PlantFiles: Calamondin Orange, Panama Orange, Calamansi
X Citrofortunella mitis

I have about 6 of these trees @ my place they have been here since I moved here >25 yrs ago. I never knew what they were until today. The trees are very large, loaded with fruit & my grand-kids love picking the fruit, they peel easy, chew them up a little while & they sometimes make juice from them (with sugar added of course). I don't care for them as they are very sour. I must have hundreds of fruit on all the trees. I thought they were just a wild orange ? There are also a lot of small trees (6" tall) growing around the larger ones. Maybe I should dig some up & pot them. I will start using them now that I have read various articles on their many uses.

We have a 15; tree growing in our yard. I have no idea where we got it but do remember it was grown from seeds and I planted it maybe 5-6 years ago. It has been through two very cold winters were ti got to a low of 21 degrees and 19 degrees and survived. This is the first year it has fruited and it is literally loaded with little round tiny orange looking fruit. The have a thin skin and smell kind of like a lime. The taste is like nothing I have tasted. Very tart but not as acidic as a lemon or lime.

A pleasant plant, rather slow growing here, but the fruits are edible (if you can take the very tangy flavour).. the strange thing I found after eating Calamondin fruit, is that once you have some, you want more.. despite it's very tangy nature. It would be excellent juicing fruit.

My plant is in a pot, as there is no chance of it surviving outdoors over winter, I will over winter it in a frost free greenhouse.

We live in the tropical forest of Costa Rica and would like to advise that the monkeys love our calamondin fruits. They use it as an insecticide, rubbing it all over each other as well as eating it. We have a hard time keeping any fruit for ourselves.

Elkelrod, my little calamondin does this too. The vigorous shoot is growing from the root stock, which is usually from one of the thorny citrus species but hardier and more disease resistant than the calamondin's own roots. Just prune them off when you find them.

My little calamondin is doing well after almost a year in my house but I am constantly battling spider mites. Any suggestions?

I've just recently purchased a Calamondin....it already has fruit, and I just noticed today that a branch about 12" long just above the soil line is not at all like the rest of the plant. The leaves are different in shape (no fruit on this branch) and there are long thorns on this same branch as well. Does anyone have an explanation for this?? Just doesn't seem normal to me!

My mom & I were on the way home from Fla. and we stopped for gas before we got out of the state. We were looking for lotto tickets when i spotted the little package of calamondin orange tree. I thought i would try to grow it just to see if i could. Well, I think that was about 7 years ago. I didn't know what to do with it. So, I put it in a new pot and it started growing-slowly. My bathroom window has alot of light, & so does my kitchen window, so i moved it from window to window. It has had lots of little oranges on it. Today it is about 21 " high and 2 ft. wide.
I have given my friend a little orange & now she is so excited it is coming up from seeds.
I am thankful I found Dave's Garden and more info on these calamondin oranges and recipes. My little tree is full of fruit now. Won't be long till they are ripe. First time for about 12 oranges &
they are the size of half dollar. I am so excited to now know what
I can do with them. Thank ya'll so much.
Back July we rode down to PC, Fla. & on the way back bought a Meyer lemon and it has one lemon on it.
The flowers on these little trees make your room smell so sweet..
Hey, keep those rescipes coming.
Have a blessed day.
cookiesw44

My calamondin is about 15 months old, in a container, so I can keep it inside through a North Carolina winter. Most of the growth I've gotten has been in the spring and fall - warm days, but cool (not cold) nights. A stretch of very hot afternoons brought growth to a near standstill during the peak of summer; when temps fell into the 70s and 80s, I got an almost immediate flush of new growth. Very lush foliage - it's a very handsome, shrubby plant.

These delicious little fruits make a marmalade to die for.

I first purchased this as a small potted plant 10 years ago. It was flowering and fruiting when I bought it, even though it was only 12 inches high. It is now three and a half feet high, in a 16 inch pot, and covered with about 50 fruits and just as many blossoms. I use any regular potting soil, even putting all leaves and rotted fruit back into the pot. I feed only twice a year. I drag the pot outdoors for three seasons a year, finding that it can shrug off a slight frost. In the winter, it sits near an East window, getting no direct sunlight at all and does just fine. It seems to blossom most in the fall, right after I bring the pot indoors, and all fruit that has been hanging green for months quickly ripens indoors. Last winter I had a bout of aphids which were quickly eaten by a ladybug which I revived from its' winter- windowsill nap. The fruits are extremely tart but perfect in a pot of tea with honey. Guests are always amazed by this little tree. "The Joy Of Cooking" cookbook has several recipes using this fruit. I have been so happy with this tree that I have bought two other miniature citrus trees, a tangerine and a Meyer lemon.

I am so thrilled that I can grow oranges in New York! I purchased this three years ago at a gift shop on my drive home from Tampa. I really didnt think that I would have luck with it, but thought it was worth the eight bucks to try!

The first year, it stayed small and didn't blossom at all. The second year, it grew a little in height and blossomed, but the tiny baby fruits all fell off. The third year, it grew slightly, blossomed and the fruits actually stayed. Maybe not alot (I believe I had 7). The fruits took forever to ripen. I ended up making pompadour's with them (pushing whole cloves through the skin and drying them out) and giving them for Xmas presents to family and friends. I was too afraid to try eating one not believing it would be very sweet having been grown in NY.

It is still only about 2 feet tall, but it has baby oranges all over it right now. Perhaps I will actually try to eat one this year.

I have had no problems with pests. I overwinter this plant in the house by a south facing sliding door.

Given room to grow in a good sized pot in the
southern side of our home, this little tree has been
an absolutely wonderful and problem free pleasure
to grow.

As I type this, it is absolutely covered in blossoms;
which in case you didn't know, emit a scent worthy
of comparison to the finest perfume. It is simply
intoxicating!

While the oranges themselves are rather tart, we find
it a treat to harvest the little fruits and squeeze them
into our iced tea.

Bring it indoors during winter and you'll be pleased to
see the fruits coming quickly.

Love it!

Fruit tree rare in cultivation, from Asia and the Philippines. Looks like tangerine, but more acid tasting (reportedly). Peels easily and has thin, deep orange skin.

We sell a lot of citrus all over, especially in the north. Calamondin (and kumquat) is one of our most popular. When someone orders a lime tree I try and steer them towards calamondin because they are excellent to use in place of limes. I use it on seafood, drinks and even martinis. They grow wonderfully in containers and hold the fruit a very long time. This past spring, well into May there were orange fruits on many of the trees. No doubt the bloom scent is awesome and I even moved one into the bathroom.

AS for soil… It’s hard for someone in a northern rural town to find a large selection of soil mixes. Many are using Miracle Gro’s Cactus mix with good results.

We pull back on the water some in the winter even on container citrus. It makes the fruit sweeter and juicier. We don’t stop watering; we just cut back and let it dry in-between. Don’t cut back on water during flowering.

AS for the guy with 15 year old trees that won’t flower… some citrus grows from seed true to parent but some don’t. I wouldn’t grow any fruit, nut or citrus that was grafted or air layered. For one I don’t know what I might end up with and I’d hate waiting 6 years to find out the tree isn’t going to produce. Grafted trees produce fruit A LOT sooner.

Tamara

Positive: Nice little orange tree. When it flowers, the whole tree is covered with little fragrant white flowers which are replaced by oranges later.

Negative: It outgrows the pot quickly though and will need to be repotted or the plant will tilt over. Also, the oranges take a long time to ripen.

Calamondin is the result of a rare natural cross between 2 (two) closely related genera, the CITRUS and the FORTUNELLA. And it carries the characteristics of both the parents.

The Fortunella parent, Kumquat, lends a dense shrubby habitat, small leaves and a hardy constitution, whereas the Citrus reticulata, Mandarin Orange, lends thorns, tasty fruit and ease of peeling. So the Calamondin has small, easy to peel fruit with acid flavor.

Calamondin grows well in truly tropical areas through to those with very occasional mild frosts. With its upright habit, dark glossy foliage and multitude of small brightly colored fruits the Calamondin makes a fine ornamental and is well suited to growing in containers.

My favorite citrus fruit! Of course, I like them tart! Calamondins are very easy to grow in central Florida, and fruit abundantly most of the year. The fruits can be used just like you would limes or key limes. The calamondin is actually an intergeneric hybrid between the tangerine and the kumquat, but really tastes and smells more like a key lime with tangerine essence. Substitute (peel and all) for part of the lime in margaritas, use to marinade or baste grilled chicken and pork.

My trees have been in the ground two years and are 12 feet tall, and produce hundreds of fruit already.