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🍋
Lemon & Lime (Loomi)
ليمون
Every Gulf courtyard deserves a citrus — local limes especially thrive.
💧 Summer water
Deep, every 2 days
💧 Winter water
Every 5 days
☀️ Sunlight
Full sun
🔥 Heat
Handles heat
🌱 Difficulty
Moderate
⏱️ To harvest
2–3 years
🪴 Containers
Yes, grows in pots
📅 Best sowing
Sep, Oct, Nov, Feb, Mar
Planting calendar (UAE)
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
💧 Watering
Deep soak when the top 5 cm dries; yellow leaves usually mean too MUCH water, not too little.
☀️ Sunlight
6+ hours; young trees appreciate August afternoon shade for their first two summers.
🪨 Soil & setup
Free-draining is life or death — citrus in standing water dies. Feed with citrus fertiliser Feb, May, September.
🧺 Harvest
Pick when fully coloured; citrus doesn't ripen off the tree. Fruit holds on the tree for weeks — it's its own storage.
🧓 Grandmother's notes
- ◆Buy a grafted tree; seed-grown citrus takes 7+ years and may disappoint.
- ◆Leaf-miner squiggles on young leaves look alarming but barely matter on an established tree.