger lime from Waugh's nursery a couple of years ago. US Citrus is only shipping around these areas because of the quarantine and their greenhouses being compromised with the hurricane. I saw they have them for sale at the moment for $80, but again only shipping to nearby areas. I have mine in a terracotta pot, but need to move it to a sunnier spot. I don't take any chances with my citrus trees!.😄

Hey @detharal, did they by chance survive? I just moved to TX and live close enough to Houston that I’d be able to transport a clipping legally. I know you said you didn’t have any luck rooting clippings, but if they are still alive would you still be open to letting others try? I’ve got some rooting enhancers that I’ve had great luck with in the past. Another option would be to 3D print some ‘rooting balls’ you clamp on a branch with dirt in them and let the roots grow into that dirt ball before cutting the branch off.
Let me know if you’re game!

Hi All! If you are looking for Finger Limes, I found them at the HEB in Sugarland this week. you get about 5 fingers for 4 bucks. We bought 2 packages and so far have found 3 seeds after eating 5 of them. I am currently trying to germinate but not sure how viable the seeds are. Detharal? By chance have you tried to air layer one of the branches to get a new plant? I would love to get my hands on a plant if you have anything to share or sell or trade. I grow other fruit trees like mango, papaya, cucamelons, soursop, sugar apples and dragon fruit. I also grow alot of peppers too if you are a fan of peppers. LMK

Update from my previous post. The seeds I was able to get from the 4 packs of finger limes I bought from HEB were viable. I currently have 5 little plants growing now. I also just planted another 11 more seeds yesterday and hope to see them sprout up in about 2 - 3 weeks. The seeds have to be planted fairly quickly once the fruit has been opened. Dried seeds are not viable, You almost have to plant the seed right away to have a chance at germinating the seed.

Once they are at a good size, I will start grafting them to other citrus trees, so I can have more of these trees/bushes. These are the limes with the light green spheres in them and will start to look for the pink and red colored one. If anyone here has any and is willing to do a trade, please message me. I just need a few fruits to see if I can get seeds from them. I hope y'all had a chance to get some of the limes at HEB. We absolutely loved them. Happy gardening everyone!

P.S. If you are looking to purchase some of the finger limes. You can order them at www.shanleyfarms.com

do you know if your heb still has them. the ones in katy do not

I called uscitrusnursery.com and they said they are in a quarantine zone and cannot deliver outside their zone, but if you pick the tree up, they will not ask questions. They are in the Valley, so it is a bit of a drive for houstonites. They did say they are opening a new nursery in march 2023 that will be able to serve us

Thomas unfortunately the HEB by my house does not have anymore of them. Trust me everytime I go to HEB, I make sure to see if they have more. I have one more lime left at the house so I am hoping for some more seeds.

The site that I listed on my post is the name of the farm that the finger limes I bought from HEB came from. it looks like you can order from them directly (the fruit that is) from them but you have to pay 14 bucks for the shipping. Prices are not bad, just the shipping is a bit high for some limes that do not weight that much.

I also called uscitrusnursery.com and spoke to someone there that said they will start shipping outside their area in March. I plan to order one from them if they have the pink or red color finger limes. I already have 5 of the green ones and have another 11 seeds germinating. hoping to have at least 15 of these plants so I can share with all my friends and family. I am just not sure how long it will take before they start to produce fruits. because of this, I may buy one from uscitrusnursery if they are more mature and already have fruits.

After going to 3 other HEBI found one that had some, bought 3 packages and opened one lime to taste them, it had 4 seeds! I have the remaining limes from that first package in the refrigerator and vacuum sealed the rest and put them in the freezer. I looked up the address of the nursery, and I have a construction roject near them. Next time I need to go I think I might stop by. I heard it can take 3-5 years for a tree to produce ruit rom a seed, and due to hybridization, you might not get the fruit that you want.

I have a finger lime tree purchased from us citrus. It's doing great! I need recipes!

I have one - given to me as a birthday present. Had never heard of them until recently (via foodie daughter).

Obviously, east anglia in the UK is NOT Texas...but I grow a surprising number of Texan natives in my dry climate (and lean soil. Hope no-one minds a UK interloper (banned returner too but less said about that...)

Good to see you still posting, wantonamara. - small blue bellflower...but now rampant rosy wildling

We have plenty of finger limes on our tree if anyone in Texas or the US is interested. I don't really know what to do with them. Suggestions welcome!

Leigh, i hear that they freeze well

Did you get anything out of the seeds that I sent you "Rosaprimula". If you are who I think you are. All my favorite people get banned.

Experiment with them with good mild cheeses on crackers. I hear they taste good raw. maybe even a simple cream cheese. A lot of people are using them in salad. " 10 best ways to use finger limes" according to one site.

I surely did, Mara. Ipomopsis feature in numerous UK gardens now. Back on the callirhoe mission.

I am in The DFW area right under dallas i am guessing the uscitrus is farther south than houston huh? I really am hoping to find both the red and green variety of this lime tree i was smitten with them from first sight so cool