The Tropical Fruit Forum

  Trees that don't go dormant in winter will usually go frozen because of the water inside the tree trunk. I am not sure if it's gonna work if we use dark color water-base paint to cover the tree trunk on winter, as well as using a clear plastic bag to cover the entire canopy on coldest nights and days. As far as I know if we cover the entire canopy by a clear plastic bag, the temperature inside and outside of that bag will be at least 10 degrees in difference provided that the freezing won't last for too many days.

  We can also add a light bulb to ensure, but I think if we plant our citrus trees against the southern or Eastern wall of the house, they will be okay. Someone has tried this method and their lemon tree made it through many winter in zone 6a.

  Oh I forgot about the rootstock. If we use Poncirus Trilofliate we don't have to worry about the root if it was old enough. I think we better use the FD Poncirus to reduce the size of our citrus tree. Don't worry too much about those discourage you not to grow citrus at your zone.  No one has the right to kill your hobby. Go for it. Do experiment and experience it yourself.

My Thomasville is one of my oldest citrus trees, planted 6 or seven years ago. It has reached 10 feet tall once and I’ve tried different methods of passive protection to help it and other poncirus hybrids survive winters. It has lost wood and height by half and twice has died down to the ground but has come back from the roots. Although it it currently two feet tall, alongside a citradia, it has outlasted every other “hardy “ citrus I’ve tried to grow outside here without enclosing it in a plastic tent with a space heater. I’ve replaced Swingle, Dunstan, citradia, rusk, mortan, nansho dai dai, many Ichang lemons, Changsha, twice and all have died completely, but this one Thomasville keeps coming back. Last winter I finally took down the high tunnel I had built over my line of citranges/hybrids and just let the few I had left succumbe to winter; all died but the Thomasville and my last citradia came back from the roots. I’m now foolishly protecting them like I do my fruiting grafted satsumas with small space heaters on thermo cubes under plastic domes when freezing temps arrive. I know now they will never get tall enough to bloom unless I build a 15-20 ft tall frame around them, but I respect their resilience and want to preserve the citradia since I can’t obtain another specimen from anywhere. Woodlanders no longer carries them.

 Oh, that was sad to be in zone 6b. I admired your great passion on citrus. Do you have any plan to move southward to another state like Florida...?

  Some souce claimed that Marumi Kumquat can withstand 10F and start to lose leaves at 0F without injury. Is it a myth?

My thomasville and citradia and dunstan survived last winter unprotected but mortan, rusk, nansho dai dai, Ichang lemon all died unprotected.

 how old was your Thomasville? Did it get any injury?

SoCal2warm, do you have Sanford curafora seeds?

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  Does anyone have seedlings or seeds of this type of citrus? Sanford F2 curafora.

 I would be grateful for any stock.