Growing citrus fruit in the UK

[devonuk]

My citrus is by my backdoor, inside!
It's not much of a citrus, it's a kumquat I grew from a seed 35 years ago, I was 14 years old.
I gave it to my grandad as a christmas present, I inherited it back when he died a few years ago.
I think the only reason why I keep it is sentiment as its useless at fruit, in fact, it's never fruited!

I take it to my allotment greenhouse every May and bring it back every Oct/Nov. One year i forgot to bring it back and it was hit by a few bad frosty episodes and its still alive.
I think they're hardier than is often suggested, I reckon waterlogging in cold weather would kill it though, it sulks if i over water it, drops leaves and takes ages to recover.

You have done well, I find Kumquat seedlings are far the least vigorous of any of the citrus family that i
have tried. 35 years is quite something.

I agree that the plants themselves are very hardy and will withstand -5 C for short periods. What I have read though is that they won't form flower buds unless kept much, much warmer than that all winter. By contrast calamondin which is a Kumquat hybrid will withstand similar temperatures and then flower and fruit as usual.

[Babru]

I grew an orange from a pip as a teenager, it grew to about 12 inches high with the most beautifully perfumed flowers. Never got any fruit though, but well worth growing for the scent. I chucked it after a few years when it got red spider - yuk, I hate red spider and have never managed to eradicate it in a houseplant.

If a calamondin is the easiest to grow then I'd be interested in getting one IF it has a lovely perfume. Can anyone enlighten me? I'd love to give it a try.

I have a cold greenhouse I could keep it in when the weather is poor, and in the house during coldest spells (my greenhouse drops below zero in winter, -4 the other night in fact). Just imagining my sunroom with that wonderful citrus perfume.....

[DannyK]

Calamondin does have nice scent.

The fruit is used like lemon, very sour.

Keep your eyes open in Tesco, B&Q etc. They sell reasonable plants for a few pounds, probably cuttings. Also have a grafted one, which was a leafless rescue, now in leaf. Mine kept at min 5C in green house.

The problem with keeping them indoors is low humidity, which leads to red spider, which a good systemic should control but you need to spot it early.

[LondonAl]

Have a few different citrus outside(Calamondin, Meyer lemon, Finger Lime and one that I'm not to sure about but is flowering all through the year and produces small sour fruit). Survived last winter outside with plastic overhead. It was a cold winter to got down to -5 and an ice day so can be pretty tough. That was the first winter for the Finger lime and this year it has produced one lone fruit. Calamondins produce fruit but its not that great to eat and the Meyer lemons seem to drop their fruit before it fully develops.


Finger lime fruit.

[Kirk]

Found 2 more limes hiding on my bush/tree.
Getting a bit fed up of limes, although my vitamin C level must be good.
Now the thing is producing blossom again. Which I suppose means more limes.

[DannyK]

Getting a bit fed up of limes, although my vitamin C level must be good.

Have you tried using them with G&T? They'll go down a treat!

[farendwoman]

This is my calamondin that I bought in Li*l last year. Have been very pleased with it and will definitely buy another of these cheap little citrus trees when they’re next in Store.
Very much looking forward to trying it with a vodka and soda.

[farendwoman]

Inspired by LondonAl , I have today sowed/sown(??) 7 finger lime seeds on the surface of some perlite.
Wishful thinking I think, but the seeds were only sitting in a shoebox doing nothing.

[Ben1030]

Ive killed my first few citrus, best starting with a few cheap ones till you find a good overwintering spot.

I currently have an eureka lemon and chinotto orange. Used to struggle to get them through the winter till i put them in air pots. Both are a lot happier since i moved house last year, now have a garden to put them outside in summer. They are currently overwintering in the bath next to a south facing window. The humidity is high from the shower and the window is left open during the day. I give the leaves a shower every couple days. Once the soil is bone dry (once a month) i dump them in a bucket of warm water then feed with winter citrus feed. Both are flowering.

I did have a Tahiti lime but it died a few years ago when I was working away and the gf forgot to water it. You have to stay on top of watering in the summer with air pots. Im going to order another as it was very productive and the limes tasted amazing.

[B Porcupine]

I have a few citrus, grown mostly for fun, rather than fruit (so far, zero). But my Makrut (prev called kaffir) lime is fab: great for leaves in Thai cooking and I have even minced up young leaves in marmalade. Smells amazing Just watch out for the thorns!

[Brack]

I have a Kaffir lime too, had it a couple of years, the leaves are very useful rice pudding made with coconut milk, brown sugar and 4 leaves tastes very nice) but it has not flowered. It lives in the kitchen during winter and goes outside in summer.

Not sure what it needs to make it flower.

[TrixC]

I have a Nagami Kumquat purchased from Victoriana Nursery a few years back. It stays outside all winter on my sunny patio with the pot wrapped in bubble wrap. It’s a small plant but must have 100 fruit on it at the moment, which are in the process of ripening and will be used for marmalade (great for lazy marmalade makers like me because you only need to halve the fruit and flick out the seeds). I also like the fruit for fresh eating (sweet rind, sour flesh) but I suspect they’re a bit of a marmite fruit. I’ve read that kumquats are winter hardy but need a hot summer to fruit well, it must have loved the conditions we had in London last summer.