Mexican key lime tree is commonly known as key lime and West Indian Lime.
This lime is evergreen and grows to reach heights of 6 1/2 to 13 feet (2 to 4 m.) tall. It has a moderate size with fragrant flowers with deep green colored leaves.
The key limes are yellow-green, and it has the size of a golf ball when it’s growing. It has high acidity with a powerful aroma and has less juice.
Most bartenders and pie bakers prefer the key lime because of its soothing flavor.
You can grow Mexican key lime because they are easy to take care of so long as you meet the basic requirements of cultivating them.
How to grow Mexican Key Lime trees
1. Choose a healthy tree for Mexican key lime trees
When you are growing Mexican Key Lime trees, make sure you choose a tree whose leaves do not have holes and no ragged edges to avoid bug damage.
Ensure to inspect the leaves’ underside for any bug infestation. If you find them do away with them before you proceed with the planting process.
2. Container drainage for Mexican Key lime tree
Check the pot to plant the Mexican lime tree and put drainage holes at its bottom.
The lime tree will require proper drainage for proper root development. Doing this will help have a healthy plant
3. Choose a favorable location
A favorable location comes with reasonable temperatures, which will enhance the growth of the Mexican lime tree.
Like any other lime tree, this one enjoys full sun, too, so be sure to keep it at the south side of your house where there is less cold wind.
4. Good soils for Mexican Key lime tree
It would help if you grew your Mexican lime tree in a well-draining soil area with a pH level of 6.0-7.0. Add organic composites of 4 to 5 inches and amend the soil.
When you are transplanting a Mexican key lime tree from a container, you need to dig a hole and make it twice more comprehensive than the football.
Ensure the plant has no visible roots and if it does, first remove them gently with your figures so that they do not choke the tree to death. Fill the hole with the soil surrounding the rootball.
Care for Mexican Key lime trees
1. Water the key lime tree plant
You need to water your plant at least once a week thoroughly. Do it deeply and slowly to allow the moisture to reach deep into the soil.
If the temperature is too hot and a dry weather season, you will have to water the key lime tree more frequently so that the grounds do not dry out completely to cause leaf drop.
2. Mulch the soils
Mexican Key Lime Tree
Put a layer of mulch of 2 to 4 inches to the soil to retain moisture and prevent any weeds from growing. Make sure you keep the mulch 2 inches away from the tree’s bark to help prevent diseases.
3. Fertilize the soils
When caring for the Mexican key lime tree, you need to add fertilizers to the soils. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers are useful because they help the tree leaves not turn yellow.
Look out for other fertilizers rich in iron, zinc, and manganese to have a more healthy lime.
Benefits of Mexican Key limes
1. Key limes add a tart twist to a cocktail drink or a glass of ice water.
2. It can be used for baking or flavoring food while cooking.
3. The leaves are used for making a fresh scent for items like candles and soaps because of its attractive aroma.
4. Mexican limes are a good source of Vitamin C. They are antioxidants that offer health benefits from cold and flu and other health issues.
5. Key limes may improve your immunity if you take the juice, and chances of reducing heart attack risk are available.
How to grow key limes from seeds
Mexican lime is known for its edible fruit. It’s the delightful aroma and grows in the US Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 to 11.
Mexican limes propagate reliably from fresh seeds and produce trees due to the propagation, thus making fruits within three to six years.
The seeds are defenseless to rot, so you need to grow them under slightly moist conditions to germinate successfully.
Read below a guide on how to grow Mexican lime from seeds;
1. Gather key lime seeds
You need to directly pick about two Mexican lime fruits from the tree and pick out seeds from the fruits. You do this because the fruits are still fresh and make sure they first ripen to a solid light green color.
While picking these fruits, try not to pick fruits with bird pecks or any other damage signs.
2. Slice Mexican lime fruits
After picking the Mexican lime fruits from the tree, the next step slices them and squeezes the pulp into a bowl to pick out the small brown seeds.
Put the seeds in another vessel that you then fill with water and gently clean the sources; you will rinse after that.
3. Dry the seeds
You can spread the Mexican lime seeds between two sheets of paper towel to enable them to dry for about two days. Then gently rub the Mexican lime seeds to dislodge the dried flesh.
4. Get individual pots for each seed
Get different banks of 4inches and fill them with horticulture sand and fast-draining growing mix and sow the Mexican lime fruit seeds at a depth of ½ inches.
5. Choose a favorable location for the pots
Ensure where you put the pots is slightly shaded, and if you can put them indoor, the better for the plant seedlings near the south window of your house.
Put the pots on a germination mat. You can set at 80 degrees Fahrenheit and cover them with a plastic wrap or a propagation dome.
6. Maintain light moisture for the growing plant
You can use a spray bottle to help the ever-increasing mix not get saturated but ensure to water the ever-increasing Mexican lime plant after the top dries out to ¼ inches
7. Lift the propagation dome
Make sure you leave the dome every day whenever you see condensation forming inside for at least 20-30minutes to allow any trapped moisture to evaporate.
You can also poke holes into the plastic wrap if it’s what you are using instead of the propagation dome. Germination will occur in two to six weeks after the time of sowing.
8. Keep the pots warm
After germination and a month pass, you need to ensure the pot where the growing Mexican lime is, keeps warm. And when the seedlings unfurl their first leaves, lift the plastic wrap or the propagation dome.
Keep the plant in under warm temperatures of 70°F and at night above 55°F until mild spring to keep it healthy.
9.Transplant the Mexican lime seedlings
When the seedlings continue to grow and are 2 inches tall, transplant them into larger containers to fill with citrus formula potting soil.
You can keep them outdoors so long as there is limited sun until late summer.
10. Put the Mexican lime plant to direct the sun in late summer.
When it’s late summer, you are now free to put the plant out for two weeks to help it get a full sun since limes enjoy sunlight to grow and later transplant them to a large container or permanent bed. Do this when the weather is scantily cold and moist.
Mexican lime tree in a container
Living in a less ideal growing climate and wondering how to grow your Mexican lime tree, you do not have to worry because a container can do it for you.
When you choose to grow a Mexican lime tree in a container, you have an advantage because it’s flexible. You can move it to anywhere that is suitable for the tree.
Even when the temperatures get colder for the Mexican lime tree in a container, you can move it to a warmer location.
Step 1
Use a dwarf Mexican Key lime tree.
When growing a Mexican lime tree in a container, you can find a dwarf tree in which you can re-pot the tree after three to four years, or you can remove the tree shortly from the pot, prune its roots, and re-pot it with fresh potting soil.
The size of the Mexican lime is related to the size of the container.
Step 2
Choose a suitable location for planting the Mexican Key Lime Tree
Like other lime trees, a container Mexican lime tree loves lots of moist, sun and well-draining soils. You need to choose a location where the container is put.
Mexican lime will have direct sun for at least eight hours and ensure it is located at the southern part of your house to shield it from cold northern winds.
The container should have proper drainage holes to avoid wet soils. Maintain an invariant watering roster to avoid under-watering or over-watering the Mexican lime tree plant.
Step 3
Give proper care to the container Mexican lime tree.
Keep in mind that watering a container Mexican lime tree is very important. It depends on the temperature of the place.
If it’s in the winter season, reduce watering to keep the soils not so muddy as these lime trees do not enjoy very”wet feet.”
Fertilize the soils where you plant the Mexican lime monthly until midsummer.
Watch out for overgrown branches and prune them off the container Mexican lime tree to help its growth compact and facilitate better fruit harvest.
If temperatures drop below 40 degrees F, reduce the watering and keep the plant indoors.
Make sure to look out for any signs of pest attacks on leaf limes and use insecticidal soap to control aphids, supporting sooty mold growth.
Drawing line
Mexican Key lime trees are a perfect type of lime because of its excellent flavor and aroma. Suppose you give it proper care, water it appropriately. In good loamy soils, you add fertilizers to enhance an appropriate growth and development.
Because of its multiple health benefits, you can have it at your home for your consumption. Since we’ve seen that using a container can be as good since it’s flexible and you can re-pot at each stage, the plant needs reporting.
FAQs
Mexican lime is also known as key lime, which is slightly yellow and contains more seeds. It’s more prevalent throughout the rest of the world. Mexican lime is aromatic with tarter and more floral juice.
Mexican lime is still hard and shows that it’s not yet ripe and won’t be juicy. If you want to know if a lime tree has ripe fruits, pick one and cut it into pieces to sample its fruits.If it feels heavy and the fruit tastes fresh and acidic, then you will know it’s ripe and ready for eating.
A Mexican lime tree begins to blossom and produce fruits in 3-6 years and reaches full production in 8-10 years. Fruits harvest is done during May-June and November -December.