Im new to tropicals and recently came into some cuttings and seedlings and am wondering which would be better suited for growing in a pot in zone 9a or so? im in new Orleans and winters usually have a light freeze and 1 or 2 frosts every season. from what im reading none of these like below 40 degrees but I want personal experience from what you've seen survive. I basically want the least likely to survive outside in the winter in a pot, the other 2 will have to hold their own in ground. so the options are purple haze dragonfruit, champagne mango, and a papaya. for whatever its worth, I have no preference to which I want to survive, I will eat them, I suppose mango would be my fave, never had dragonfruit.

im curious if anyone has ever grown or tasted a rangpur lime or anything in its family.  id like detailed flavor, growth, and any other info or good pics you got. I cant find any good info online, it seems my goto citrus page for descriptions isn't online anymore...

the reason I ask, Is because my mom has a tree back home, that I always loved the fruit from, though its as sour as you can imagine.  she always called it a Satsuma she says she planted a satsuma, though after comparing fruit and trees I always figured it to be a tangerine...my sunburst tangerine was the closest thing ive found to it, and its not near tart enough to compare.  last week I found the rangpur lime by accident online and now im wondering if it isn't some naturally growing hybrid my mom planted by accident.

when I started out this journey 8 years ago I had no idea what I was doing.  I had something of a green thumb, but citrus definitely wasn't my thing.  armed with nothing but a computer, I started looking.  I came across a few websites, a few more forums(ubc and citrus growers), and plenty of people willing to help.  if it hadn't been for all those people telling me that my satsumas would get better in time, I think id had given up a long time ago.  this year it all came to fruition, I finally have a wonderfully sweet Satsuma that I cant get enough of.  I cant give them away fast enough, I have neighbors stealing them, and people actually willing to buy them.  I guess that is what I always wanted from all my trees.  so I would like to thank Millet and Laaz, and everyone that ever made it possible for me to get where I am today.  certainly things aren't all peachy, I have 4 trees producing, 4 more growing, I have citrus canker all around me, and inevitably greening will show its ugly face one day.  its costing me more and more to take care of them, which is why I have no problem selling a few fruit, but over all I think I can handle anything that's thrown at me.  its so much so that earlier this year, I took responsibilities over a small not for profit grove(catholic charity) that hadn't been cared for since it was planted 4 years ago.  the main reason I did it was to make sure that canker or greening didn't show up and that the owners were aware of everything that could happen.  it was more self serving than anything, but its becoming so much more. I started a facebook page, im trying to get people involved in stopping these diseases locally, I have a long long way to go, but if I can save one persons tree, I feel like its worth it.  anyway, I feel I might be ranting, again thank you Millet for all that you do for all of us out here trying to learn about citrus.

red

I finally broke down and bought some STEM  from ebay the other day.   before I apply it, I want to get a sample to take to the LSU ag center for testing. how should I go about doing this for 7 in ground trees.  I assume that my soil is for the most part the same throughout the yard, but they may have gotten different amounts for fertilizer through the years.  would it make more sense to take mature leaves of one tree, or each tree, or young leaves, the best tree, worst tree, oldest, youngest or what. which will give the best idea of how my trees are doing overall.  I only want to send one sample, I really cant afford to test each tree separate. which test should I get, im thinking the routine plus C and N, unless theres a reason I should need the environmental package.  I know its only 4 bucks more but waste is waste...

AgRoutine Metals Package (P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Al, and Na) ............................................($8.00/sample)
Nitrogen Test (Total Nitrogen)...($8.00/sample)
AgRoutine Metals Package plus Nitrogen ... ($12.00/sample)
AgRoutine Metals Package plus Carbon and Nitrogen ................................................................................. ($14.00/sample)
Environmental Package (AgRoutine Metals plus Pb, Cd, As, Ni, Cr, Se, Co, and Si) ...................................... ($12.00/sample)
Environmental Package plus Nitrogen ... ($16.00/sample)
Environmental Package plus Carbon and Nitrogen ...................................................................................... ($18.00/sample)
Total Carbon and Nitrogen (Total Carbon and Nitrogen) ................................................................................. ($10.00/sample)


im going to do a search for the best way to apply the STEM but if anybody has anything to add about that im all ears

http://news.yahoo.com/us-orange-production-hit-disease-juice-prices-soar-041824793.html;_ylt=AwrBJSANr1BT3iIA.x7QtDMD