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Cold Hardy Citrus / Freeze protection for in ground citrus?
« on: December 24, 2017, 04:37:54 PM »
For those of you that grow citrus in ground in marginal climate zones, at what forecast temperatures do you implement active freeze protection?
I live on the 9a/8b line and do the following, my more cold sensitive citrus (Meyer's and Cara Cara) get C7 Christmas lights and covering with a light sheet any time the forecast temperature drops below freezing, which may be a bit conservative, but all it takes is the forecast to be significantly wrong once to loose them, already once this year we had a forecast calling for a low of 33F and had an actual low of 26F. My young more cold hardy Satsuma's get covered when the forecast calls for a low below 25-26, and my large mature Satsumas (12-15 ft tall 15-20 ft wide) only get covered and heat lamps when the forecast calls for temperatures below 20 degrees, which averages being once every 5 years or so.
The smaller trees all have C7 style Christmas lights on them throughout the winter which are plugged into thermo-cube switches that turn on at 35F and off at 45F, which without covering only adds minimal protection, but minimal is better than one.
I live on the 9a/8b line and do the following, my more cold sensitive citrus (Meyer's and Cara Cara) get C7 Christmas lights and covering with a light sheet any time the forecast temperature drops below freezing, which may be a bit conservative, but all it takes is the forecast to be significantly wrong once to loose them, already once this year we had a forecast calling for a low of 33F and had an actual low of 26F. My young more cold hardy Satsuma's get covered when the forecast calls for a low below 25-26, and my large mature Satsumas (12-15 ft tall 15-20 ft wide) only get covered and heat lamps when the forecast calls for temperatures below 20 degrees, which averages being once every 5 years or so.
The smaller trees all have C7 style Christmas lights on them throughout the winter which are plugged into thermo-cube switches that turn on at 35F and off at 45F, which without covering only adds minimal protection, but minimal is better than one.