Hello everyone. I've got a question about my key lime plant. About a year and a half ago we made a key lime pie and saved all the seeds. We planted them in soup tins and potting soil and one actually popped up. Here's a picture of it now. It's about 57cm (22in) tall, and the biggest leaf is about 10cm (4in) long. The topmost leaves are the darkest and most healthy looking, the bottommost leaves tend to be yellowish, and a few have even fallen off in the past. From looking at other pics on the net, it seems to me that key limes and citrus plants/trees tend to be more 'bushy', but mine's just a trunk with leaves and tiny thorns - it has no branches. Is my plant ok? Will it every grow fruit, or is it basically just a mutant? Should I prune the trunk to get some suckers going to create branches? Or should I just let it be?
Most citrus trees tend to have limited branching, from my experience growing them indoors. In the past I've tried to create bushy plants through pruning but the effect is temporary. It seems futile to fight nature. Having said that I believe key lime is one of the bushier ones. In your case I would pinch off the tip once the tree has reached the point where you would like to see the first branches. I believe exposure to direct sunlight outside during the warmer times of the year would encourage branching as well. The tree should be fertilized on a regular basis with a fertilizer that approximates a 5-1-3 NPK ratio. Be sure it includes microsnutrients in its formulation. Key lime has the shortest juvenility period of all citrus and should begin to flower and bear fruit in approximately two years. Pruning will delay a tree's maturation.
