Devonviolet Acres

[babsbag]

What will you do about pollination or do they not need pollinated to make fruit? I know that mandarins do not. I have a mandarin, lime, lemon, and some variety of orange on my porch. I think the orange is supposed to be a Washington Navel but it is right next to the lemon tree and I always get fruit that is a mixed up hybrid mess. Obviously the bees are at work.

 

[Devonviolet]

I never really thought about cross pollination. This is the third year we have brought the trees inside, and we have always gotten blossoms and fruit while the trees were inside. But, you have a point, @Bruce & @babsbag. I may just look for one of my paint brushes and do some artificial cross pollinating. Maybe we will get more lemons and limes. DH said we are definitely not importing insects to do the job naturally!
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Okay, I stopped writing to go find a couple of my artist paint brushes, so I could help pollinate the two trees. The lime tree seems to not need help with that, as when I was carefully touching the brush to the stamens of a couple flowers, I could see the center of the blossom already has little tiny limes forming. Now that I think back, I do remember seeing that in Winters past.

The lemon tree only has four blossoms open, so, using a different brush, I went back and forth touching stamens for all four flowers interchangeably.

You may have a good point, @babsbag, when you mention your Navel orange crossing with your lemon tree. We had the two trees right next to each other, in the back office, in front of some big windows. We moved the lemon tree to a West facing window in the living room (about 35 feet away from the lime tree, so we don't have cross pollination.

Kaffir Lime (pronounced Kuh-fear) is more of a medicinal lime, although in Asian cooking, it is used for flavoring.

Here is a blurb, from a site, which discusses health benefits of Kaffir Lime:

kaffir Lime, is a fruit. It is found in Indochinese and Malaysian regions of Asia. (India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand). It is a thorny bush. It grows up to 3-5M in height and is evergreen. The leaves of Kaffir Lime are highly aromatic. The leaves are double lobed, which makes them appear as if two leaves are joined together.

Its fruit is rough, bumpy and green. Roll the leaves and finely chop them to smell the aroma.

Because of its traditional medicinal use it is also known as jeruk obat ("medicine citrus"). The juice and rinds of Kaffir Lime are used as medicine. The oil abstracted from the rind has strong insecticidal properties. The juice is used to keep gums healthy. It is used in brushing teeth. The rind as an ingredient is good for the blood and the digestive system.

The juice is used for washing hair in Thailand. It is also used as a cleanser for clothing. Holy water mixed with slices of the fruit is used in the religious ceremonies in Cambodia.

When I pruned the tree. I put leaves in 4 freezer bags, so when I have time, I can use them to make oils and ointments. I also grated the rind of five limes, and am waiting for it to dry, so I can put it in jars to use later.

Since we got these trees, we haven't gotten much for lemons. So I am praying,that,all these blossoms turn into juicy sweet/sour lemons.

@Bruce, you commented that they look like ugly fruits. In a way they do, only a lot smaller, and the aroma of lime is very strong when you grate the rind. It's been a while since I cut one of these limes open, and while I knew that the rind is very thick, and there isn't much for juice, I was a bit disappointed that the inside was kind of dried out.

Since the Kaffir Lime is really more of a medicinal lime, we have decided we are going to buy a Persian Lime Tree too. We really do love lime juice in our water.

 

[babsbag]

I am not entirely sure that they need pollination to make fruit but I know that some plants do, like melons. I also know that mandarin raisers want to be in a no bee zone so that their fruit does not have seeds. Plants are confusing, and I had a lot of schooling in this stuff. But back then I had no practical experience so it didn't mean as much. Wish I could do some of those classes over again.

 

[Mini Horses]

Why are we all up so late?????

 

[Mini Horses]

I know you like teas and use various leaves/herbs. This was part of my email today & I thought of you. Some nice info ------ which you may already know but, interesting or any who don't.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/org...DCFB98ABF03D633AF0247F710FCB262BB8F2C520BBAFA

 

[Devonviolet]

Great article. It makes me want to get going on my herb garden. If we don't get anything else done this coming summer, we WILL at least start our vegetable/herb garden!!!

 

[Devonviolet]

Well, @Bruce, you got me thinking. In addition to the Kaffir Lime, which is lacking in much for juice, we really need a juice lime tree. So, when we went to Tyler, earlier this week, we drove through Lindale, on our way home, so we could stop at our favorite Bob Wells Nursery, to pick up a Persian Lime tree. So, I'm hoping later this year, we should start getting some nice size juice limes.

The Meyer Lemon tree is now covered in blossoms, so again I'm looking forward to making lemonade in a few months.

We have been having some pretty frigid nights here, along with much of the rest of the country. Yesterday morning, it was in the mid 20's with wind chills around 13°F.

Of course that means ice in water buckets & bowls. On my way back from putting Falina back home after milking, I noticed crystal clear chunks of ice, in the chicken yard, that DH had broken out of the bird's water bowl. Then, after I got Ruby in to milk, DH called me out, to show me how ice had built up inside a 5 gallon water bucket. It looked so cool I had to get a pic.

 

[Baymule]

Boo on ice in the water buckets!

 

[Bruce]

But you have to admit it is pretty cool looking.

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, cool looking BUT -- still ice! I've added water, had it freeze over, then have layers of ice with water between...My 150 gal, had to wait for it to thaw this week as it was too heavy to lift out. About 6" thick 2'X4' ish iceberg.

AND -- thank you Canadians for sharing. We are having another week with several days in low 30's, nights all week in teens & twenties........Guess toting jugs of hot water is back on my list of duties this week.

I really hate the cold. They predict it may even SNOW again Wed-Fri ish.