Bilimbi Fruit

🌿Plant Care Guide

📝 Description

Bilimbi fruit is an attractive, long-lived evergreen shrub or tree with a low, sparse crown, sometimes growing up to 15 metres tall, but more commonly only 2 – 3 metres tall. The short bole can be 30cm in diameter.A plant of the humid tropical lowlands, where Bilimbi fruit can also be found at elevations up to 1,200 metres. Bilimbi fruit grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 23 – 30°C, but can tolerate 10 – 36°C. Mature plants can be killed by temperatures of -3°C or lower, but young growth is severely damaged at -1°C. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,200 – 2,300mm, but tolerates 700 – 4,000mm. The trees are found to grow well at low altitudes from sea level up to 500 metres in areas having an even distribution of rainfall throughout the year. They are also quite tolerant to dry periods.Growing well when there is a 2 – 3 month dry season. The trees are very susceptible to frost injury.Prefers a position in full sun, making rather slow growth in shady or semi-shady situations. The plant thrives well on any soil type provided it is well drained. However, for best performance, it should be grown in deep, fertile, sandy loam or clay loam soils with plenty of organic matter. Grows best in a position sheltered from strong winds. Prefers a ph in the range 5.5 – 6.5, Tolerating 5 – 8.3.Trees can commence cropping when 5 – 6 years old from seed. Grafted trees can commence bearing when 2 – 3 years old.A single tree can often yield many hundreds of fruits. Yields from 50 – 150 kilos per tree have been reported.Flowers and fruits are produced throughout most of the year, although there are normally one or two pronounced harvesting seasons, each about 2 months long. Flowering and fruiting occurs especially during the drier part of the year.