Author Topic: New Member, Central Texas  (Read 2995 times)

marant

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New Member, Central Texas
« on: December 10, 2017, 01:15:54 PM »
I am a brand new member, and happy to find the forum.  It will be a source of a lot of information and entertainment for me for a long time.

When we designed and built the house I planned on planting various citrus.  An N33 (TAMU hybrid) navel orange and Rio Red grapefruit are planted with a south exposure, up against a 10' concrete retaining wall, which substantially moderates cold temps.  A Valencia orange and Improved Meyer lemon are planted with a south exposure against the concrete walls of the house, with a 4' overhang, also helping with frost, as is a Miewa kumquat.  I plan to plant a Satsuma this spring, but need help on which has the better flavor: Arctic Frost or Orange Frost.

All trees are irrigated by drip on timers.  With the varieties I have planted it is necessary to pay attention to the weather for hard frost protection, but it is only a problem a few nights a year and is definitely worth the trouble to have the best varieties I could find.  (I highly recommend the N33 orange).

We had a sudden 16 degree frost last spring (was only supposed to be 28) that caught me by surprise.  I put tarps on the trees, but did not put in any heat source.  The Valencia froze back, lost all leaves, but came back ok.  The tarp blew off the N33 and Rio Red, resulting in total leaf loss on the orange, and partial on the grapefruit.  Lost all fruit on both orange trees.

Interestingly, with the grapefruit so close to the retaining wall it retained leaves and fruit on the branches closest to the wall, but lost them further from the wall.  The tree came back vigorously so I decided to not thin the remaining fruit.  I was interested in whether or not it would size up on 1/2 the tree.  It did well, with many fruits over 1 lb.  Here is a photo of one of  my unthinned 'bunch of grapes(fruit)'.  https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPEJ6DxB812S57OEirTLq-u-bwIRXcfY-IyleTH

The Meyer lemon came through with flying colors:  https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPcDur6cSovVkgtcayntxlFoEQOl7YrMvSzd8LX and is blooming well now:  https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipO4ooYkRfdvFHV9HcHy1HsSsMaJ3YC1j7awecHE

The Meiwa lost all foliage, but came back well, bloomed and is now covered with fruit.

Once again, thanks for the forum, I am looking forward to making it one of my frequent stops.

Millet

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2017, 02:44:20 PM »
Welcome to the forum.  Great having you as a member.  The links to your tree's pictures did not work when I clicked on them. 

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2017, 03:13:27 PM »
That is odd.  I checked them before I posted, and again just now, and they work.  They are to Google Photos online.  I am using Firefox, wonder if that makes a difference?

JJROSS54

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2017, 04:13:42 PM »
The link wants you to login to google to be able to see the pictures.

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2017, 04:23:10 PM »
I am trying to work on the problem.  If you log into your google account can you see the photos?  Or is it that only I can see them?  Google photo does not seem to have a method for sharing only a few photos with a particular site.  If I try to use the insert image button above it does not allow search to determine the location of the photo to then attach.

Is there another photo sharing site that would work properly?  I will continue to research the problem. 


mangaba

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2017, 04:41:36 PM »
Greetings from sunny    Recife in northeast Brazil !  Was not able to open your photos although I am on Google.

          Recife   :         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQOvRUf-z4U

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2017, 05:20:03 PM »
Thanks for the confirmation that my google photos are only visible to me.

Have looked at a lot of photo sharing apps, but it looks like they all require a paid subscription to be able to share.

Anyone have any recommendations?

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2017, 07:52:36 AM »
This is a test to see if I can upload an image.  If you are able to observe the image please advise.

'Bunch of Grape(fruit)'




Luisport

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2017, 08:51:35 AM »
This is a test to see if I can upload an image.  If you are able to observe the image please advise.

'Bunch of Grape(fruit)'



Impressive! Congratulations! Your tree is very happy!  ;D

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2017, 09:25:12 AM »
Luisport

Thanks for confirmation that I have finally figured out how to post the photos.  Will put the others up this afternoon.

FYI, this is how I had to do it:

1.  Use a photo app (I used Gallery from the Android app store) to move the photos from my phone to Evernote on my computer.  Google photo does not do this.
2.  On computer go to this forum and click on the 'add image to post', search for Evernote (which is synced to the one on my phone) and chose the photo file.  It will then upload with the message post.

Millet

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2017, 11:55:24 AM »
From Marant's picture one can see why the fruit was called GRAPEfruit.  Due to the clumps of fruit on a grapefruit tree look like a bunch of grapes.

marant

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2017, 01:41:42 PM »
Here are the rest of the photos from Central Texas:

Improved Meyer lemon last week:


Same tree a couple of days later:
[/url

Current blooms (with skipper polinator):
[url=https://postimg.cc/image/ffwndn99h/]


Tom

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2017, 09:50:34 AM »
marant, welcome to the forum ! We are glad you found it. I think you will enjoy it for hours. You will be an excellent and valuable member. Thank you for your input. Tom

Mark in Texas

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2017, 09:19:43 AM »
Here are the rest of the photos from Central Texas:

Improved Meyer lemon last week:


Same tree a couple of days later:
[/url

Current blooms (with skipper polinator):
[url=https://postimg.cc/image/ffwndn99h/]


Nice to see another Texan.  I grow Moro, Meyer and grafted to a very vigorous key lime the following - Variegated Eureka Pink Lemon, Persian key lime, Hamlin orange.  They all produce very well.  Also producing well in a large greenhouse are fine avocados, Zill mangos, pineapples, etc.

Citrus does well in the cold until the big one with a big temp swing hits.  My Rio red and Orlando tangelo loved the Dec. 2004 snow in Corpus.



Isaac-1

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Re: New Member, Central Texas
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2017, 05:03:52 PM »
Welcome from Louisiana, I am about 250 miles east of you in western Louisiana,  I have 3 mature Satsuma trees, 3 younger Satsuma trees (3 different early varieties), a young Meyers and a young Cara Cara Orange.   The largest is about 15 ft tall and 15 ft wide, the smallest is about 4 ft tall and 2 ft wide.  This spring I plan to add a few more citrus trees, perhaps including a grapefruit.