Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus

kumquat seedlings cold hardyness

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incubator01:
I have some very nicely growing kumquat seedlings (the standard kumquat, not meiwa or anything else peculiar).
I would like to know if anyone knows how different in cold hardiness they are compared to the grafted ones.
I will keep these in containers of course and place them in a greenhouse in the winter but if they're not as cold tolerant as their grafted comrades then I must place them in a warmer location.

Speaking of which, perhaps not related on this topic but if I have to keep these in a warmer location, I want to make a air humidifier by putting expanded clay grains in a terracotta dish, soak the grains in water except for the top layer and place my seedling container on top of that (so it won't get wet). The purpouse is that the wetness in these expanded clay grains would evaporate. Has this been done before and does it work or am I doing a fool's errand?

SoCal2warm:
Well, this is not specifically about kumquat, but I experimented with planting an Ichangquat (kumquat x Ichang papeda) seedling growing on its own roots, in the US Pacific Northwest, climate zone 8a. Probably about the same latitude as France and a comparable climate.
It has not done so well. Technically it is still alive, the stems are still green, but it did not manage to put out any new leaves last year, for the entire year.
I would expect this seedling has to be at least as hardy as kumquat. (I know growing seedlings from hybrids though can yield unpredictable results)

I also read about an attempt at growing a kumquat near Atlanta, Georgia (which is in the South of the US), climate zone 7b. Even though it was covered by frost cloth, it did not end up able to survive.
I think normally kumquat can grow in the US South down to zone 8a, but probably not in zone 8a in parts of the world further north.
I also read one person report that they had a kumquat surviving in Seattle (supposedly zone 8a) but in a very optimal location on a warm south-facing slope, and that is in the middle of a big city.

swincher:

--- Quote from: SoCal2warm on April 07, 2021, 03:24:28 PM ---I also read one person report that they had a kumquat surviving in Seattle (supposedly zone 8a) but in a very optimal location on a warm south-facing slope, and that is in the middle of a big city.

--- End quote ---

Seattle moved from 8a to 8b when USDA put out their 2012 growing zone map, but the heat units are the lowest of basically any 8b in the world, so citrus is tough. I've heard of people growing kumquats here but never seen them with my own eyes.

Galatians522:
I would expect grafted and seedling trees of the same size to be very similar in cold tollerence (unless the tree is grafted to a root stock that is imparting additional cold resistance). To my understanding, much of the increased cold tollerence in mature trees comes from their larger mass. A larger tree simply holds more heat and has thicker bark than a small one.

incubator01:
ok, I'll see how they survive but from the looks of it it wont' be that good.
As experiment I put one seedling in the full soil of my greenhouse, just for the fun of it (I had too many anyway) :)

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