View Full Version : When is limequat ripe?
sandy0225
12-30-2010, 07:21 AM
I have a Eustis limequat tree, more like a plant really, 3 feet tall with several limequats about the size of a golf ball. They are starting to get slightly yellow. Does that mean they are ripe?
The smaller ones are still darker green.
The Hollyberry Lady
12-30-2010, 08:46 PM
I've heard of a kumquat but not a limequat! :eek:
Sounds kinda cool. Any chance we could see a picture, Sandy? ;)
Are they just like little limes? What will you use them for?
: )
Richard
12-30-2010, 09:04 PM
I have a Eustis limequat tree, more like a plant really, 3 feet tall with several limequats about the size of a golf ball. They are starting to get slightly yellow. Does that mean they are ripe?
The smaller ones are still darker green.
If you want the lime flavor -- pick them green. Otherwise, wait until they are yellow-orange for a distinctive and somewhat sweeter flavor.
sandy0225
12-30-2010, 09:30 PM
Thanks for your response, Richard!
They're a cross between a key lime and a kumquat. They look just like a key lime. thorns and all. Since the largest fruits are starting to yellow, I guess they'd be sweeter. Supposedly you can eat the whole thing peel and all. I'll let you know.
It's only about 2.5 feet tall or maybe 3. I'll take a picture tomorrow when I'm out goofing around in the greenhouse.
Richard
12-31-2010, 08:44 PM
In the previous century, Limequats were bred as an intermediate step to obtaining a Lime hybrid that cropped multiple times per year. From those we have the well-known multi-cropping Lime varieties sold commercially today. Limequats have also been intentionally and unintentionally bred over the centuries. An outstanding cultivar is "Tavares".
Caloosamusa
01-02-2011, 11:24 AM
I used to grow them in Central Florida. Like a Persian Lime, or a Key Lime, you can harvest them at various times of ripeness, depending on how tart you desire the juice to be. I grew them about 18 miles from where they were developed. They are are great fruit for "marginally cold" areas where it is too cold to grow limes. :jalapenonaner:
Epicatt2
05-20-2018, 04:33 PM
Limequats, first bred back in 1909, fortunately proved to be like a more cold tolerant version of the Key Lime.
Unhappily a fully mature Key Lime tree, even at six-feet tall, will freeze to the ground at 32ºF & won't come back afterwards.
But a Limequat, mentioned earlier on, is a hybrid of the Key Lime & the Kumquat & is cold tolerant down into the low- to mid-20s, whoopee!
A small Limequat tree, even in a 5-gallon container, can be very productive once established. I use the juice to make limeade or to add to iced- or hot tea.
I picked my largest fruit which were starting to show some yellow. They are continuing to ripen on the kitchen table and 2 days later are almost all yellow now.
I guess for the other, green ones I will just leave them on the tree 'til they're mostly yellow before picking them.
My Limequat is the 'Eustis' cultivar (not 'Lakeland') in a 2 gallon pot & only 18-inches tall, but has at least a dozen and a half fruit set on it right now, plus it's in bloom again!
OK — Hope this is helpful for the OP in Muncie.
Cheers!
Paul M.
==
Who's hoping his Double Mahoi banana will fruit earlier this year before the cool temps in November set in & stops the fruit from finishing their ripening process.
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