I've been playing with another dream since peaches seemed to work where they are not supposed to be able to. About four years ago I heard of something called an Australian Finger Lime, it is also called the caviar of citrus. I researched them, contacted my industrious nursery man who can obtain pretty much anything that grows and budded a 100 trees. One year later I planted the little thorny bastards. Here we are three years from the planting date and I have young finger lime trees with a smidgen of fruit on them. So being the marketing farmer type I took a few pics nothing special just using my phone camera so I could test the waters for next year on these things. Lord knows I have already heard enough negative comments the past four years about my sanity and these thorny weird looking fruit trees. I emailed the pics out to a company that sells our peaches to high end restaurants and Walt Disney World to see if they might have some interest. Within one day I had a question of how many and when can we have some. What I am not mentioning is that outside of about 20 acres planted in California these limes are IMPOSSIBLE to find. My 100 trees probably represent the largest planting East of the Mississippi. Rachel Ray and other celebrity chefs have raved over this tangy fruit and its use on seafood and other plates as well as the use of it at champagne bars. So with that being said I settled on $18.00 a pound for my limes, I probably could have held out for more but it is my first harvest and we only have about 150 lbs. They sell retail for $49.00 lb if you have organic.... The reason I have rambled on for so long here is just to remind everyone that sometimes dreams can come true....And even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.....
Great job! You might wanna raise your rates if the 1st season is successful. I'm sure the wait to harvest is brutal, but if you can produce this annually and it shows to be a durable yield, might you consider expanding?
Way to go, Ralph! You've reduced the need for "good luck" with your knowledge and skill. Your venture is destined to be a winner.
:idea: Great job Ralph! I've never even heard of these things, but even I can smell money looking at the photos!
Congrats Ralph!! With the explosion of cooking shows on TV, it seems like everone has become a "foodie" with even garden variety chain restraurants like Fridays advertising their Food Channel based meals. My guess is that trend will lead to a greater demand for exotic fruits and vegs not found in this country that raved about by the TV chefs. Like Gip said, this was not luck on your part but a vision to forsee a demand for a valuable new product.
Ralph When your trees reach maturity, what do you estimate their yield to be? Has there been any progress made fighting that nasty parasite that's been attacking Florida fruits?
Thank you for the kind words, you guys are very kind. Its always fun when an idea works out, now what this normally means is every farmer who hears about this will plant 10,000 trees of their own if possible and it will kill the market. According to the information I have researched (via Australia) at maturity these trees should yield 50-60 lbs. These trees are nothing special to look at, except for the thorns every 1/2". We actually use welding gloves to pick them but still look like a mongoose has feasted on your body afterwards. I actually meet with a nurseryman this week to start the process to bud a few hundred more to expand this planting. I don't want to plant too many because this is an ultra niche market that can evaporate in a hurry. One of the cool things about the finger lime is they can actually be frozen for up to one year so if market does get saturated just freeze them and wait for market demand to open up again. The greening disease affecting all North American citrus with Florida infection rate at about 95% is still ravaging the industry. What happens is a microscopic wasp carries a bacteria, it then feeds on the young leaf flush passing on the bacteria. Then sequentially it is bitten by other wasp and carried out to other trees. The bacteria is similar to plaque in our arteries and does not allow nutrients to move from the root system to the top of the tree and the cycle back down to the root system. This causes the fruit to fall off The Florida growers have pumped $80 million into research looking for answers and the USDA added an additional $125 million but no answer has been found. The closest thing that shows some hope is antibiotics but years of testing must be done to make sure that there is no effect on humans and the antibiotics that we use. I personally have tried a little bit of everything and have about 30,000 trees under some trial looking to see if a difference is made. Microbial injections and foliar sprays have showed some potential. Our first big test is in about 45 days to see if we can prevent the fruit from falling off, last season $800K fell to the ground on our farm. We are hitting our limit with losses and the seven year battle has diminished not only our reserves but the entire industry. We are at our lowest state production output in 60 years. I am the most optimistic I have been in 18 months and believe a difference is happening with our inputs. Regardless this is the main reason diversifying our crops to other things such as peaches and finger limes is so important, it just takes time. But it gives us the chance to make revenue. Have I mentioned that farming citrus is not as easy at it used to be.. 8)
I'll mail you the budwood to bud onto the rootstock but you must provide your own welding gloves. Consulting into the Houston area will include airfare and lodging of course...
Ahhh you found my assistant I am requiring, thank you Terry, budding takes great concentration and coordination. You still have to cough up airfare and lodging, don't worry I will take care of my assistant. 8)