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Grow finger lime / lemon caviar in Thailand ?


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  • 2 months later...

The race is on to get as many of these trees in the ground as possible because demand is so high. We propagate some of our own trees but we rely mainly on our supplier. The problem is that the Chinese are buying ten times the amount of trees that we buy, so the more mature ones are almost gone.

 

There is so much demand for fruit worldwide that we are currently buying at Bt500 per kilo for export. We have built a small network of growers who mostly have around 100 trees but they are not yet mature enough to produce enough fruit. We need at least 300kg each month and probably a lot more once we start marketing.

Edited by DumbFalang
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On 18/01/2018 at 8:49 AM, khwaibah said:

Looking good. We tried them down her in Surin and they went tits up. Your in a great area for better success. Keep up the good work.

I'm in Korat, just "around the corner" from Surin and I'm buying a few plants (from Dumbfarang) next week. 

Can you give me any tips or ideas as to why your plants went tits up? Was it climate? Lack of care/too much care? Etc.? 

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Your climate and soil conditions are totally different from ours. Saying that I would say build a green house with serious amounts of composted soil, ventilation and drip system. We have done good with the Thai Limes and Spanish Lemons and Myers Lemons all in concrete rings but the Finger Limes were a no go and I know of 3 other ventures  over in my area where they went tits up. Wish you the best.

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2 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Your climate and soil conditions are totally different from ours. Saying that I would say build a green house with serious amounts of composted soil, ventilation and drip system. We have done good with the Thai Limes and Spanish Lemons and Myers Lemons all in concrete rings but the Finger Limes were a no go and I know of 3 other ventures  over in my area where they went tits up. Wish you the best.

Thanks! I'm both nervous and excited about this little project I've taken on. With a bit of luck I'll make a few bob... for my kids at least. 

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got every manner of limes and lemons, and besides battling the pests they are grow well. Finger limes, very bad luck so far, have lost 3 trees that cost quite a bit.  Even some in the ground for over a year died out in a recent dry spell.  1 in the ground is doing nothing, no new growth for months.  2 others under shadecloth also having very little new growth.  I think perhaps having to do with the grafts.  Better to buy air layered or seed grown in my opinion.

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What some growers forget is that even though native Finger Limes can survive in their natural environment for months without rain, you need to take care of grafted trees according to the requirements of the rootstock. In Thailand this is almost always Pomelo. Young trees need watering through dry spells.

 

It's normal for Finger Lime trees to have no growth for months on end. Be patient and you be rewarded.

 

I have killed dozens of trees by various mistakes and so have other growers in our group. The odd one just dies on it's own without any help or neglect. It's all part of the game. This month is a happy month and flowers and fruit are appearing on trees all over the place. Some trees only two years old - which shouldn't really happen. I have no explanation other than TIT (This Is Thailand).

 

One thing I know for certain is that the demand for fruit is getting stronger every year and anyone that stays the duration will get a very good return on their investment.

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  • 4 months later...
On 1/17/2018 at 8:32 PM, DumbFalang said:

I am growing around 20 different varieties of Australian Finger Limes mainly up in Chiang Mai. Not all varieties have fruited yet but more are coming good each year. You can grow them anywhere in Thailand. PM me if you want to buy trees.

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20171130_094455.jpg

 

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I am interested in purchasing some trees.

can you please contact me?

<<<<Email removed>>>>

 

Edited by metisdead
18) You will not post phone numbers, email addresses, business names, or web/Facebook/Twitter/Google+ addresses in posts or signatures. Web addresses to personal non-commercial sites sites/blogs, or Facebook/Twitter/Google+ addresses, may be posted in a m
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Update: Growers north of Bangkok had a bit of a shock this rainy season as we were hit hard by Citrus borer. Growers in all areas were hit with Gummosis. Both can be prevented and both can be dealt with if regular inspections are in place. Turn your back for a week and you'll come back to some dead trees.

 

Demand in the local market is weak at the moment so there's plenty of work to do there in creating awareness. Demand in the export market just keeps increasing and we need at least another 10 growers with 500-1000 trees each to fill part of the gap when the Aussies have no fruit.

 

I heard there was a guy in Isaan that has around 800 trees. If anyone knows who it is, could you please let me know. I'd also be interested to hear from anyone else with 50+ trees that would consider joining our network of growers.

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  • 4 months later...
On 4/8/2018 at 1:28 PM, khwaibah said:

Your climate and soil conditions are totally different from ours. Saying that I would say build a green house with serious amounts of composted soil, ventilation and drip system. We have done good with the Thai Limes and Spanish Lemons and Myers Lemons all in concrete rings but the Finger Limes were a no go and I know of 3 other ventures  over in my area where they went tits up. Wish you the best.

Your finger limes probably went tits up because the were not finger lime trees. There are 1000s of fake trees in the country.

Genuine finger lime trees are very easy to take care of and require minimum care.

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On 9/11/2018 at 2:48 AM, DumbFalang said:

Update: Growers north of Bangkok had a bit of a shock this rainy season as we were hit hard by Citrus borer. Growers in all areas were hit with Gummosis. Both can be prevented and both can be dealt with if regular inspections are in place. Turn your back for a week and you'll come back to some dead trees.

 

Demand in the local market is weak at the moment so there's plenty of work to do there in creating awareness. Demand in the export market just keeps increasing and we need at least another 10 growers with 500-1000 trees each to fill part of the gap when the Aussies have no fruit.

 

I heard there was a guy in Isaan that has around 800 trees. If anyone knows who it is, could you please let me know. I'd also be interested to hear from anyone else with 50+ trees that would consider joining our network of growers.

It was the metallic wood borer not citrus borer.

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khwaibah instead of your silly little face reaction send me a photo of your finger lime tree and leaf please... I have 27 variety some I cant stop flowering.... only water and the smallest amount of fertilizer and they do just fine.

Edited by Grafting Ken
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I grew fingerlimes some years ago untill they suddenly died.

 

Have never eaten one.

 

But i ate a yellow dragonfruit this week (still have one more), very expensive but sure worth the money....much much better than the ones from thailand...if i was a farmer i would grow those...i paid 20 singapore$ for 2 of them...

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As for the fake trees I know because I lost 2 years growing them and contacted all the top growers in the world with photos and variety none could identify my trees as finger lime.

 

I know growers who have waisted more years than me on these bogus trees and just got offered 300 4 year old trees for free.......

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1 minute ago, fruitman said:

I grew fingerlimes some years ago untill they suddenly died.

 

Have never eaten one.

 

But i ate a yellow dragonfruit this week (still have one more), very expensive but sure worth the money....much much better than the ones from thailand...if i was a farmer i would grow those...i paid 20 singapore$ for 2 of them...

Fancy a swap? Some cuttings of your dragon fruit for genuine finger lime tree?

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10 minutes ago, Grafting Ken said:

Fancy a swap? Some cuttings of your dragon fruit for genuine finger lime tree?

No thanx, i have a dekapon tree now...grafted. that's enough for citrus.

 

But i can send you some seeds for free if you like, tomorrow we'll eat the 2nd one and they have loads of seeds, nice crispy ones but larger than on thai dragonfruit.

 

I have seen all kinds of dragonfruit plants for sale on the kasetsart fair which will be held soon, 25 jan. iirc....last year they sold cuttings of the yellow there but mind you there are different yellows on the world..i stopped growing dragonfruit myself but since i ate this big yellow one i have to grow them again, they do have thorns on the fruit though.

 

pm me your address if you want some seeds.

 

I don't want to derail this thread but here you can see them.

 

 

Edited by fruitman
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2 minutes ago, fruitman said:

No thanx, i have a dekapon tree now...grafted. that's enough for citrus.

 

But i can send you some seeds for free if you like, tomorrow we'll eat the 2nd one and they have loads of seeds, nice crispy ones but larger than on thai dragonfruit.

 

I have seen all kinds of dragonfruit plants for sale on the kasetsart fair which will be held soon, 25 jan. iirc....last year they sold cuttings of the yellow there but mind you there are different yellows on the world..i stopped growing dragonfruit myself but since i ate this big yellow one i have to grow them again, they do have thorns on the fruit though.

 

pm me your address if you want some seeds.

Thank you fruitman.... I will take some seeds.   Send me your address ans I'll send you a free tree.

You can chose the variety from my thread and compare mine to the finger lime you had before.....I will pop a finger lime fruit in the parcel for you to try.

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I got about 15 of the best dragonfruit cuttings for free from a nice californian grower..i grew them for some years but my garden is too small for all of them...finally i culled all of them without getting any fruit. 

 

Sometimes they died, grew back but it was too much effort...also my neighbour decided to not prune his tree so they were in the shade.

 

Anyway, i have plenty rare fruit tree's so don't care so much...On the kasetsart fair i've seen all those american dragonfruit cuttings for sale as well..

 

If i were you guys and lived up north i would grow pluots..also available on the kaset fair in BKK...pluots are very very nice (hybrid between plum and apricot).

 

 

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