Author Topic: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)  (Read 2102 times)

Yorgos

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Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« on: February 20, 2021, 05:57:01 PM »
Hiking around Brazos Bend State Park around Thanksgiving, I found this orange tree in the woods.  Fruit was very tasty. the size of a baseball, juicy and sweet.  I hope it survived the bitter cold we just went through.  Alligators were out in force as well.  This one was easily 8 feet long.




Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a

Pandan

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2021, 06:58:51 PM »
If it survives the cold weather pleeease get some seeds from it :D
Hopefully the gators are ok too

swincher

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2021, 01:58:52 AM »
I, too, would love to buy seeds if it has survived.

W.

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2021, 03:22:08 PM »
Put me on the seed waiting list as well, please.

Tropical Bay Area

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2021, 11:51:46 PM »
That’s a really good orange! Cuttings?
Cheers!

lebmung

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2021, 03:57:52 PM »
I was just wondering can alligators survive freezing?

Pandan

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2021, 04:27:44 PM »
I was just wondering can alligators survive freezing?
Yes: these known the critters can survive freezing temps by "snorkeling" - where they stick their big snouts out of freezing water while submerged and shutdown their metabolism. Check out the awesome pics in the article below:

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/frozen-alligators-stick-noses-through-ice-to-survive-in-oklahoma

This has been witnessed in multiple states so I would both hope and assume the TX local gators have the same adaption.

850FL

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2021, 10:04:31 AM »
Hey guys if citrus seeds aren’t regulated by citrus gestapo put me on the list too!!

Yorgos

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2021, 05:16:34 PM »
Good question.  Are you in the upper Texas coastal HLB quarantine zone?
Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a


Yorgos

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2021, 11:52:43 AM »
I will have to plan a trip out there and see if any fruit with seeds are still there. available.  Also see how cold resilient the tree is!
Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a


850FL

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2021, 11:41:17 PM »
What zone was this area anyway, I’m guessing something like an 8b?

SoCal2warm

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2021, 04:26:09 AM »
What zone was this area anyway, I’m guessing something like an 8b?
It's just a little south of Houston, so zone 9a.


(I looked on two different climate zone maps. In the newer most up to date interactive climate zone map, it is still in 9a but not far away from 8b)

However, Texas did just have much colder temperatures than usual, so this tree probably experienced temperatures that were typical for a zone 8 winter.
I wouldn't be surprised if it has experienced a little bit of branch die-back and leaf defoliation.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2021, 04:33:38 AM by SoCal2warm »

Yorgos

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2021, 10:25:49 PM »
What zone was this area anyway, I’m guessing something like an 8b?
It's just a little south of Houston, so zone 9a.


(I looked on two different climate zone maps. In the newer most up to date interactive climate zone map, it is still in 9a but not far away from 8b)

However, Texas did just have much colder temperatures than usual, so this tree probably experienced temperatures that were typical for a zone 8 winter.
I wouldn't be surprised if it has experienced a little bit of branch die-back and leaf defoliation.


If all it shows is defoliation and twig loss that would be huge.  With temps in the low teens and 20's for 3 days straight, if it survived at all, I would be amazed.  I'm about 40 miles north of this tree, but in Houston, and I lost all my grapefruits, lemons, satsumas, oranges and 1 kumquat. Only survivor in my yard was a 25 year old meiwa kumquat that looks dead, but there are little shoots coming out of the bark on the main scaffolding branches. Virtually all the dooryard citrus around here look deceased.   
Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a

850FL

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2021, 09:28:15 AM »
Dang that’s quite unfortunate but on the brighter side at least you’ll have rootstocks sucker back up, and maybe in a few years some yummy swingle citranges to munch on  ;)

SoCal2warm

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2021, 08:11:23 PM »
If all it shows is defoliation and twig loss that would be huge.  With temps in the low teens and 20's for 3 days straight, if it survived at all, I would be amazed.  I'm about 40 miles north of this tree, but in Houston, and I lost all my grapefruits, lemons, satsumas, oranges and 1 kumquat. Only survivor in my yard was a 25 year old meiwa kumquat that looks dead, but there are little shoots coming out of the bark on the main scaffolding branches. Virtually all the dooryard citrus around here look deceased.
If all your citrus died in Houston, the cold front must have been really bad. You say even your Satsumas were killed. I did not realize the freeze had got that bad in Texas, all the way down south to Houston.

Yorgos

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2021, 01:22:22 PM »
The Rio Red grapefruit had been diagnosed with HLB so the freeze was a mercy killing (i was going to take it down anyway).  This is a pic of the meiwa shoots coming off of a 1/2 inch scaffold branch 5 weeks after the freeze.  All the branches pencil sized or smaller died so the tree looks pretty skeletal.   The satsuma (owari) that died had been in the ground 12 years and it succumbed. Even my fukushu kumquat (5 years in ground) succumbed. 


Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a

Pandan

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2021, 07:41:48 PM »
I'm sorry to hear of the loses. A lot of members and tx based citrus fanatics and I assume industry there as well were struck hard.

I do wonder if the sudden cold culled the hosts of the diseases and the vectors / invasive psyllids that spread the disease.

850FL

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Re: Wild orange in Texas (Brazos Bend)
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2021, 12:34:32 PM »
I'm sorry to hear of the loses. A lot of members and tx based citrus fanatics and I assume industry there as well were struck hard.

I do wonder if the sudden cold culled the hosts of the diseases and the vectors / invasive psyllids that spread the disease.

I would say yes to that question. Here in the Panhandle HLB has not spread because we get to 20F or the upper teens or 2-day freeze type events occasionally (even the coastal areas), and regular back to back lighter freezes yearly, so the psyllid and vector have not really spread past the big bend area because of that.
Not to say in Texas, that the psyllids wont be back.. Even if most citrus was killed off anyway, the psyllids do have other host plants to sustain on in the meantime..