Last edited by shiny on November 11, 2026. View history
Lime
Lime
How to sow lime: Cuttings or young grafted tree
Sun requirement for lime: Plant in Full Sun
Limes are the fruit of a variety of hybrid citrus trees. There are many species of limes and they do not share a common parent because the Citrus genus hybridizes so easily. Species include Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia), Australian Desert Lime (Citrus glauca), Persian Lime (Citrus × latifolia) and Kaffir Lime (Citrus hystrix). Limes are generally ellipsoid, lime green, 3-6cm in diameter, and have acidic, tangy, sour juices. The Persian Lime is the most widely produced lime in the world. Most limes cannot tolerate temperatures below 10° C. More growing information is available in individual lime species entries.
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- seed packets
Lime facts
Lifespan
Grown for
fruit harvested 2 timesCrop cycle
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For lime, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 365 days at its best temperature, about 4380 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your lime will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow limes
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Photos
Photos
Lime crops
Lime plantings
Lime harvests
Video
Where limes grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about limes
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Who's planted limes
- Hopeman15 Garden · Potsdam, Germany
- corvi terrace garden · salt spring island
- shiny Front lawn pots and potato bags 🍅🍅🥔🥔🥔 · Wellington, NZ
- luckyluke Mum and Dad's Fruit Forrest
- Wilf Back Yard Orchard
Lime harvests
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shiny harvested 30, weighing 1.2 kg.
over 1 year ago
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bigblen harvested 9.
about 7 years ago
shiny harvested 30, weighing 1.2 kg.
Find lime seeds
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 365 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Citrus latifolia Tan.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Sapindales Rutaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about limes
Resources outside Growstuff.
