Acid Lime botanical name is Citrus aurantifolia (Christm) Swingle; it belongs to the family Rutaceae
Varieties: PKM1.
Soil and climate: Tropical and subtropical. Can be grown up to 1000 m above MSL. Deep well drained loamy soils are the best.
Season: December – February and June – September.
Planting: Healthy seedlings may be planted during June to December at 5 to 6 m spacing in 75 cm x 75 cm x 75 cm pits.
Irrigation: Irrigate copiously after planting. After establishment, irrigation may be given at 7 – 10 days interval. Avoid water stagnation.
Manures and fertilizers per plant: N to be applied in two doses during March and October.
FYM, P2O5 and K2O are to be applied in October.
Spray Zinc sulphate at the rate of 0.5% (500 g/100 lit of water) thrice in a year (March, July and October) after the emergence of new flushes.
After cultivation: Remove branches of main stem up to 45 cm from ground level. Application of green leaves 30 kg per tree once in 3 months.
Intercropping: Legumes and vegetable crops can be raised during pre-bearing age.
Growth regulator: To increase fruit set spray 2,4 – D @ 20 ppm during flowering. For fruit retention spray 2,4 – D @ 20 ppm or NAA 30 ppm after fruit set (marble size).
Plant protection practices for Acid lime
Protection of acid lime from Pests
Leaf miner: Spray dichlorvos 76 WSC @ 1 ml/lit or dimethoate 30 EC 2 ml/lit or fenthion 100 EC @ 1 ml/lit or monocrotophos 36 WSC @ 1.5 ml/lit or neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 50g/
lit or neem cake extract or neem oil 3 %.
Leaf caterpillar: Spray endosulfan 35 EC @ 2ml/lit when the infestation is moderate to severe.
Hand pick the larvae and destroy.
Sucking pests
White fly : Spray quinalphos 25 EC at the rate of 2 ml/lit
Black fly : Spray monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 1.5 ml/lit
Aphids : Spray methyl Demeton 25 EC or monocrotophos at the rate of 1 ml/lit or
neem oil 3 ml/lit or Fish oil rosin soap 10/25 g/lit. endosulfan 35 EC 2ml/lit.
Rust mite : Spray dicofol 18.5 EC at the rate of 2.5 ml/lit or wettable sulphur 50 WP at the rate of 2 g/lit.
Fruit sucking moth: Destroy Tinospora weed host. Bait with fermented molasses plus malathion50 EC at the rate of 1 ml/lit. Bag the fruits with polythene bags punctured at the bottom. Apply smoke and set up light traps or food lures (pieces of citrus fruits).
Shoot borer: Prune the withered shoots 4 cm below the dried portions and spray monocrotophos 36 WSC at the rate of 1 ml/lit or endosulfan 35 EC at the rate of 1.5 ml/lit or carbaryl 50 WP at the
rate of 2 g/lit.
Stem borer: Prune the branches containing grubs. Plug the fresh holes with cotton soaked in monocrotophos solution mixed @ 5 ml/20 ml of water.
Fruit fly
1. Spray malathion 50 EC @ 1 ml/lit or fenthion 100 EC @ 1 ml/lit with 1% crude sugar (10 g/lit). Set up bait with methyl eugenol 0.1% solution mixed with malathion 50 EC 0.05% between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.
2. Use polythene bags fish meal trap with 5 gm of wet fish meal + 1 ml dichlorvas in cotton.
50 traps are required/ha, fish meal + dichlorvos soaked cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively.
Mealy bugs
! Debark the branches and apply methyl parathion paste.
! Use sticky trap on the shoot bearing the fruits at a length of 5 cm.
! Use dichlorvos (0.2%) in combination with fish oil rosin soap (25g/lit) as spray or for dipping the fruits for two minutes.
! Single soil application of phorate 10G @ 50g per tree around the base at the time of
pruning.
! Release the predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri.
! Mark the mealy bug infested plants early in the season.
! Put a band of lindane swab around the tree trunk leaving 30 cm from the main stem.
Follow ant control methods such as destruction of ant holes, red ant nests and skirting of citrus trees after fruit harvest which prevents the ant migration through side branches.
! Release beetles @ 10/tree once the patrolling of the ants on the trunk is stopped.
! Make periodic check during the first fortnight and put dried leaf mulch around the tree trunk 20 days after the release of the beetles to facilitate pupation of the full grown grubs.
! Make one to three releases per annum depending on the mealy bug populations.
Nematodes: Application of Carbofuran 3 G @ 75 g/tree to control citrus nematodes in severe infestations. Application of 20 g Pseudomonas fluorescens formulation per tree at a depth of 15 cm and 50 cm away from the trunk once in four months. Soil application of phorate @ 2 g followed by drenching with metalaxyl plus mancozeb 72 WP @ 1 % 50 ml/ cutting/ poly bag/ kg
of nursery soil for citrus decline.
Acid lime Diseases and protection
Twig blight: Prune dried twigs and spray 0.3% Copper oxychloride or 0.1% Carbendazim at monthly intervals to reduce the spread of disease.
Scab: Spray 1% Bordeaux mixture.
Canker: Immediately after pruning one spray of Copper oxychloride (COC) 0.3% followed by 4 sprayings with Streptocyclin100 ppm + COC 0.3 % at monthly intervals.
Tristeza virus: Remove the infected trees and destroy. Spray methyl demeton 25 EC or monocrotophos @ 1ml/lit to control the aphids which spread the disease. Use pre-immunized acid lime seedlings for planting.
Harvest: Starts bearing from 3rd year after planting.
Post harvest treatment: Treating the fruits with 4% wax emulsion followed by pre-packing in 200 gauge polythene bags with 1 % ventilation improves the shelf life for more than 10 days.
Yield: 25 t/ha/year.
