If you're going to grow the lime from seed from a fruit, it will be tall &
thin, not bushy. In SE Asia where these & the other types of limes/citruses
are sold by nursery growers in big pots, these are normally
grafted/marcotted, hence shorter & bushy & they sell well. Very rarely you
see seed grown ones from fruits unless someone's done it themselves in their
garden. I've seen home grown ones & they are tall & skinny, not bushy.

For a short period, kaffir lime leaves were banned in the UK as they were
carrying some sort of disease. I know USA & esp. Florida have pretty strict
rules regarding introducing new species because of your commercial citrus
industry, so maybe check first to see what the situation is where you are.

DC.


"Jed" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 14:02:49 GMT, Lou wrote:

Does anyone have any experience growing the lime leaves used in Thai
cooking? I believe they're called Kaffir in the US. I live in
Florida, so if they're a true citrus lime I can probably grow them.
My grocers don't always have them. Also, any source for the plants
would be greatly appreciated.

I bought one from a local nursery a couple of years ago. Seems like
about that time the nursery industry caught onto the popularity of
more exotic ingredients like Thai basil, galanga, and kaffir lime
leaves and started to carry them.

I just left mine in the 10 gallon pot (hoping to control its growth to
dwarf size) and put it in full sun and well irrigated and it has
thrived without much interference from me.

BTW, I'm located in the Santa Cruz Mountains near San Jose, CA. We get
hot, dry summers and cold, very wet, but short winters (60+ inch
average) so a Kaffir lime should do even better in Florida.

It seems to be a hardy, low maintenance plant.