Tree · Rutaceae
Lime
Citrus × latifolia
Give it full sun, sharp drainage, and steady warmth, and your lime tree will happily fruit for years.
Full sun
Every 5–10 days
USDA 9–11
8–20 ft · 2.4–6.1 m
Overview
The Persian lime is the seedless, smooth-skinned lime you will spot at almost every market, a hybrid citrus grown for its sharp, aromatic juice, and it is a genuinely welcoming tree to grow. It makes a handsome small tree, reaching 8 to 20 feet (2.5 to 6 m) with a rounded canopy, and it carries fruit on and off through much of the year in warm climates. Most growers pick their limes while still green, when the acid is at its brightest.
At heart this is a warm-climate tree, content in the ground across USDA zones 9 to 11 and just as happy in a pot anywhere colder so you can tuck it away from frost. It handles the cold a touch better than the Mexican (Key) lime, though a hard freeze will still do real harm. All it truly asks for is full sun, free-draining soil, and a little shelter from biting wind.
The reassuring part is that limes are not fussy day to day, and any mistakes you make are usually recoverable. Wet feet can bring root and foot rot, the wrong soil pH can lock out nutrients, and a short list of citrus diseases can catch you out if you miss the early signs. Get the drainage and feeding right and you will have a long-lived tree that repays every bit of care you give it.
Care
The short version: give your lime full sun, free-draining sandy loam, and a deep but occasional drink once the top few centimeters dry, and feed it through the growing season with a citrus fertilizer that carries the trace nutrients limes need.
Light
Your lime tree wants full sun, ideally 8 hours or more a day, to fruit well for you. It will forgive a little partial sun, but shade thins the canopy and trims back your harvest.
Water
Water deeply once the top few centimeters of soil have dried out, then let it drain fully and you cannot go far wrong. Established in-ground trees get by on less, while pots dry fast and may need water every few days in heat. The one thing to steer clear of is waterlogged roots, which invite foot and root rot.
Soil
Plant your tree in well-drained sandy loam, because standing water is the quickest way to lose a citrus. A pH of 6.0 to 7.5 keeps the nutrients within reach, and it is soil pH drifting too high that tends to bring on the yellow, veiny leaves of micronutrient deficiency.
Temperature
Limes love warmth, roughly 32°F to 95°F (0°C to 35°C), and they grow year-round wherever it stays mild. They are tender to frost, so when a cold snap comes, cover the tree or move a potted one indoors and it will be fine.
Humidity
Average humidity of 40% to 60% suits a lime just fine, so there is no special target you need to chase. Good airflow through the canopy matters more, since warm, still, humid air is what greasy spot and other fungal diseases feed on.
Feeding
Feed through the active growing season, from spring into late summer, with a balanced citrus fertilizer that includes magnesium, manganese, zinc, and iron. Those micronutrients are exactly what limes run short on, and a complete citrus feed heads off the yellowing before it ever starts.
Pruning
Happily, limes need little pruning. Take out dead, damaged, or crossing branches and any suckers growing below the graft union, and thin lightly after harvest to open the canopy. Wear gloves, because the peel and juice oils plus sun can blister bare skin.
Repotting
Move a container tree into a larger pot every 2 to 3 years in spring. Roots circling the pot or escaping the drainage holes, water that runs straight through, and slowed growth with yellowing leaves all quietly tell you it is time.
Size & spacing
A mature lime reaches 8 to 20 feet (2.5 to 6 m) tall and about as wide, so give it real room to spread and it will thank you. In a pot it stays smaller, but it still wants air moving freely around the whole canopy.
When to plant
Your lime tree simply wants warmth and no frost, so set it out in spring once the soil and air have settled into steady heat. In warm climates it blooms on and off all year, and the main crop runs from summer into winter, with the fruit picked green for the sharpest juice.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Plant in spring after all danger of frost, once soil and air are reliably warm.
- Harvest: Blooms on and off year-round in warm climates; main harvest summer into winter, with fruit picked while green for highest acidity.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 9–11
Temperature: down to -7°C
Troubleshooting
Most lime trouble shows up first on the leaves, so a gentle habit of looking them over often will serve you well. Some problems clear up quickly with a little sanitation or feeding, while two of the diseases below are serious enough to report. Match what you see, then act before it can spread to the rest of the tree, and you will usually stay ahead of it.
Corky tan scabs circled with yellow on leaves, twigs, and fruit
This one asks for more care, since citrus canker is a bacterium that rides in on wind-driven rain and unclean pruning blades. The raised, corky lesions carry a yellow halo and turn up on the fruit rind as well as the leaves, which is how you can tell it apart from greasy spot. Bag the infected growth, wipe your tools between cuts, and where canker is under quarantine, let your local agricultural authorities know so you are never facing it alone.
Fix:
- Remove and bag infected leaves and twigs
- Disinfect pruning tools between cuts
- Apply preventive copper sprays
- Report to local agricultural authorities in regulated/quarantine areas
Uneven yellow blotches, dying twigs, and small bitter fruit
This is the hard one to hear about, citrus greening, also called huanglongbing, which has damaged citrus across entire regions. The Asian citrus psyllid carries it, and your best clue is a blotchy mottle that runs right across the leaf midrib rather than mirroring side to side, along with lopsided fruit. There is no cure, so the kindest thing you can do for nearby trees is remove and destroy an infected one, control the psyllid, and report any find to agricultural authorities.
Fix:
- There is no cure; remove and destroy infected trees to protect others
- Control Asian citrus psyllid with approved insecticides or oils
- Report finds to agricultural authorities
Yellow patches on top and greasy brown blisters beneath the leaves
Take heart, because greasy spot is a manageable fungus that settles in during warm, muggy stretches and lives on the old leaves rotting under your tree. You will see the heaviest leaf drop in late summer and fall, but that gives you a clear signal to act. Simply rake and destroy the fallen litter, open the canopy for air, and set a copper or oil spray for early summer, and your tree will recover.
Fix:
- Rake up and destroy fallen leaves to cut inoculum
- Apply a copper fungicide or horticultural oil in early to mid summer per label
- Prune to improve air circulation
Yellow leaves with green veins on the freshest growth
Do not worry, this is one of the easy ones to put right. Yellowing that keeps the veins green and shows up first on the youngest leaves is your tree asking for a micronutrient shortage of iron, manganese, or zinc, usually because the soil pH sits too high or the roots stay wet. If instead the older leaves go yellow all over, that is a nitrogen story. Spray a chelated micronutrient feed, move to a citrus fertilizer that carries those trace elements, and ease up the drainage, and the new leaves will green up again.
Fix:
- Apply a chelated micronutrient foliar spray
- Switch to a citrus fertilizer that includes micronutrients
- Correct drainage and avoid overwatering
Toxicity
The good news is the juice and flesh are safe to eat, though the rest of the tree asks for a little care. The peel, leaves, and seeds carry essential oils and psoralens that upset a pet's stomach and can blister human skin in sunlight. Keep prunings, peels, and seeds away from animals, and slip on gloves when you handle the tree.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
If a cat chews the peel, leaves, or seeds, expect some vomiting, loose stools, and a dull, quiet mood, and know that it usually passes. The oils can leave the mouth or skin a bit sore too.
Dogs Mild
A dog that nibbles peel, leaves, or seeds tends to get an upset tummy and a spell of diarrhea, and may look flat for a while, but it typically settles on its own.
Horses Mild
Those same peel and leaf oils can leave a horse off its feed and a little queasy, so it helps to keep prunings and dropped fruit out of the paddock.
Rabbits Caution
The aromatic oils in peel and foliage are hard on a rabbit's delicate gut, and there is no real upside to trying, so it is kindest to keep lime away entirely.
Livestock Caution
Goats and other stock might nibble a fallen fruit without harm, but a belly full of bitter peel and leaves can turn the stomach, so fence them off from prunings and windfalls to be safe.
Birds Caution
A little of the flesh is usually fine, though the strong oils in peel and leaves can bother a small bird, so offer only a small piece of clean fruit and keep the rind out of reach.
People Fruit safe
Good news for cooks: the juice and flesh are a kitchen favorite and safe to eat. The one thing to mind is the skin, since peel oils and juice in sunlight can raise a blistering 'margarita burn,' so just rinse your hands after handling.
Wear gloves when pruning or zesting; lime juice or peel oils on skin exposed to sunlight can trigger phytophotodermatitis ('margarita burn'), a painful blistering rash.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Persian lime goes by more than one name, and a couple of forms show up at nurseries. Here is what those labels really mean, so you can shop with confidence.
Bearss
Bearss is the everyday Persian lime you will find grown all across the US and especially in Florida, a nearly thornless and seedless tree with smooth-skinned fruit that shifts from green to yellow as it ripens.
Tahiti
Tahiti is simply another name for the very same triploid seedless lime as Bearss, a strong grower that shrugs off the cold better than the Mexican (Key) lime.
Companions
A lime grows best beside flowers that pull in the predators of its pests, and worst with grass crowding the trunk where rot likes to start.
Plant near
Sweet alyssum: Its tiny flowers attract hoverflies and parasitic wasps that help control aphids and psyllids.
Marigold: Draws beneficial insects and may deter some pests around young trees.
Keep apart
Turf grass grown up to the trunk: Lawn competes for water and nutrients and holds moisture against the trunk, raising foot-rot risk; keep a mulched, grass-free zone.
How to propagate
Limes are multiplied by the nursery method of grafting or by slower home techniques, though only grafting gives you the full benefit of a rootstock.
GraftingDemanding
Spring to early summer when the bark slips · 1 to 3 years to bearing
Grafting is the method nurseries trust, and it is worth understanding why. When you bud or graft your lime onto a disease-resistant, often dwarfing rootstock in spring or early summer while the bark still slips, the young tree gains vigor, cold tolerance, and disease resistance before it settles in to bear fruit in 1 to 3 years.
Air layeringModerate
Warm growing season · Several months to root, then 1 to 2 years to establish
Air-layering is a friendly option you can try at home during the warm growing season, taking several months to root and then 1 to 2 years to settle in. Just know that an own-rooted tree skips the rootstock, so it will be more cold-tender and a little more prone to disease.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Semi-hardwood cuttings in late spring or summer · 1 to 2 years
Semi-hardwood cuttings taken in late spring or summer will root for you and grow to a usable size in about 1 to 2 years. As with air-layered trees, these own-root plants miss the cold hardiness and disease protection a rootstock would have given them.
Myths
Limes are just unripe lemons.
You can set this worry aside, because limes and lemons are separate citrus and Persian lime is its own hybrid, Citrus x latifolia. Growers pick limes green for their sharp acidity, but the fruit turns yellow when fully ripe, which is nothing at all like an unripe lemon.
You can grow a true Persian lime tree from a seed in the fruit.
It is fine to let this one go, since Persian lime is a seedless triploid that almost never sets a viable seed, which is why nurseries graft it instead. Any stray seedling you did manage to sprout would not come true to the parent tree.
Every part of a citrus plant is dangerously poisonous to dogs and cats.
Rest easy here, because the fruit flesh causes no more than a mild stomach upset. It is the essential oils and psoralens packed into the peel, leaves, and seeds that the ASPCA flags as toxic, not the juicy part people eat.