Last edited on September 22, 2026. View history
Persian Lime
Persian Lime
How to sow Persian lime: Transplant grafted sapling
Sun requirement for Persian lime: Plant in Full Sun
The Persian, or Tahiti, Lime is only found in cultivation and believed to be a cross between the Key Lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) and Lemon (Citrus × limon). It is the most widely cultivated lime for commercial use. The trees have few thorns and produce mostly seedless fruit about 6cm in diameter that are harvested while still green and slightly underripe. Fruit is fully yellow when ripe. The Persian Lime has a thicker skin and is larger than the Key Lime. It also lacks the Key Lime's distinctive bitter taste aspect. It is slightly more cold hardy than the Key Lime. Leaves and trunk are damaged by temperatures at or below -3° C, and temperatures below -4° C will kill the tree.
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Persian lime facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
450cm × 600cmRow Spacing
600cmCrop cycle
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Persian lime, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 365 days at its best temperature, about 4380 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Persian lime will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow Persian limes
Sunniness
Planted from
Plant Persian limes with
lemon balm
Photos
Photos
Persian lime crops
Persian lime plantings
Where Persian limes grow
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Who's planted Persian limes
- wrdnrd Canterbury — Deck · UDistrict, Seattle,...
- shiny The Deck · Wellington, NZ
Persian lime harvests
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Citrus latifolia Tan.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Sapindales Rutaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
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