Lime trees may seem like exotic fruit trees that only grow in sunny, tropical climates, but did you know that many people in cold, cloudy parts of the world grow limes right in their own homes?
The best places to grow lime trees are in your yard, in your home, or in a container that can be moved between the two locations. Lime trees grow best in warm, humid environments with full sunlight and plenty of water. These conditions can even be replicated indoors to grow a tree in a container.
If you have ever dreamed of growing this vibrant citrus tree, but thought you had to move to Florida, you may be surprised to learn that, with a little preparation, and the right knowledge and materials, you can grow a lime tree yourself, no matter where you live.
Why Should I Plant A Lime Tree?
According to the University of Minnesota Extension Office, limes are among the types of fruit trees such as lemons and some oranges, that can be grown indoors for their entire lives.
One strange fact to know about lime trees is that, like many other types of citrus trees, the fruit is harvested in the winter instead of the fall like other fruits such as apples. Also, citrus fruits are like strawberries and unlike bananas, in that they do not ripen any more once they have been picked.
So make sure to give your limes adequate time to ripen on the tree before you pick any of them. Otherwise, you will have limes that are not ready to eat and will stay that way.
Choosing A Type Of Lime Tree
Deciding what type of lime tree to plant can be overwhelming when there are so many options. Here is a quick chart you can use to compare a few different types of lime trees as you decide which type suits your needs best.
| Type of Lime Tree | Where It Grows | Characteristics | Size of Tree | Type of Lime |
| Mexican lime | Mexico; anywhere very warm year round | Very sensitive to cold weather | Up to 15 feet tall | Common limes found in grocery stores |
| Persian lime | All over except cold climates | Easy to grow outdoors if the weather is right; provides shade | Up to 20 feet tall | Of limes sold in the United States, this is the most common. |
| Bearss lime | California | Produces limes in the winter; limes are fresh for a long time after ripening | As tall as 20 feet | Seedless cross between lemons and limes |
| Blood lime | Australia | Grows limes that are red instead of green | Between 5 and 8 feet tall | Red limes! Small, sweet limes |
| Calamansi lime | The Philippines | Grows orange limes that are a hybrid | Up to 20 feet tall | Limes looks like tangerines; sour fruit with a sweet rind |
Growing A Lime Tree In Your Yard
Growing a lime tree in your yard can only be achieved if you are confident that the weather where you live will be warm enough for a citrus tree.
While you do not necessarily have to live in a tropical climate, you do need to live somewhere where the winters are not extremely cold or very long.
Don’t try to grow a lime tree outside if you do not meet these criteria. It might seem like a good idea to give it a try just in case your lime tree survives, but you will most likely be left with either a dead lime tree or one that you have to quickly transplant to a new, warmer location.
Places You Can Grow An Outdoor Lime Tree
Here are some places where you can grow a lime tree outside. If you live in one of these places, you might be able to enjoy a citrus tree in your yard or garden.
Many states in the southern part of the United States meet these criteria, especially states like Florida and the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and even South Carolina. If you live in one of these areas, you might be able to plant a lime tree outside as long as you are willing to take some extra precautions in the case of very cold weather.
According to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, a lime tree cannot survive if the temperatures drop to the high 20s F or below, so lime trees cannot be planted outdoors in most parts of the country. But that does not mean that you cannot have a lime tree; just keep reading later in this article for information about how to grow a lime tree indoors.
Choosing An Outdoor Location For Your Lime Tree
If you can plant your lime tree outside, you will need to choose the right spot for it. You can’t move your tree around if it needs different light or temperature or anything like that, so this permanent spot for the lime tree has to be right from the beginning.
Lime trees need a great deal of sunlight, so it is of the utmost importance that you find a spot for planting that gets full sun, which means at least six hours of sun every day. The best time to get this much light is during the morning hours.
To choose the right spot, do some scouting ahead of time. Go outside on a clear, sunny day and monitor a spot all day until you find one that gets enough light.
Making Sure Your Lime Tree Gets Enough Sun Outdoors
For more information about why sunlight is so important for outdoor lime trees, check out reasons why lime trees grow best in full sun. Then you will know not only how to give your lime tree a lot of sunlight but also why it is so important that you do so.
Even outside, there can be obstacles that stop your lime tree from getting enough sun, like the shadows cast by houses and buildings, or the shade provided by other trees.
You can eliminate this problem, at least in your yard’s current state, by scouting the location ahead of time, as we described above, to make sure the spot you choose is sunny enough for your outdoor lime tree.
There is always the possibility that something could be added to your yard or your neighbor’s yard that causes shade or shadows on your lime tree. In this case, you might be able to dig it up and transplant it, or you might be able to do something to mitigate the shade. Just keep an eye out so you can solve problems like this as soon as they arise.
Growing A Lime Tree In Your House
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the best type of citrus tree to plant indoors is a dwarf variety, as the full-sized types of lime trees are too big to be kept in containers. But there are many options to choose from, so you can find the right lime for inside your house.
Growing a lime tree indoors is in many ways easier than growing one outside because you have so much control over the environment and conditions, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Indoor growing presents its own challenges, so let’s take a look at a few of those now.
Achieving The Ideal Indoor Temperature For Growing A Lime Tree
According to the University of Minnesota Extension Office, the best indoor temperature for a citrus tree is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day with a slightly cooler temperature, about five or ten degrees cooler, at night.
Many homes are kept a little warmer than this, especially during the winter months with artificial heat or during the summer months if the household does not use air conditioning, but there are some ways to reach the ideal temperature indoors or to at least get closer to it.
If your home is often warmer than 65 degrees during the day or warmer than 55 to 60 degrees at night, as most homes are, you can first consider if other areas of your house might have cooler temperatures, such as an enclosed porch or a lesser used room.
If you have, for example, a guest bedroom that does not get regular use, you might be able to simply close the heating vents in that room, resulting in a cooler temperature than the temperatures in other rooms in the rest of your home.
It might seem that another way to keep your lime tree in a cooler place is to choose a cool area of your home like the basement or a shady corner of a room with lots of windows. The problem then, though, is that you have removed your lime tree from its much-needed sunlight. So don’t sacrifice sunshine for cooler temperatures.
Making Sure Your Lime Tree Gets Enough Sunlight, Even Indoors
According to the University of Minnesota Extension Office, lime trees need a lot of sunlight during the day, even if they are kept indoors. This can be somewhat difficult to achieve, depending on the types of windows you have, how shady your surrounding front yard and back yard are, and what kind of space you have in the various rooms of your home.
If possible, put your lime tree in a room that has a southern-facing window. This will help it get a lot of sunlight. If you do not have a room with a southern-facing window, just try to find the sunniest room possible for your lime tree.
Another way to make sure that your indoor lime tree gets adequate sunlight is to take it outside when the temperatures are warm enough.
Many people find that they can keep their lime trees indoors for the cooler weather of fall and spring and the cold weather of winter, but that the warm temperatures of summertime are warm enough that the lime tree can be moved outdoors for at least a couple of months, probably in June, July, and August.
Providing Humidity For Your Indoor Lime Tree
Another problem you might encounter when planting a lime tree indoors is that indoor humidity levels drop dramatically in the winter months due to the artificial heating of homes. That dry air is not good for your lime tree, so it’s a good idea to try to provide some extra water not just to the roots of your tree but also to its branches and leaves.
One way to achieve this is to use a plant mister, which is like a spray bottle that sprays water mist. You can use one of these to mist the entire lime tree, providing moisture to the leaves, twigs, and branches.
Another way to help your lime tree with humidity is to place a shallow dish of water under the tree or right next to it. Then the water will turn into mist as it evaporates, and the mist will humidify your lime tree.
Making Sure Your Lime Tree Gets Enough Water
It might seem like an indoor plant would be easier to water than an outdoor one, but in fact, watering an indoor tree can sometimes get messy, leading people to perhaps not water it as often or not give it an adequate amount of liquid with each watering. You can take some steps to make sure you give your lime tree plenty of water but that the water does not leak onto the floor or end up on the walls.
One tool that you really need for an indoor tree is a dish that is placed under the pot in which your lime tree is planted. Then, if you overwater the tree, the excess water will drain into that dish, not onto your floor.
Another way to help with watering is to get the right vessel. Instead of using cups or pitchers from your home, which can easily splash on walls or make holes in the soil with the pressure of the water when it is poured out, use a dedicated watering can that fits the size of your lime tree and provides water without making a mess.
How To Plant A Lime Tree In A Container
Now let’s take a look at one of the more popular options for most people in the country: planting a lime tree indoors and keeping it in your house. This is container planting, and it is a little different from planting a lime tree outside.
Planting a lime tree in a container provides you with a lot of options for placement, water, humidity, temperature, and decoration. Here are some tips for how to plant your lime tree in a container once you have decided to do so.
Choose The Right Container
A pot for a lime tree should be quite large, as it is best to plant your tree in the same container it will grow in for most of or even all of its life. This prevents the tree from having to be transplanted later, which can put the tree into shock and puts it at risk for breakage of twigs, leaves, branches, and even roots.
Make sure your container is also the right size for the space in which you plan to primarily keep it. If your pot is too big for the spot, you might end up moving it somewhere else with less-than-ideal conditions, which would not be good for your lime tree.
Lastly, make sure your container has adequate drainage at the bottom. This can be as simple as holes that have been drilled into the bottom of the pot, but it is super important that water can drain out of the soil of your lime tree.
Removing The Lime Tree From Its Shipping Or Storage Container
A lot of plants and trees arrive at your home or are purchased at the gardening center in plastic temporary pots. These are great for their purpose, but they can be difficult to use when planting your tree because the trees are sometimes hard to remove.
Be very careful when taking the tree out of the plastic container. If you pull too hard, you can break the tree’s branches or roots, damaging the tree before you have even planted it.
Before you try to remove the tree, gently squeeze all around the sides of the plastic pot to loosen the soil, then gently try to pull the tree free of the container. If that does not work, use gardening shears to cut the sides of the plastic pot and remove the tree that way.
Planting The Tree In The Container
The next important tool you will need is a bag (or two) of potting soil, which is what you will use to plant your lime tree in a container. Start with a potting soil designed specifically for indoor citrus trees such as your lime tree; for example, you might choose Soil Sunrise Citrus Tree Potting Soil Mix.
Fill the container with potting soil until the level looks like it would provide space for the entire lime tree sapling. Then gently place the lime tree in the center of the pot and start loosely putting soil around the root ball in a circle.
Pat the soil gently and keep filling the container until the root ball is completely covered and you have left a couple of inches of space between the top of the soil and the top rim of the container. Then pat gently again and get ready to water the plant.
Watering Your Planted Container Lime Tree
The last step in this process is to water the tree. The easiest place to do this is outdoors, so if you have planted your lime tree in a container that is on a caddy with wheels, take the tree outside for watering (unless it is freezing cold), then wheel it back inside after the water has drained.
If you are indoors and cannot take the tree outside for its first watering, another good option is to place the pot in a shower and water it there so any soil that drains with the water can wash down the drain and does not end up on your floors.
You can also just water the tree slowly over the course of the day, emptying its drainage saucer each time. No matter which method you choose, just make sure that you thoroughly water the tree on its first day right after you plant it.
A Few Closing Reminders
Here are just a few more tips to help you successfully grow your new lime tree, whether you planted it in a container or outdoors in your yard.
Witches’ Broom Disease Of Lime (WBDL)
While lime trees are not particularly susceptible to many diseases or pests, there is one to be aware of as a new lime tree owner. Watch out for witches’ broom disease.
According to the USDA, Witches’ Broom Disease of Lime, or WBDL, has caused a lot of problems for lime trees in a number of areas of the world. Witches’ Broom Disease of Lime is caused by insects or fungi, and it can kill new growth in lime trees.
Using Fertilizer For Your Lime Tree
It is best to let your lime tree grow for a full fruit-bearing cycle before you start using an external fertilizer, but once you have done so you can give your lime tree a boost with fertilizers, indoors or outdoors.
Give your lime tree some extra nutrients if you planted it outdoors by leaving it without fertilizer for its first full fruit-bearing cycle, but in the years after, give it some fertilizer like Fox Farm Happy Frog Organic Indoor Outdoor Citrus and Avocado Fertilizer. You might find that it helps your tree grow better and produce more and higher quality limes.
That’s A Wrap!
Now you are ready to choose a type of lime tree and decide whether you want to grow it indoors or outdoors. Whichever you choose, a lime tree can be a great addition to your yard or to your indoor plants.
Enjoy growing those limes!
References
Garnier, M., Zreik, L., & Bové, J. M. (1991). Witches’ broom, a lethal mycoplasmal disease of lime trees in the sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Plant Disease, 75(6), 546-551.
Mardi, M., Khayam Nekouei, S., Farsad, L. K., Ehya, F., Shabani, M., Shafiee, M., … & Hosseini Salekdeh, G. (2011). Witches’ broom disease of Mexican lime trees: disaster to be addressed before it will be too late. Bulletin of Insectology, 64(2011), S205-S206.
