Sacha wrote:

I found a place the other day that does red lime trees, a mere £350! *David,
did you get an email from me about the limequat?

Replied to earlier Sacha. The problem is that almost any Citrus
appears to attract a premium and getting hold of them for a reasonable
price is quite difficult. However, only offering high priced examples
does seem to be very short sighted and severely limits the potential
market. A price of £20 - £30 for young, but fruiting sized plants
seems to be the norm, although I can't imagine folks being in a great
hurry to buy them. The few nurseries that grow them probably only
prop a few because they don't sell. They don't sell because they are
too expensive and due to low stocks, prices remain high. It's a
downward spiral ultimately leading to few if any plants being sold at
all :-(

To my mind, the Eustis or Tavares limequats are the perfect Citrus for
the amateur. They are highly ornamental, very easy to grow,
relatively trouble free (though you need to watch out for scale) and
reliable fruiters from a very young age. They are compact growers,
make very handsome specimens that only need to be overwintered
somewhere bright and frost-free. Once the frosts have passed, they
can go out onto a sunny patio, where they will flower (highly
fragrant), set fruit and be ready for picking by late autumn. In a
reasonable summer, you may also get flowers in July and again in
August, so fruiting can be successional. From grower's point of view,
they can be grown from cuttings (grafts give bigger plants, but are
not essential) and do not pose especial problems in terms of space or
heat required. Someone needs to make a killing with these and do a
'Daily Mail' on them - £10.25 each or £19.00 a pair inc p&p! I need
to rent some greenhouse space fast!