How to Graft a Kaffir Lime Tree

Known botanically as Citrus hystrix, Kaffir lime trees are small, thorny evergreens with glossy, aromatic leaves. These leaves are often used to flavor southeast Asian dishes, such as Thai curry. If you're an Asian cuisine enthusiast, growing a Kaffir lime tree in your garden or home landscape is an excellent and inexpensive way to have access to these flavorful leaves year-round. Grafting a Kaffir lime tree cutting onto a robust citrus rootstock, such as trifoliate orange, produces much faster results than growing the tree from seed. Kaffir lime trees perform best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11.

Citrus rootstock
Grafting or pruning knife
Kaffir lime cutting
Grafting tape

Instructions

- 1
  Obtain a healthy 18-month-old trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) rootstock with a 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch-diameter stem from a garden center or nursery. Troyer citrange (Citrus sinensis × Poncirus trifoliata "Troyer") or Carizzo citrange (Citrus sinensis × Poncirus trifoliata "Carizzo") are also suitable rootstock choices for grafting a Kaffir lime tree.
- 2
  Cut the top 2 inches of the rootstock stem at an angle, using a sharpened and sterilized grafting or pruning knife. Make a downward slice into the angled rootstock cut to create a small slit or "tongue."
- 3
  Take an 8-inch cutting with at least two buds from a healthy Kaffir lime tree; match the diameter of the cutting to the diameter of the rootstock. Cut the bottom 2 inches of the cutting at the same angle you cut the rootstock stem. Slice a "tongue" into the Kaffir lime cutting as well.
- 4
  Hold the angled cuts on the rootstock and Kaffir lime cutting together. Insert the "tongue" on the cutting behind the "tongue" on the rootstock to interlock the two pieces. Wrap the area securely with grafting tape, leaving the buds on the cutting exposed.

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