The Tropical Fruit Forum

Ok. Got outside to look at the Damage. Most of it happened on the 22nd to 24th on the runup to Christmas. Many houses and buildings had water damage from burst pipes and water tanks. I checked the weather history, and it went from 50 degrees F on the 23rd to 9 degrees F on the 24th. The damage was harsh because I was actually stuck out of State and was not able to protect any of my plants. Every Citrus plant is defoliated except one.

The Citrangequat is the clear winner. It is mostly defoliated, but most of the growth is still green with only a little tip burn. I pruned it anyway because it was getting way too tall and bushy. Come spring, I will take out some of the stems to try and keep it to 3 trunks. These winters make me too nervous to try and turn it into a tree. So it'll get the fig/ pomegranate treatment of a few trunks so that hopefully at least one will make it every winter. This one is unprotected fully out in the open.

The UGA Changsha is defoliated with maybe 30% damage. It is on the South Side of the house next to a Meyer lemon. I'll prune once growth starts in the spring.

The Meyer lemon is mostly dead with green on 2 large trunks up against the south wall. So it will probably come back, but will need serious pruning. Not sure what form will be left here. If it finally dies or comes back as sprouts, I'll pull it out and pot it as it only gives fruit every other year with these weather issues.

The potted citrus:

Miho satsuma: some green at the base, so cautiously optimistic to see if the graft survived.

Sudachi: Looks dead as a doornail, but will wait before tossing:

Bloomsweet: Some green at the base, will wait to see if graft survives.

UGA Ichang: Most of the stems are green, will wait to see how much of the form will come back. This one was bought from me by a close family friend, so sorry now that I gave it away, but will see if I can get some budwood before giving it away.

Yuzuquat: Looks dead as a doornail. All brown. This one was never really that hardy for me. I think the warm winters just don't agree with it.

Moral of the story: The Japanese varieties just aren't cut out for the Southeast. Yuzu, Yuzuquat, Sudachi should be able to take the lows, but it stays way too warm in the winter for them to harden up. I think it's back to the Kumquat hybrids for me. Thomasville is the KIng, and now Hershel has a Sinton that I will get in the Spring. That kumquat dormancy seems like an essential quality down here as opposed to California with its cooler winters.
The Ichang looks good but the fruit is way too large for me to use. A neighbor has the original non-irradiated one, and whenever they give me some, all I can do is freeze it in trays. Putting some in a cup of tea is ridiculous as one eighth of  a fruit would be enough. I would just waste the rest.

I'll update it in the Spring with my final results.

Hershell at Madisoncitrusnursery does ship fruit, but mostly the non-hardy type. However, I'm certain he has fruit from the hardy types that he doesn't market (who really wants those?). You should send him an e-mail and see what he will charge to send you some.

My seedless Changsha has about 12 on it (it's still small). I've been sampling one each week to try and see when the fruit are ripe. The ones this week were very good. There's a point where they go from too tart, to just right, to insipid. December though January seems to be the best time for these..

Taste wise, I think the Citrangequat is pretty good. I also have a Sudachi because I thought it would taste better, but that's not the case. The Citrangequat has larger fruit, is a better producer, starts earlier and basically has fruit on it from Late June till January most years if Frost doesn't take the fruit. The only minus is that the Zest really doesn't have that many applications. My family also preferred the  Thomasvile as the Sudachi has a mandarin/orange undertone.

A little zest in pies works fine, but I haven't figured anything else out. I'll try some marmalade this year since they look like I'll have some ripe ones before the hard frost..

All the citranges I have tried have that trifoliate funk at the end.

I guess if you are on the coast you can grow citrus in Georgia. I'm south of Tampa and it's too cold for some citrus like Valencia or key lime. With some effort you can do it but they are likely to die. North Florida you basically have navels, tangerines, grapefruit and tangelos. Georgia maybe a grapefruit or a trifoliate in the south. The ones from seed are more cold hardy so maybe grapefruit from seed. I haven't been to coastal Georgia I'm usually up I 75 where there aren't any citrus in Georgia other than maybe right on the Florida line. Sour orange, trifoliate that kind of stuff will grow pretty far up into Georgia though but not worth planting

LOL. I'm in the Atlanta Metro and I have Meyer lemons and Mandarins in ground...
8a is hardy enough for Satsumas with occasional protection...
I do have hardy citrus out front too, but I've also given citrus to friends, and all of the ones that were planted were still alive.

Here's someone else..
https://site.extension.uga.edu/fultonag/2022/02/satsuma-success-a-master-gardeners-experience-growing-in-ground-citrus-in-north-georgia/


BTW, one thing about GA is Figs and Blueberries are everywhere. They should at least have been eating figs in the show...

My citrangequats pull heavy duty in most of my cooking, but the zest doesn't work great. They're too thin skinned and the zest is bitter like a key lime. The indian dry cleaner I gave some to made some pickled citrangequats and gave me some to taste. They're actually tasty.

But the aroma of the ichang is great. So i'm still trying to find recipes for them...

I am interested as well. Hopefully you get a few more..

Whoops, looks like hlb is starting to spread in South Georgia.  With the growth of the citrus industry,  it was only a matter of time as those areas are too close to Florida.


https://citrusindustry.net/2022/02/14/georgia-grower-rapidly-reacts-to-hlb-find/ 

Earlier this year, a small grove owner in Grady County, Georgia, noticed some odd-looking trees in his grove. The leaves, having an asymmetrical discoloration, appeared to be nutritionally deficient. In an attempt to remedy the problem, the grower reached out to the Grady County Extension office for help. The Extension agent began his quest to figure out the trees’ issue(s).

After collecting a number of leaf samples, the Extension agent contacted a citrus specialist for assistance and, as a precautionary measure, submitted the samples for testing to the University of Georgia Plant Molecular Diagnostic Lab to determine if the trees were diseased. When the lab results came back, the Extension agent found himself in a situation he had never before encountered — what to do about trees infested with huanglongbing (also known as HLB or citrus greening).

I've been doing some light research on the citrus variety site:

Khasi papedas may be another hardy lemon-y base worth considering.
Kabosu is similar to zaidaidai and is related to yuzu but more acidic.

true lemons:
A "true" lemon that ripens in fall is the interdonato -
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/interdonato.html

Messinna - "The pulp is very juicy and acidic." early harvest in autumn, poor everbearer https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/messina_4121.html

The arancio is mentioned as being hardy & compact but ripening date isn't mentioned & the quality isn't prime
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/arancino.html

I don't think I've tasted any of these so far however.

Kabosu is consistently reviewed as not very acidic, almost to the point of being insipid. UCR mentions the la hck of acidity versus Yuzu and Sudachi. And people who taste them like weird fruit explorer and a few others say the same. Might want to leave that one alone..

And Hardy for a mainstream lemon is relative. A Lisbon lemon is considered hardy out west because they're comparing it to Eureka..

Thanks for that info. I'm seriously laughing that the secret ingredient in Florida orange juice is some trifoliate flavor!

Hershell at madison Citrus says that he is working on getting this one re-introduced, so maybe in a year or two...

So what exactly will you be doing with this juice?

 
Wow! The things that people will buy down here!
I wonder how much money these people make from selling this?<br /><br />