A Kalamansi Tree Grows In Tallahassee

Spring has arrived and I’ve joined the many folks who are planting something. After reading some posts on Facebook, I went “native” and bought a kalamansi bush (which is called “calamondin” in the US).

Kalamansi is a small Philippine lime which I enjoyed growing up. It’s two main uses are squeezing the juice onto food such as pancit (noodles) and drinking the juice in a “lemonade” form. Just as “iced tea” is a typical Southern beverage during hot days, so too is kalamansi juice a typical Filipino drink to keep cool.

Kalamansi fruit and juice

Since it freezes in north Florida, I did not think I could grow kalamansi, much less even find it. But friends of mine noted that it grows in south Florida. Then, a friend in central Florida said he grows kalamansi in a pot. Other friends posted that Home Depot was selling them in pots. After some online research, I found an area nursery selling them as well.

So I bought one. I have to keep it in the pot so I can bring it indoors during the few winter freezes but otherwise it will thrive outdoors because it likes sun. Not sure when I will see some fruit but it looks like it may take two years. Keeping it in a pot will limit its size and therefore the amount of fruit but a tree would probably bear much more fruit than I could use before spoiling. Friends said that any fruit I don’t use can be squeezed into ice cube trays (for portion control) and then frozen.

And here it is…