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Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: citrus varieties in order of cold-hardiness
« on: June 24, 2017, 09:14:19 AM »
Gotta say, making a list of cold hardiness in citrus seems very difficult. I personally wondered, since citrus are influenced so much from enviromental variables, how do you even compare the hardiness? To get a reliable list, people should grow a BUNCH of different citrus, in rows, very close each other, on same rootstocks (ideally a dormant one, like the poncirus, so you are sure they are in same physiological stage when winter comes) under the same fertilization program, with plants of the same age. I doubt that something similar has been done, except maybe in research center, but still, research centers on citrus usually are in place so warm that some species aren't tested to the true extent of their cold hardiness.
The fact that i live in a place that has a proper fall, helps a lot with acclimation, and i think this may explain some discrepancies i see from here to the US.
Grapefruits, at least some of them, seem to be as cold hardy as orange if not more. I think a lot of people mix "heat seeking" with "frost tender". Grapefruit may need a lot of heat to make decent fruit but they don't seem bothered by frost. The only problem it's that you get acidic fruits.
Kumquat are really hardy compared to other fruit bearing citrus but fruits can be damaged from cold.
Lemons and oranges are on par. I see very sparse oranges there here, as much sparse as lemons tree.
Clementines are more hardy thank people give them credit to. I had one this winter that went to -7°C (my nights in winter last for 14 hours) with just frost cloth and it didn't even flinched. It is grafted on bitter orange. Ironically i had a tahiti lime planted very close to that plant, own roots. Some twig dieback but the plant didn't even die to the ground.
The fact that i live in a place that has a proper fall, helps a lot with acclimation, and i think this may explain some discrepancies i see from here to the US.
Grapefruits, at least some of them, seem to be as cold hardy as orange if not more. I think a lot of people mix "heat seeking" with "frost tender". Grapefruit may need a lot of heat to make decent fruit but they don't seem bothered by frost. The only problem it's that you get acidic fruits.
Kumquat are really hardy compared to other fruit bearing citrus but fruits can be damaged from cold.
Lemons and oranges are on par. I see very sparse oranges there here, as much sparse as lemons tree.
Clementines are more hardy thank people give them credit to. I had one this winter that went to -7°C (my nights in winter last for 14 hours) with just frost cloth and it didn't even flinched. It is grafted on bitter orange. Ironically i had a tahiti lime planted very close to that plant, own roots. Some twig dieback but the plant didn't even die to the ground.