Cold Hardy Citrus

[frankzone6]

Hi all
so who else is growing them

I have satsumas, Thomasville , Kumquats and a few others I don't recall in frigid Massachusetts

[brian]

Outdoors??   It gets down to around -10F in our zones!  I didn't think any citrus would survive that low.

[sugar land dave]

greenhouse I presume?

[Scott_6B]

Hi Frank, it's good to see you've migrated over here.  Any signs of growth on your trees yet?  My satsuma and mandarin are flushing right now, but I haven't removed their protection... I think I might try to do it later today as it looks like I'm finally past any serious danger of frost.   My Thomasville, which was outside unheated, has been uncovered for 3-4 weeks, but hasn't broken dormancy yet.

[Citradia]

My Thomasville might be the only hybrid I had to survive this winter without space heater protection. It has not started to put out growth but the trunk is still green half way up. It was the last of all my citrus to flush out last year.

[TriangleJohn]

I'm in zone 7b (Raleigh, NC) and only the old Poncirus and two Citranges (Poncirus hybrids) made it through the winter without protection. There is some limb loss but overall they are flushing out new leaves with gusto. All the Changshas and Ichang Lemons bit the dust. Hope I don't see that kind of winter again for a long long time.

[RyanL]

Thats a shame John about the Changsha and Ichang. Will you be restarting them?

[TriangleJohn]

I probably won't. I have a hoophouse full of other citrus that produce plenty of fruit all winter long so it isn't that important to have any outside in the ground. This old house came with a kid's sized basketball court which I modified into a planting/potting shed patio and a 20 by 30 hoophouse that I seal up in the winter and keep above freezing with an old wood burning stove (that also came with the old house). The hoophouse/greenhouse has a 15 foot center ridge height and some of the trees (guavas and citrus) are touching the top, so I have plenty to take care of...well, that and the rest of the one acre garden/orchard. Keeps me busy.

[RyanL]

I bet you stayed busy stoking the fire this year. I have a similar setup (15x30) but heat with a combination of electric and propane. I would like to see some pictures of your setup sometime.

[TriangleJohn]

Yeah, most winters it is not a huge problem but this last one just about killed me. Lots of chopping and getting up every 2-3 hours all night.

You know, I am next door, on the south side of Raleigh, right off the beltline.

[Cristofre]

I'm in zone 7b (Raleigh, NC) and only the old Poncirus and two Citranges (Poncirus hybrids) made it through the winter without protection. There is some limb loss but overall they are flushing out new leaves with gusto. All the Changshas and Ichang Lemons bit the dust. Hope I don't see that kind of winter again for a long long time.

My Poncirus are the only unprotected citrus that were undamaged.  My Thomasville citrangequat was killed back to the point where I piled dirt around the base. (There are tiny sprouts coming from around the base now.)
Happily my in-ground Satsumas in my barely heated greenhouse survived undamaged.

[bussone]

Outdoors??   It gets down to around -10F in our zones!  I didn't think any citrus would survive that low.

http://www.annarborgardener.com/2012/04/poncirus-plum-and-cat.html

That Flying Dragon is either in Ann Arbor (6a) or Chelsea (5b), MI.

[brian]

Wow, I had no idea any citrus would survive in Ann Arbor.  I used to live there, nice place.  Winter didn't seem harsher than Pennsylvania but it sure lasted longer.

[Scott_6B]

I know of a couple FD specimens in cold z6a areas here in New England.  As recently as 4-5 years ago the one in central MA saw -13F according to the owner.  My FD is a seedling of this plant.

[brian]

I still have two FD fruits full of seeds in my fridge.  I have about thirty seedlings in containers already for future grafting, but I may just plant the rest in the ground and see if they survive here. 

[Citradia]

I had some FD seedlings in pots outside this winter thinking they would be in invincible to cold like they were the year before, but think they are dead. Their siblings that were in ground are fine.

[eyeckr]

This past winter was the worst winter we've experienced in decades with many days of continuous hours below freezing, three or four significant snow events and a record low of 5-6 degrees. I wanted to give others an idea what could likely make it long term grown in ground in zone 7b/8a. I did not protect any of my citrus this past winter. I'm located in Zone 8a Virginia Beach, VA. Here's a list of what died and what the tough survivors are:

Dead as a doornail:
Juanita
Calamondin
CiTemple Edible
Satsumas, all varieties
Nuclem
Lemonquat/marmaladequat
Changsha x Clementine
Sudachi
Tokyo pummelo
Yuzuquat
Bloomsweet
SanCitChang
10 Degree kumquat aka Nameiwa
Marumi kumquat
Meiwa kumquat
Dr Brown's seedless kumquat
Nordmanns seedless kumquat
OP Nagami
Croxton
88-2
6-15-150
Ujukitsu
Primosole
Orange Frost ChangSat
Changsha (It is noteworthy that I have one mature, fruiting potted changsha that I left out all winter that somehow survived. It is a seedling tree. This tree will be a good one to propagate)
Tiachang

The only surprising casualty from the above list is the 10 degree kumquat and OP Nagami kumquat. The have shown to be almost bulletproof down to around 8-10 degrees. I figured that they could handle 6 degrees

Alive:
*Ten Degree Tangerine, '2-2'
*Dragon lime
*Yuzu (grafted and on own roots doing fine)
*TiaTri
*Ichang papeda
Ichang lemon
*(Trifoliate x Clementine) x Clementine
Ventura lemandarin (bark split on own rooted tree which is dead, but high grafted tree is bouncing back fine)
Tiawanica
*Swingle
Glen Citrangedin
Mt Olive Dunstan
Morton Citrange
*Dallas Dunstan
Keraji mandarin
Dimicelli
*Thomasville citrangequat (grafted and on own roots doing fine)
Sinton citrangequat
fast flowering/precocious trifoliate
varigated flying dragon

The surprise survivors here are Glen Citrangedin, Keraji mandarin and Dimcelli. Glen just didn't strike me as a very hardy tree but the trifoliate in its bloodline really helps it out. This tree is about 98 percent monofoliate. Dimicelli seemed equal to Glen to me but it sure can take some cold. Keraji is one of the best tasting fruits I have in general so I figured it would see the same fate as all the other good tasting or sweet citrus. It has proven to take 10 to 11 degrees in the past for me but now has proven itself to 6 degrees.

*doing great and getting ready to bloom or has already bloomed this spring

TriangleJohn were your Ichang lemons grafted?

[Scott_6B]

Excellent update Eyeckr, though I'm sorry you lost so many trees.  The Keraji mandarin certainly seems to stand out on your list of trees that survived. Did it defoliate or have any twig die back?

[buddinman]

Anyone have the arctic frost satsuma survive the 10 degree temp?

[manfromyard]

Citrus apocalypse in the Southeast, my owari is dead, a meyer that survived in ground for 2 years looks dead to the roots. I was stuck in my car for 2 days and so most of my tender plants got iced over. Citrangequat is still green at the base, but I'm not sure if its grafted or own rooted. Pomegranate gone all the way to the ground, but resprouting from the trunk.

I had my arctic frost in a container inside till I can get another one as back-up. So no experience on that variety yet. Supposedly it's not that much hardier than a regular satsuma, but it has the advantage of being on its own roots.

[Millet]

To date, Arctic Frost Hardy is one of the most cold-tolerant Satsumas that can be grown, enabling successful fruit production in areas where winter temperatures do not dip below 12 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit for any length of time. Blooms and new foliage emerge later than other citrus, after all chance of frost is past, indicative of its hardiness. In areas that get only occasional temperatures this low, enterprising gardeners can shelter the small tree with a covering of fabric and a poly tarp, weighted to the ground forming a tent to gather and trap heat from the earth. Another strategy is to include a few incandescent light bulbs or old-fashioned, heat-producing Christmas tree lights underneath to add a few degrees overnight. Growing these plants next to a south-facing wall or under a bit of high shade will also offer a degree or two of protection and the use of an anti-transpirant will also help. At some point get too large to cover. Older trees do withstand cold temperature drops more easily so mounded soil, mulch or hay can be stacked as high up the trunk as feasible for protection

[eyeckr]

Both of my Keraji trees totally defoliated and had die back to just above the grafts. They went from 8-10 ft trees to less than half of that each. As a matter of fact every tree totally defoliated I had planted or grafted out back with the exception of Ichang Papeda which held a small number of leaves until spring.

The only ChangSat variety I had grafted outside during this event was the Orange Frost which met its demise along with the changshas and satsumas I had out. I chickened out planting my trees and never got around to grafting them out last year. I just high grafted my Artic Frost and Bumper out a few days ago.  I'm probably going to plant out the potted trees shortly. I'm assuming Artic Frost would be just as hardy as changsha but less seedy.

manfromyard how did you manage to get stuck in your car for two days? Where you stuck in that Atlanta 2" snow mess?

I forgot to mention that my US 119 died but there is another one locally that is alive. Also my Tiawaniquat (nearly identical to Nippon orangequat) and Dragon lime are alive.

[Citradia]

I was about to dig up my dead Russian pommegranit yesterday but noticed a sprout comming up from roots. Thomasville doing same. My big swingle, rusk, Bloomsweet, croxton, dunstan, ichang, all dead and gone, despite passive protection.

[Scott_6B]

My Thomasville, which had passive protection this past winter, is starting to flush. Unfortunately it did receive some damage to the trunk (split bark) because I accidentally left a 6 inch gap in the back bottom corner of the enclosure.   It only dropped leaves on a couple of the lowest branches.

Citradia, you must have been really cold this winter. My Russian  (Salavatski) pomegranate  is just starting to wake up, I can currently see clear signs of growth 4.5-5 ft above the soil (overall it is 6-6.5 ft tall). My smaller Surh-anor is also showing very little dieback, but my Agat looks to have been zapped back to just above the soil line.

[Tom]

eyeckr, where are you located ? manfromyard is probably from Atlanta or close by. The problem wasn't 2" of snow. The problem was bad icy conditions. Snow isn't too bad. Ice is bad. B'ham , Alabama got slammed too. Manfromyard could be somewhere between the Alabama line and Atlanta, Georgia. Tom