Frosthardiness experience with citrusvarieties in zone 7, down to 3,2 F

[tedburn]

Inground Citrus with first flowers this spring,
though we had 3 nights of late freezes last week with -2 and -3° C

Bloomsweet 2. year on Flying Dragon


Ichangstar 60, graft of 2021, one year in ground


Trifeola, after one year in ground


Clemyuz 22, 2.year in ground

[tedburn]

3 weeks later the nice flower setting is there.

Clemyuz 22


Trifeola


Bloomsweet


Ichangstar 60

[Mulberry0126]

3 weeks later the nice flower setting is there.

Clemyuz 22


Trifeola


Bloomsweet


Ichangstar 60

I'm very curious about Trifeola. I heard the fruit ripen very late for here in NC but maybe they could serve as a lime substitute if picked before the first frost. I just got cuttings from the CCPP.

[tedburn]

Yes I also heard about late fruit ripening. No I hope for at least one fruit to
see how it will ripe and taste. I will keep you updated.
In foresight I pollinated with Bloomsweet. Bloomsweet is among my citrus
a good pollen donor.
Good success with your Budwood  .

[tedburn]

Flowers and fruitlets of some inground Citrus

Keraji, meanwhile a plant of 2m height


Sanford Curafora a flower booster


Ichangstar 60


Yuzu x Citrumelo

[tedburn]

Satsuma Collot, first two fruits in December 2023,
about 1,3m high died back this winter about 10  cm
over the graft union, after 3 or 4 freeze days with a low of about - 8,5 ° C
unter protection fleece.
Fortunately there it stopped and regrows now.
Think I will graft one scion on Poncirus to try getting perhaps a little
bit more frost hardiness than on the current Swingle rootstock.

[tedburn]

Here all the 1 year old seedlings which have seen several freeze days and -8 ° C ,
(pictures of Chandler x Bloomsweet I already posted here) now winter damages shows
from dead/heavy damage (N1 tri Voss) to nearly no damage (Citrumelo N82).
Chandler x Bloomsweet now also shows more damage, but slso some still look quite good
as a positive surprise.
Also very interesting how different the frost hardiness within
one variety.
Because the stickers can' t be red, here the varieties
from left (worst) to right (best):
N1 tri Voss, 5* Citrumelo, Yuzu, Chandler x Bloomsweet, Citrumelo N82

Current status of survivors of the freeze test - shown for
Chandler x Bloomsweet cross.
Winter damage still separated fairly against status in March,
but now the survivors are clear, though despite bark cracks they survived,
and show no healthy green resprouting.
So now I will protect them the following winters before
grafting them on some of my multifruit hardy citrus in ground,
in assuming frosthardiness as good as Bloomsweet and good fruits.

[tedburn]

In my opinion the Yuzu x Citrumelo is the frosthardy citrus with
the best colours - here young leaves with nice colours

[tedburn]

Here some pictures of my inground citrus with
fruits this year.
Some of them, Yuzu x Citrumelo, 5* Citrumelo,
Bloomsweet an Ichangstar 60 set fruit, but dropped
them - perhaps due to our wet and cold spring and early summer
In Germany.
 Others as the following pictures show
don' t mind the crazy weather.
Trifeola with first fruit


Silverhill, grafted on Sanford Curafora


Sanford Curafora fruit


Nippon Orangequat on Sanford Curafors


Keraji on Sanford Curafora


Clemyuz 22 with first fruit, still small in comparison to the others

[Millet]

Looks like a good year from all your efforts. Congratulations.

[tedburn]

Thankyou very much Millet  .
Yes, hardy citrus is a hard bussines in zone 7 , but very
satisfying and interesting.
Biggest challenge is to find beneath ornamental plants
Citrus hardy citrus with delicious fruits.
So for the moments the best hardy ones with delicious
fruit for me are:
Bloomsweet, Nippon Orangequat, Keraji, Sanford Curafora and
Thomasville. Though I still have to expirience this year if
ripening time in my zone is sufficient for acceptable sweetness in the fruits.
Bloomsweet and Thomasville hopefully next year without fruit drop.
Citrus still keep so much secrets  .

[bussone]

Is there a recommended technique for removing early fruit from a young plant?

Basically, I don't want a newly planted Thomasville to waste energy on fruit when it could be wasting energy on roots/leaves. 

But I'm uncertain how best to remove the baby fruitlets. They don't really want to twist off, but I'm hesitant to force it too hard, lest I damage the branch. Ideas? How do you guys do it?

[BorisR]

How do you guys do it?

Hello bussone!
I try to do this at the flower or button stage. If the fruit has already increased, the peduncle becomes hard. Probably in this case it is better to use some kind of tool, such as scissors.

[bussone]

How do you guys do it?

Hello bussone!
I try to do this at the flower or button stage. If the fruit has already increased, the peduncle becomes hard. Probably in this case it is better to use some kind of tool, such as scissors.

I appreciate the advice.

[Ilya11]

I guess if you don't want the fruits the simplest way is to remove flowers.

[tedburn]

For thinning out, as I have to do with Sanford or Bloomsweet, I jeep the twig with the fruit in one hand and with the other I take the fruit and turn it and it breaks away.
 This works quite good.

[bussone]

I guess if you don't want the fruits the simplest way is to remove flowers.

I realize. But I like the flowers. =)

[BorisR]

Yes, but this is a waste of resources by the plant. If it is young, beauty can be sacrificed.

[tedburn]

New grafts on inground Sanford Curafora develop nice fruits
already curios about ripening time and taste

Keraji fruit


Nippon Orangequat fruit


Sanford Curafora fruit


Satsuma Silverhill fruit

[tedburn]

After 4 years also Chimera Prag seems to keep 2
fruits from 3 flowers. Though the flowers came late
and the fruits are still small.
But they are there  .

[tedburn]

Today due to curiosity tested at very early stage a inground Kerajimandarinfruit,
diameter 2,5 cm, for my opinion it looks already very promising.
Juicetest is sour like lemon, but could be already used as lemon substitute.

[tedburn]

Citrus breeding is hard and long lasting but interesting work  .
Here the status of my breeding trials
with Chandler x Bloomsweet startet in 2022 and
Yuzu x Citrumelo startet in 2023.

Chandler x Bloomsweet which managed -8 °C in winter
had lot of loss and hard start in 2024  with lot of rain and snail attacks


Yuzu x Citrumelo the rest which looks good, some died with root problems.
Hope this 4 will stabilize - winterhardiness test seems
not realistic before they have grown one or two more years.
url=https://postimg.cc/jWSwrm1z][/url]
Macroview

Macroview

[tedburn]

Late fruits, but better late than nothing  .

Poncirus #7, assumed to be Benton citrange, but thinking it s not Benton.
But fruits are told to be sweet - don' t know if they still get ripe, perhaps
to be prooved next year



Chimäre Prag, first two fruits after 4 years in ground  , hope one will get ripe or nearly ripe before
Winter freeze in December or January

[tedburn]

Keraji looks wonderful, plant and fruits after 4 years in ground

[tedburn]

Sanford seems to be susceptible to fruit split.
Due to fruit flies I made an early harvest  .
Still not very big and therefore not too much
juice, but the juice I got was very tasty.