Kaffir Lime Care – When to Buy
by Kasma Loha-unchit
8. Buy and Plant Your Kaffir Lime Tree During the Warm Months
I advise students to buy their plant during the warm months of spring, through summer and into early fall as during those months, your garden is likely to be warmer and sunnier, coming closer to approximating the conditions at the nursery where they are born and have grown up in. The plant will also have time to adjust and do some growing in its new home before the dreaded months of winter set in.
While autumn is regarded by seasoned gardeners as the best time of year for planting since it allows plants to settle in and establish a good root system during winter to support the growth that comes in the spring, this is not necessarily a good thing for young tropical plants new to your garden. As mentioned somewhere above, the rootstock is more vigorous than the kaffir lime portion of the plant and during the cold months of winter this temperate underground partner continues to grow stronger while the tropical kaffir lime top is weakened by exposure to the cold. This might just give the monster underground the opportunity to strike out and take over. Of course, a larger, more mature plant that has been given enough time to acclimate to your garden can benefit from fall planting.
Remember that the climate in Thailand is very hot – most of the year above 90 degrees F and very humid. It is nearer the equator, so the days are nearly the same length year round and never as short as it gets here in the winter and as long as it gets here in the summer. The season when the ground is drenched with daily monsoonal rains is the hottest months of the year. The raindrops may be warm but give the lush vegetation of the tropics a refreshing respite from the heat. But here in northern California, the raindrops are freezing cold and fall at the coldest time of year when the sun's rays are weak and the days are dark and short. Not at all what a tropical plant finds refreshing!
Therefore, planting a kaffir lime tree during the summer months in the Bay Area isn't a problem at all, as long as you acclimate it to the location before you disturb the roots. Place the plant at the location you wish to plant it for a week or two and see whether it has any objections before you decide to start digging the soil.
Of course, if the location is in full all-day sun without any other plants nearby, it probably won't be a good idea to plant during a very hot day, not so much because of the heat, but because there is very little humidity in California heat, especially in inland areas. Also, most nurseries have their plants sheltered by some afternoon shade (incidentally, the "mother" trees at Four Winds Growers are under the shelter of a tall, open-sided, shade-cloth tent year-round), so it's important to gradually acclimate your plant by giving it some shade during the hottest part of the afternoon and gradually exposing it to more sun over a period of a couple of weeks until it has "hardened" to full sun exposure. If you don't take the care to acclimate your plant to a sunny location, the leaves are likely to get scorched and the health of the plant jeopardized.
For instance, give your plant only morning sun for a few days, then increase the amount of sun by an hour every few days until it is accustomed to full-day sun. Do your planting late in the day, after the sun is no longer on the plant, or in the early evening. This will give the plant a chance to settle in before the hot sun and dry heat hit it the next day. If you live in inland areas, you might want to shelter the plant for a few days after planting from the hot mid-day sun to allow it to completely settle in before it is exposed to full sun. Of course, do all this during a week when there's not a heat wave! or when you don't need the fan on to keep from sweating inside the house.
My preference for tropical plants is spring planting and a kaffir lime tree is very much a tropical plant in spite of the temperate climate roots it has been given. As the weather begins to warm up, kaffir lime trees awaken from their semi-dormant state and start their growth spurt. Acclimating the plant to a location is less critical as the sun is still at a fairly low angle and not searingly hot and relative humidity is still high. With a long growing season ahead, the plant will have plenty of time to settle in and establish itself in the garden before the next round of cold winter weather blows in.
If you would like a copy of this article in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for your own personal use, please contact Kasma.
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