What is going on with commercial limes?

K

karennoca

Well-known member
OMG, after several months of using our limes (only 20 from a baby tree and its first time to bear limes) and the rest from our neighbor who also has a Bearss Lime, as I do, however much older and larger. Neighbor has a fabulous bearing tree, but his wife does not use them, and he does not know what to do with them, so I was given several full bags. I cooked with, juiced, and the very best, just cut them up into wedges and ate them. Bearss Limes turn yellow fast and that is when they are the best.

I finally had to buy commercial limes over the weekend and again, was so disappointed in them. Hardly any juice, thick skin. It seems I have not bought a good lime in years. Anyone else experiencing this where you live?

 
aw sweetie, how would I know? All I can get is commercial...and to be honest, I typically

buy bags of organic because I never know how much I'll get from a single lime anymore. Sometimes it's a few drops...and as hard as a rock.

So I have no comparison. You are very lucky to have a homegrown source.

 
The thing is, I used to buy nice limes at the supermarket. They had juice and tasted good

In the past few years, they have declined in juice and flavor. The reason why many of us have put in our own lime trees. I am hoping someone who has contact with the citrus growing community might respond as to what has happened to the commercial lime industry.

 
Yes Karen, same here. Thick skin, barely any juice in commercial limes

Can't wait until our tree produces again because the ones from the store are awful. Lemons too!

 
I am having a hard time with believing that. Last year,we had so much rain, all winter long

It did not let up for days on end.. We got 450 beautiful lemons, 42 oranges on a teenage orange tree, in its second year of production and 20 limes on a baby lime tree, only 3 ft. tall and in a pot. Citrus need fertilizer and lots of it, about three to four times during the year. I am wondering if the growers simply are cutting back on costs and neglecting to fertilize. Our lemon is a Lisbon, and from my research, they have a hard time pulling nutrients from the ground, and do much better when fertilized. Everyone loves our lemons and want to know how come they are so great. When they use the fertilizing plan I give them, they are amazed at the difference in their crop. I'm no expert on this subject, just going by common sense, and my research.

 
I squeezed and squeezed 18 limes last night and got 1.25 cups of juice!

Did the same number of lemons and got 6 cups.

 
when I lived in the Sonoran desert...

we had an awesome tree that produced tons of limes / lemons. I'd just open my door and grab as many as I wanted. Never did anything to it and it produced fruit all year long and it got very little water, ever. You drive around the Phx/Scottsdale area and there are literally citrus all over the streets dropping from every other property it seems in some neighborhoods.

I managed to kill my lemon tree in just a few months in Northern California. I think it was all the rain.

 
Thanks for the article, Erin. Explains why I've been seeing lemons

instead of limes at a few taco shops recently.

 
Karen I was surprised to see some shriveled lemons on my tree given the rain

That only happened before in the drought, but I guess it just wasn’t enough last year for my tree to fully recover. Open till the drought I never had to water it and I had gone back to not watering it. It’s many decades old so had just been able to live off groundwater. Apparently I need to give it a few years of water for recovery.

As to limes I’ve been pretty lucky, but I get mine at the local independent produce market versus the grocery store because they’re cheaper.

 
I never really thought about the differences much, but yes, putting lemon

on a taco* is like ringing a cowbell during "Ave Maria."
*With the exception of fish tacos. smileys/wink.gif

 
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