The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi Citradia,

I have Ichang papeda, or at least a variant of it. Mine has done well and has not been bothered by the couple of events of single digit weather we've experienced over the last 10 or so years. It has survived a lot of cold along with a few other trusty hardy varieties I have planted out in the yard here in VA. We got hit pretty hard going on three years ago and my trees are starting to come back around. I grafted my Ichang papeda on flying dragon so it isn't very big. It has pretty leaves similar to kaffir lime. My papeda fruit are small and all virtually seedless or have aborted seeds. I feel that my Ichang lemon tree is prettier though and the larger fruit is more useful. It has survived along side the papeda without much issue. If you don't mind the trifoliate leaves Swingle citrumelo will give you a big 'ol tree full of big 'ol citrus fruit too.

Nice protection measures Citradia. I used to do the same thing until my trees got too big form me to protect. It is worth the effort though. Hopefully you get some blooms and fruit next year. You could always clip a small part of that long branch with no thorns and store it in your fridge just in case the tree gets burned back. That way you could graft it back onto the surviving part of the tree or onto a trifoliate rootstock.

Thanks for the kind words Tom. I think Nuclem, Kishu, a select changsha, Xie Shan, Brown's select, 88-2 are all tops. I'm probably forgetting a lot of other good ones though. Many of the satsumas varieties do tend to taste about the same in my experience. I had some excellent satsumas from well established trees when I visited my friend Lee Sharp out in Mississippi but cannot recall the varieties he had.

Kishu is definitely our family's favorite and I have been trying to get it re-established out in the yard. I had one grafted out that did well and fruited a few times and then got knocked out about 4 years ago. I think what did it in was that it had a bumper crop right before the winter which made it susceptible to freeze damage.

Juanita makes a very good fruit. I did enjoy the fruit and the tree while I had it. Mine grew pretty columnar and only had branches bend over when fruit were on it. A few of us believe the Juanita tangerine is nothing more than a Ponkan mandarin seedling that was grown out and lucky enough to have been placed in a sheltered spot. If you can get your hands on a good ripe ponkan fruit that's about what it tastes like.

I was successful in growing a multi grafted Nuclem and satsumas (Early St Anne, Owari) on a south facing wall of my house for many years up here in the 7b/8a border of Virginia Beach. Initially I did protect the tree until it got too big to protect. At its largest the tree was about 12 ft tall and about 10 ft wide or so. It produced a tremendous amount of the most delicious fruit and we loved it having it while it lasted. Then comes a 20 year freeze that gets down to the single digits for many hours and wipes it out and a large portion of my other inground citrus. Maybe I could have done something to protect it but the size of the tree made it very difficult.  I grafted it up pretty high on trifoliate which helped it survive for as long as it did.  The rootstock did survive and grew out the next year a little. I planned on regrafting onto it then we had a couple more hard winters that eventually sent it to the grave. If you plan on planting a Xie Shan out you might get a few years out of it and a good number of fruit from it as well. When it gets too big to protect it is likely to get wiped out like mine. Just consider it a very risky perennial and enjoy it while it lasts and replant when it freezes out.

I had a Juanita tangerine that did well for a few years too but eventually froze out in the lower teens. I wouldn't rank it much hardier than satsuma. I believe its location at Juanita's house was the key in getting that one to survive.

I still do have a good number of citrus out in the yard that survived but are still rebounding from taking big hits. I would consider these bulletproof for my area. Most all of my trees are grafted but the ones on their own roots that have made it back are a single changsha, yuzu and a thomasville citrangequat. My grafted Keraji trees which I consider a very good tasting fruit are trying to make their way back too.  Other survivors are Glen Citrangedin, Mt Olive Dunstan, Ventura lemandarin, Dimicelli Clem yuz 2-2, Taitri, Ichang lemon, and a few others.

Tracing back to your avocado plans I have had an avocado planted out in my yard for something like 5 years now and it has survived our lowest single digit lows. I did protect it with a comforter and put a light bulb next to it when we got that low. Now it is about 6ft tall and flowering again. I need to mention that it is in a protected area next to my house and greenhouse. It is a cutting grown tree from the large surviving avocado tree in downtown Charleston, SC. Next to it I previously had Joey, Pancho, and about 3 or 4 other 'hardy' avocados that all eventually died off.

I have Artic Frost, Bumper and Orange Frost changsats but have not fully tested them out yet. Small grafts I placed on my inground trees seem to be fairing well. I've been meaning to plant the pottted trees out in the yard since they are on their own roots and would likely come back after a freeze l like my changsha. When they fruited I thought they were all pretty tart but maybe I should've waited a little longer before I sampled them.

TriangleJohn Sorry about your Ichangs and Changshas. How low did you go? I lost my favorite Changsha which had consistently sweet and juicy fruit. The trunk is split terribly. I did make a small graft of it on a nearby trifoliate but it was still a very tiny scion that was not established and also died off this winter. I'm still hoping that I'll get a sprout come up from the base somewhere. I was impressed that my Ichangs made it. I was also very surprised how well my Ten Degree Tangerine, '2-2' variety held up in the cold. It was one of the last to show cold stress and first to bounce back with a vengeance this spring. It is easily now the largest citrus tree in my backyard.

Good to hear that your Key Lime is doing well. I'm wondering if it was a cutting or seedling that made its way to you? Either way I expect at this point it should be fruiting by now. Do you like the strawberry guava fruit? I like it and the Yellow Lemon Guava variety as well. I can't imagine the citrange you have being anything other than Dunstan especially if the tag looks close the spelling.

This past winter was the worst winter we've experienced in decades with many days of continuous hours below freezing, three or four significant snow events and a record low of 5-6 degrees. I wanted to give others an idea what could likely make it long term grown in ground in zone 7b/8a. I did not protect any of my citrus this past winter. I'm located in Zone 8a Virginia Beach, VA. Here's a list of what died and what the tough survivors are:

Dead as a doornail:
Juanita
Calamondin
CiTemple Edible
Satsumas, all varieties
Nuclem
Lemonquat/marmaladequat
Changsha x Clementine
Sudachi
Tokyo pummelo
Yuzuquat
Bloomsweet
SanCitChang
10 Degree kumquat aka Nameiwa
Marumi kumquat
Meiwa kumquat
Dr Brown's seedless kumquat
Nordmanns seedless kumquat
OP Nagami
Croxton
88-2
6-15-150
Ujukitsu
Primosole
Orange Frost ChangSat
Changsha (It is noteworthy that I have one mature, fruiting potted changsha that I left out all winter that somehow survived. It is a seedling tree. This tree will be a good one to propagate)
Tiachang

The only surprising casualty from the above list is the 10 degree kumquat and OP Nagami kumquat. The have shown to be almost bulletproof down to around 8-10 degrees. I figured that they could handle 6 degrees

Alive:
*Ten Degree Tangerine, '2-2'
*Dragon lime
*Yuzu (grafted and on own roots doing fine)
*TiaTri
*Ichang papeda
Ichang lemon
*(Trifoliate x Clementine) x Clementine
Ventura lemandarin (bark split on own rooted tree which is dead, but high grafted tree is bouncing back fine)
Tiawanica
*Swingle
Glen Citrangedin
Mt Olive Dunstan
Morton Citrange
*Dallas Dunstan
Keraji mandarin
Dimicelli
*Thomasville citrangequat (grafted and on own roots doing fine)
Sinton citrangequat
fast flowering/precocious trifoliate
varigated flying dragon

The surprise survivors here are Glen Citrangedin, Keraji mandarin and Dimcelli. Glen just didn't strike me as a very hardy tree but the trifoliate in its bloodline really helps it out. This tree is about 98 percent monofoliate. Dimicelli seemed equal to Glen to me but it sure can take some cold. Keraji is one of the best tasting fruits I have in general so I figured it would see the same fate as all the other good tasting or sweet citrus. It has proven to take 10 to 11 degrees in the past for me but now has proven itself to 6 degrees.

*doing great and getting ready to bloom or has already bloomed this spring

TriangleJohn were your Ichang lemons grafted?