Q.why is a common lime growing out of my plum tree?
I bought a plum tree sapling from Tesco’s a few years ago, put it in a tub and finally planted it out 2 years ago. Even from an early ‘age’ it sprouted a different branch from it’s trunk base, which I kept pruning off. It now has 3 branches of, what I identified as, common lime growing out of it’s trunk base. Why would have caused this please? Thank you in anticiaption
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
Please include photos. This is quite impossible.
There are one of two possible explanations:
The first is that the tree was mislabeled. It is possible that the tree is a citrus that was labeled as a plum.
The second is that the fruit is actually a plum relative that resembles a lime. Cutting the fruit open will reveal, either a pit, or where a pit should be for a Prunus species.
The leaves, when crushed, will give you your answer. When crushed, it should smell VERY STRONGLY of lime if it is a lime, or like plant if it is a plum.
