Calamondin, or Calamansi, Tender to Winter Temperatures in Las Vegas

 Q. I received a young calamondin tree from a friend in memory of my father’s passing. I would love to nurture and grow this tree successfully. Any tips? Is it likely to bear fruit? How long should a small nursery stake remain?

To start side branching and protecting its trunk from the intense desert sunlight, this tree should be pruned at about knee height. During the next three years, leave it alone.

A. I am sorry for your loss. In the Philippines, where it is a native, it is called calamansi in Filipino or Tagalog. So therefore, it is subtropical, and it will not tolerate freezing temperatures, much below about 28F. If we get a cold winter, it can freeze.

It does not like our desert, so it prefers locations on the north or east side of your home. And lastly, it likes amended soil so plant it either with compost mixed in the soil (one shovelful for each three of desert soil). It grows best in soils covered in wood chips. However, if your soil is covered in rock, then rake back the rock and apply about a quarter of an inch of compost and water it in. Do this every other year.

Never plant in a dry hole. The soil in the planting hole is wet and filled with amended soil. 

When staking fruit trees they don't need a large tree stake unless they are huge. Use the stake that came in the container. After planting, push it deeper and tie the tree to the nursery stake with stretchable nursery tape. Remove after the tree is growing well, usually the next year.

             When planting it, pound the stake into the solid ground beneath the planting hole so that it supports the tree. Then tie the tree tight to the stake with green nursery tape. Remove the planting stake and tape after one growing season. When it gets established but still young, form a small tree by pruning it at knee height. Remove any limbs that are growing along the trunk below this cut.

Don't expect this kind of crop on your tree. This is exceptional and can result from planting in the right climate, providing fertilizer and water when it needs it. 

The fruit is about the size of a large marble or small golf ball and the juice and pulp is tart, like a lime. The tree should start bearing fruit when it is still small and young, perhaps the second year after it is planted. The production of fruit will become more as it gets bigger. It is harvested when the green color of the rind starts to turn from green to light green. Filipinos use it for flavoring fish (by squeezing a cut fruit seeds and all) and also as a beverage like a lime and many other things.