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« on: April 11, 2024, 02:33:56 PM »
I don't post much here, but thought I'd chime in, since I do and have grown hardy citrus in the Pac NW for many years. Since many here may not know me yet (but those that have been doing this for a while might recognize my username from older citrus boards), I started my cold hardy citrus journey in the Pac NW around '93-'94 and have grown too many varieties to even list (or remember, LOL). I moved to Albuquerque NM for a few months in the summer of '97 and started the "Hardy Palm and Subtropical Board" back then (as far as I am aware of, the first of its kind).
I got remarried and we purchased a home last summer. So, I basically just planted my yard, to give some perspective. I have owned two other houses in the Pac NW, with most recently before that one with an ex that was located in Gladstone, Oregon (Portland metro area). Unfortunately, I lost most of my citrus due to my ex keeping the house in our divorce (and she didn't like how I planted the yard, so she was going to get rid of a lot of the plants). So, I had to start out all over again (with just a couple of hardy citrus in pots from that house). My new location is outside the city of Kelso, WA. in the country by the hills. I am around 45 mins north up the highway from my friend Jim VH who is in Vancouver, WA. My temps usually run about 5+ degrees colder than his, but I still am in zone 8 (with the advent of "a" and "b" designations, I am not quite sure which fits my location yet). So that is a little of my back round and now on to this past winter's hardy citrus results.
This past winter we had 4-5 days below freezing and a low of 10, I believe like two times (with a few frost days before that freeze, that probably helped harden off the citrus some). I did no protection (in retrospect, I should have, but wasn't prepared for an arctic front the first year we were there).
The varieties that didn't seem to get damaged are:
x639 larger rootstock seedling (Madison) that lost a few leaves, but surprisingly kept a few. Very happy with the hardiness of this variety
Taitri Seeding I got from my long time citrus buddy eyeckr
My Picone Citremon (has my last name in it. named by my friend eyeckr) just defoliation, but no apparent twig damage. A little about this one. Back in 2012, I bought a Meyer Lemon
from the store and decided to pant some of its seeds. I got a few sprouts and to my surprise, one had trifoliate leaves. Having years of knowledge about hardy citrus, I immediately knew I
had a trifoliate hybrid and was excited to see what would become of it. As a seedling, it survived in a container outside and this was in a pretty wet damp location and, if I recall correctly,
froze solid in it's container and may have taken 12 or so degrees in that container as a small seedling (so froze solid) in one of our arctic fronts that happen in the Pac NW from time to time
with no damage that I remember. I knew I had something of a winner. So after purchasing my last house with my ex in 2018, I planted it in the ground and it did really well. But,
unfortunately due to the divorce and not having anywhere at the time for it, my son and myself dug it up and planted at his house where it may have died (hope not, but it's not looking good
right now). However, luckily I had some foresight and sent some cuttings to eyeckr who graciously grafted them for me (haven't quite honed my grafting skills quite yet and wanted to make
sure it was saved) and then sent me back a couple of the grafted cuttings. One of which is currently in my new yard. I haven't had fruit yet, but am really hoping it is good, since it seems to
be very well adapted to the Pac NW with it's wet damp cold winters
Trifeola (One Green World) - (mainly defoliation, but no apparent twig dieback)
A very tiny grafted Prague (Stan Mckenzie) that had some snow cover
A pure Poncirus (rootstock from Stan Mckenzie)- not even any leaf drop
The varieties that received damage were:
Grafted (on US 942) Changsha (Madison) - dead as a doornail to the graft point
Thomasville seedling from eyeckr - twig dieback, but looks like it will make it, as some green on bottom part of it
Ichang Lemon seedling (Woodlanders) - looks pretty much dead
Taiwanica Lemon seedling (Woodlanders) - looks pretty much dead
Ichang Papeda seedling (Woodlanders) - Twig dieback to pretty much the snow line. Green beneath that, so I am hoping it recovers. Honestly, I am not that impressed with Ichang
Papeda's hardiness (at least, in my area), especially in light of its reputation
US 942 seedling (decent sized rootstock tree from Madison) - a lot of twig damage. This one really disappointed me because I had heard it was a good candidate for a hardy edible
citrus and it is is close to the same size as the x639 that had no damage
Keraji seedling (Woodlanders) - dead, but still remarkably has some greenish leaves hanging on that go down to a dead looking twig. I expect them to eventually fall off and it to be
probably dead
Rusk Citrange (Woodlanders) - pretty dead, but still has some green on the lower trunk (probably around snow line). I really wanted this variety, so I hope it grows back
Grafted Yuzu on PT (Stan Mckenzie) - dead twigs and appears to be dying back to graft point. This one also really disappointed me, as Yuzu is pretty hardy (this one was located right
next to the x639 in my front yard)
Ventura Lemandarin - very small seedling I got from Jim VH. It died back to snow the line, but is starting to grow from it's truck. It is remarkably hardy, since it really is a very small
seedling
I also have a very small Flying Dragon in a pot on my porch that froze, so we will see how it does. So far, pretty green still.
I am not too surprised with some of the results, as I have been doing this long enough to kind of know what to expect with small plants, no protection, and that kind of freeze. But, was still hopeful. Anyway, it did show me what was the most hardy for my area, though (I do know it can get potentially lower than last winter's freeze once every decade or so, but will be ready with protection this time, in case of that event).
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