Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus
New Citrumelos: Iva Swingle and Dingle
Mulberry0126:
This is great data considering Iva has only proven itself in the South up until this point. It seems its hardiness is comparable to standard Swingle despite tasting better, both of which seemingly being hardy to 0°F for short periods and capable of handling hundreds of hours below freezing.
I think we are on the brink of seeing an entire improved generation of hardy citrus hybrids. Iva Swingle scores a 66.5 on our hardy citrus taste test whereas standard Swingle comes in at 44.5. That's a 50% improvement in overall fruit quality from a random seedling strain of a common hybrid.
It's all a numbers game, and I think any off-type seedlings should be kept and raised. I have a Swingle strain that seems slightly less hardy but has a slender growth habit and primarily monofoliate/bifoliate leaf types. I'm hoping it is also an improvement, especially considering the reduced hardiness which is correlated with an improvement in fruit quality up to a point.
bussone:
--- Quote from: vnomonee on February 13, 2026, 05:26:32 PM ---This is from Feb 11th and today the 13th. The grafts spent ~200+ hours below freezing and a single day at 0f.
No protection provided.
The Iva on Swingle is pretty much undamaged, (except for the leaves of course) maybe a little marking here and there on the bark but otherwise no bark splitting or bleaching.
The Iva grafted on poncirus looks even better as it is not in full sun.
--- End quote ---
If it's still alive come spring, I may have to look into that one.
vnomonee:
I'll def update next month. Everything has thawed out already and I don't see any color changes or dieback on any of those grafts meanwhile a large Thomasville branch has all but bleached to yellow down to the graft union. The temps rose some more from when the forecast was posted, I think we got up to 50s and have had some well needed rain (we are in a drought despite all of the snow) so everything has been hydrated.
Some of the thinner branches on my large Prague Chimera which were showing some dessication plumped back up. Unless we get some more crazy dips we might be ok... a cold dip into the mid teens in late March happened here a couple years ago without injuring the other hybrids.
bussone:
--- Quote from: vnomonee on February 19, 2026, 05:40:13 PM ---I'll def update next month. Everything has thawed out already and I don't see any color changes or dieback on any of those grafts meanwhile a large Thomasville branch has all but bleached to yellow down to the graft union. The temps rose some more from when the forecast was posted, I think we got up to 50s and have had some well needed rain (we are in a drought despite all of the snow) so everything has been hydrated.
Some of the thinner branches on my large Prague Chimera which were showing some dessication plumped back up. Unless we get some more crazy dips we might be ok... a cold dip into the mid teens in late March happened here a couple years ago without injuring the other hybrids.
--- End quote ---
The scourge for my hydrangeas is that one last freeze we usually get in early April.
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