Calamansi or Philippine lime is a citrus fruit tree that bears small edible fruits rich in Vitamin C. It tastes very sour and sometimes a little bitter but the peel is sweet. Calamansi is not readily available here in Canada. Only a few stores sell them and I find them a bit pricey so I decided to try and grow calamansi indoors .
It is usually used in cooking or marinading because of the great flavor it gives. Sore throat? Drink calamansi juice with honey :) Eating Filipino food, grilled meat or sea foods? You need a simple Filipino dip to go with it - soy sauce mixed with calamansi and chili! Now I'm getting hungry :) Let's get started and grow calamansi indoors !!(html comment removed: more)
Materials to Grow Calamansi Indoors
- Recycled plastic container or pot
- Calamansi ( Philippine Lime )
- Knife for cutting
- Potting Soil (I used Miracle-Gro for this project)
- Food film or plastic wrap
1. Prepare the soil
Fill up your pot or container with soil that drains well. I used Miracle-Gro potting soil since I still have some left from my previous projects. I also decided to water the soil before planting the seeds. Reason? Nothing specific :) I just wanted it wet hehehe
2. Get the Calamansi seeds
Now that the soil is ready, time to get the seeds out of the calamansi. One calamansi may contain 5 or more big seeds inside so we want to avoid them. Simply cut across the top of the Philippine lime so that you won't cut through the seeds. Squeeze all the juice and seeds into a container. Using a fork, fish out the calamansi seeds and put them aside. As for the juice, you can use it for cooking, make calamansi and soy sauce dip, make calamansi juice etc.. Now that you have the seeds you are ready to grow calamansi indoors!
3. Plant the Calamansi seeds
I used my fingers to poke one inch deep holes in the soil we prepared previously. I don't really know if it is necessary to space them out so I prepared pots. One pot contains beautifully spaced out seeds as shown below :) . Another pot where I just threw in all the remaining calamansi seeds we got from the Philippine limes.
4. Cover with plastic cover or food film
Since I'm in winter wonder land, I decided to cover the pots with food film or plastic wrap. It helps keep the seeds warm and traps moisture as well. I left a small opening on the side for air ventilation. Do not completely seal.
5. What Calamansi loves
Camalansi trees grow in tropical and subtropical climate, we want to make sure our Philippine lime is exposed under the same conditions as best as possible. Full sun, warm temperature, moist soil, humid and so on. Since our winters are normally six months long out here, I placed mine on the windowsill of a south-facing window. The plastic wrap will do most of the trick :)
6. Watch your Calamansi ( Philippine Lime ) grow :)
WEEK 2: Yay!! Here they come!
WEEK 4: Keep them happy and they will continue to grow!
WEEK 6:The calamansi seedlings are growing beautifully! Some of them are ready to be moved :)
7. Transplant your Calamansi seedlings
Once your Philippine lime seedlings grows their first two leaves to an acceptable size, start transplanting them into their individual pots or container. I loosened the soil around the seedling and slowly took them out making sure the roots are not damaged. Hold them in place and put soil. Water your calamansi seedling after transplanting.
!! Direct Sun or Partially Shaded?
Summer is here!! It's to bring my calamansi plants outside. I read in a lot of sources that they need full direct sun. I tried but found that direct sun here in Alberta during summer is very harsh. Some of the leaves of my calamansi seedlings started to turn crispy golden brown. A few died so I decided to keep them partially shaded and the leaves started to turn into their healthy shiny dark green color.
We'd love to hear from you! Share your journey on growing calamansi indoors by leaving a comment below. Let us know what works and what doesn't work for you.
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