The Tropical Fruit Forum
Citrus => Cold Hardy Citrus => Topic started by: ross r on January 29, 2019, 09:23:29 PM
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Other than Trifoliate, does anyone know of a hardy citrus variety that could withstand 0F? Maybe 5F if I protect it on very cold nights?
I was recently told about Yuzu and got excited as Trifoliate is not really usable in the kitchen. I'm not looking for the next navel orange, but a nice replacement for a lemon/lime that could survive here would be amazing.
Perhaps Sudachi?
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Yuzu has sometimes been claimed to survive 0 F but I think that's only under ideal conditions and for very brief times.
I'm thinking at the least it's going to suffer a bit of damage, although Yuzu is really good at recovering from damage.
From the research I've looked into in the past, 10 F would be a better description for Yuzu's cold hardiness rating. (And even at 10 F it can suffer some light damage, although at 14 or 15 F it is completely unfazed)
US 852, which a hybrid between Changsha mandarin and trifoliate, can survive 0 F, is tolerably edible, although it does still have a little bit of the trifoliate taste.
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US 852, which a hybrid between Changsha mandarin and trifoliate, can survive 0 F, is tolerably edible, although it does still have a little bit of the trifoliate taste.
The plant that you refers to in Sterling, Virginia is dead after two seasons with 0F nights.
In my garden Citrumelo 5star and Ichanquat 6-7-2 were not damaged without any protection after -16C (3F) nights and two weeks with frozen soil and even flowered next season. Citsuma Prague showed some twig damage but survived. The worst damage was on own rooted Thomasville that lost most of its trunk.
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Good to know. We may still be a bit away, but I'm seeing a lot of really great progress in this subject. For now I think I'm in over my head.
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Ross r, as someone who has seen many citranges and Yuzu, and Ichang lemons freeze to death here in western NC even with protection with frost cloth or plastic tents over them with water barrels, I’d say the only citrus you could grow in PA would be trifoliata.
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To clarify; you could grow any of the citrus noted above or even satsumas if grafted on trifoliata and covered with 4 mil plastic, basically a small green house and heat it with space heater when temps are below freezing for prolonged periods of time. Being north of coastal GA and SC, we get prolonged periods below freezing and multiple severe freezes every winter that will kill all citrus except trifoliata if not protected. I have one dunstan citrumelo out of 15 or more that have died over the years outside unprotected; it looks bad now and expect it to croak this spring. They die to the ground each winter basically and try to grow again the next season but eventually they die completely root and all.
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A US 852 survived in the Philadelphia area long enough to have fruit a few times. I asked the owner in 2013 for seed, but he said it had no fruit that year. It died back one winter a few years ago and probably died completely in the last severe winter. http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/threads/my-citrandarin-tree.7372/#post-121801 (http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/threads/my-citrandarin-tree.7372/#post-121801)
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A US 852 survived in the Philadelphia area long enough to have fruit a few times. It died back one winter a few years ago and probably died completely in the last severe winter. http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/threads/my-citrandarin-tree.7372/#post-121801 (http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/threads/my-citrandarin-tree.7372/#post-121801)
Actually he said in that post it was a cross between a Mandarin and a Citrange.
It might be Dimicelli.
Actually this one in Virginia is more likely to be a US 852
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuY0rUjbz10 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuY0rUjbz10)
Don't be misled by the title of the video, he later goes on to say that he made an error and it's not a citrumelo but now with the help of other citrus experts he believes he's identified it as a US 852 citrandarin.
It's in Northern Virginia right up against a house in a sheltered spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRNE9Pbjmuw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRNE9Pbjmuw)
In this video the location is more specifically revealed to be in Great Falls, VA.
He says it's "way better" than poncirus and has "no bitterness".
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I heard somewhere, probably on this forum that this northern VA/ Washington DC citrandarin finally froze to death during one of the polar vortexes a few years ago and I think the owner moved to Arizona or somewhere out west.
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This is so called PVHM Potomac Valley Hardy Mandarin by BocaJoe. He posted about it on the old forum. It died back some winters ago.
The latest posts about it are on houzz (https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1807296/hardy-citchangsha-citrandarin-in-zone-7a-northern-va)
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It was in a garden of John Saia in Sterling, Virginia.
Since US852 is giving many off-types , it is probably one of them.