Growing Citrus in Marginal (colder) Zones

[5150cycad]

On June 1, 2017 at 2:34:43 PM, Opal92 said:

Yes, I've been pretty frustrated with them over the years. I can't stand the disfigured leaves. Sometimes (as you saw in the picture) I scrape each one off by hand. This was better when the the trees were smaller though. As for another method, I recently sprayed the new growth on my grapefruit (which was starting to get infected) with Bayer Advanced 3-in1 Insect, Disease, & Mite Control. In the next few weeks I hardly noticed any leaf miners on them. In the past I used a product (forget exact name, but pretty much the same thing) by Ortho and it had the same results.

Thank you for the information. I can't stand disfigured leaves either which is why I ended up stripping most of the infected leaves off the tree. I then sprayed (Bayer 3 in one that you recommended in the post above) all of the remaining leaves on the tree along with doing a soil drenching with a Bayer systemic product. It seems that it is working for now. Thanks again for your help. Happy growing! 

[Matthew92]

Ponderosa lemon as of today. This one came off flowers from late May/early June. Less than 2 months old! Can't wait to taste.

 

[Matthew92]

This is the first year I haven't protected my citrus with temperatures this low. We've had freezes to 22, 23, 18 deg and a several nights into the mid/upper 20's.  I'm surprised how well they've done. I thought defoliation would be worse. Last year, the lowest we got was 22, and almost everything except the Parson Brown orange had around 75% or more defoliation. I think this was due to there being very mild temps right before that freeze and the trees were subsequently more shocked. I think the difference this year was that there were more freezes leading up to the bad ones which lulled the trees to becoming fully dormant.

Ponkan tangerine on right, ruby red grapefruit on left. Ponkan was already having some leaf drop this past summer due to nutritional deficiencies (which I intend to fix this year), which may have contributed to it defoliating more easily. Again, it did this last year and came back fine, so it should be okay.

Glen navel orange in front: while they're still holding on, I suspect much of the leaves on top will eventually drop, but otherwise not too bad.

Parson brown orange is the most cold hardy.

Meyer lemon's defoliation was expected since it is the most cold tender. Stems are very hardy though- still bright green. Will come back just fine.

 

[Matthew92]

On ‎5‎/‎24‎/‎2017‎ ‎11‎:‎03‎:‎04‎, Laaz said:

Most citrus can take upper teens without a problem. Limes, citrons & lemons are the few that really take any damage. I have 40+ citrus in my yard & never protect anything. They produce thousands of fruit every year.

I'd be very interested to see an update on all your citrus after the record cold you had. Will be beneficial for this thread to see how they recover from such low temps (and snow). 

[Fusca]

 

1 hour ago, Opal92 said:

I'd be very interested to see an update on all your citrus after the record cold you had. Will be beneficial for this thread to see how they recover from such low temps (and snow). 

I'm also interested to see.  I've got a few citrus trees planted, but they are still 3' young plants that I planted this past Sept.  My low temp so far is 20ºF and we've had 2 wet cold events (1 snow and 1 freezing drizzle/sleet) and 2 separate cold events that included a 36 hour stretch below freezing.  I was too busy covering sensitive palms so my citrus got neglected (uncovered).  The calamondins of course came through without a scratch.  My lemonquat (sunquat) also fared very well with only one branch showing damage.  My orlando tangelo is completely defoliated, but the branches are still bright green so I'm pretty confident that it will come back.  For awhile I thought it might only come back from the sour orange rootstock which would not be good!  This is my first experience with damaged citrus - is it advisable to prune it or just let it go?  I've also got some seed-grown Rio Red grapefruit that I plan to plant out in the spring.  I'm sure it will take awhile for them to produce.

Jon

[Cikas]

Citrus species are not that cold sensitive. They can take below freezing temperatures. Even after defoliation, they will grow back in spring, and you will have fruits next fall/winter. 

[Matthew92]

On ‎1‎/‎23‎/‎2018‎ ‎3‎:‎20‎:‎11‎, Fusca said:

 

I'm also interested to see.  I've got a few citrus trees planted, but they are still 3' young plants that I planted this past Sept.  My low temp so far is 20ºF and we've had 2 wet cold events (1 snow and 1 freezing drizzle/sleet) and 2 separate cold events that included a 36 hour stretch below freezing.  I was too busy covering sensitive palms so my citrus got neglected (uncovered).  The calamondins of course came through without a scratch.  My lemonquat (sunquat) also fared very well with only one branch showing damage.  My orlando tangelo is completely defoliated, but the branches are still bright green so I'm pretty confident that it will come back.  For awhile I thought it might only come back from the sour orange rootstock which would not be good!  This is my first experience with damaged citrus - is it advisable to prune it or just let it go?  I've also got some seed-grown Rio Red grapefruit that I plan to plant out in the spring.  I'm sure it will take awhile for them to produce.

Jon

As mentioned and shown in pictures earlier in this thread, my citrus trees were very young when the 2010 freeze to 17 degrees occurred. Afterwards, I prematurely cut back a couple of the trees only to realize when new growth came out later that they probably would have resumed growth on some of the stuff I cut. I've come to realize that much of the time that the stems are okay when they lose their leaves. I'd wait to cut anything until it gets warm again and new growth comes out.

[Jotoqi]

Im in zone 7a and I have a Meyer Lemon Tree that's doing just fine.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Jotoqi
Forgot to add more information.

[Jotoqi]

I started it from seed 3 1/2 years ago. It just shed it's flowers, and it is developing fruits. It is replacing foliage with wood.

[Matthew92]

Here's an update on how my citrus did after 22, 23, and 18 deg. freezes unprotected.

Meyer lemon had a lot of dieback. Initially a lot of the leafless twigs were green but many have since browned.

The Parson Brown orange, glen navel, and ruby red grapefruit did fine.

Ponkan tangerine lost some twigs. It had already been suffering from nutritional deficiencies last summer, and this may be part of why it's struggling.

[Matthew92]

Citrus trials in North FL by UF show promising results and surprising cold hardiness

link: http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/phag/2013/09/13/citrus-varieity-trials-underway-at-ufifas-nfrec-quincy/

[Matthew92]

Growing Satsuma mandarins commercially are making a comeback in North FL. Apparently there used to be 18,000 acres of Satsumas in North FL and Alabama before bad freezes in the early 1900's.

News video on a productive grove near Marianna, FL
http://www.wjhg.com/content/news/Satsuma-harvest-season-starts-455949693.html

Article on the same farm
http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/smallfarms/2016/07/20/satsumas/
 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Opal92

[Matthew92]

My citrus have really been put to the test. Christmas Freeze 2022 (18 deg, and two nights in the low 20's) killed my Grapefruit, Meyer Lemon, and Ponkan tangerine (which was already struggling with some diseases and overall decline) to the rootstock. I had some personal things going on and also with trees getting so huge I ended up doing no protection. Parson Brown and Glen navel orange survived with some branch dieback and split branches but came back vigorously. I think also what damaged them so much was it had ben warmer leading up to that freeze and the trees were more shocked and had more sap=split branches.

Next winter we had a dip to 19 deg and 1 or 2 nights in the low 20's but the two oranges survived well and even held many green leaves. We had a lot more cold weather leading up to that freeze and the trees were more dormant too.  I didn't do any protection for this event.

Now for this cold event. its currently 15deg and I am worried. Weve had a lot of cold weather and lighter freezes leading up to this event so I think the trees are plenty dormant. I wrapped the trunks and base of main branches heavily with moving blanket(s) and plastic tarp. The trees are partially covered with snow so I don't know if that will help insulate much at all. And originally I put a spotlight pointed at the main branches on each tree but when I woke up to see 17 deg and dropping I cut to the chase and pointed 2 space heaters at the trunk/base of main branches. They aren't the most powerful space heaters so I don't know how effective they really are. 

The leaves are currently curled to the point I think they will almost all definitely drop. Thankfully I don't see any split branches or twigs though. I just hope enough of the tree survives that it won't be lost or go into irreversible decline. I feel bad I should have done more protection or maybe tried to cover the whole tree somehow but it is difficult because they have gotten so big.

@Laaz I know many of yours survived 16deg and snow in 2017 or '18 so that gives me hope they will survive well enough.

I'll try to post pictures soon.

[Matthew92]

Feeling more hopeful now. Inner leaves look to be intact on the trees (also closer to the space heater). Outer ones still very curled but green. In the Christmas 2022 freeze I was able to almost immediately tell the leaves were dead as they took on a grey/pale green color quickly. 

[Than]

Wow. Here in the Mediterranean citrus trees don't survive in areas that get 15F as far as I know, but your climate is different. Or perhaps I am wrong. I know for a fact they take light frosts with no damage, perhaps down to 25F. 

Here every garden has citrus trees. They are omnipresent. Also, they are always sick with viruses, fungi, whatever. You can see their leaves curling, swelling and what not. They don't die though and they still fruit in abundance.

I am planning to get rid of mine, to the wrath of my friends! 

[necturus]

I lost all my citrus a few years back except for a Meiwa kumquat. A calamondin tried coming back but croaked in the next bad freeze. The kumquat came back and produced a decent amount of fruit this year, although about half was still green in this freeze and was lost. I wrapped the tree, and it doesn't look like I'll lose any leaves. I'm gonna plant some hardy stuff this year (bloomsweet, more kumquats, satsumas, yuzu). Hope yours come through.

[thyerr01]

Mixed results on my citrus after the recent cold in Houston. Yuzu and Ujukitsu were wrapped in reflective foam insulation and had the grafts protected with dry leaves - they look ok with some dieback of the branch tips for the Yuzu. Two calamondins, one seed grown and one grafted, neither protected - the seed grown one has some dieback of the tips, the grafted one looks much worse and might lose its leaves. Mystery citrus (probably just sour orange) - complete loss of leaves and probably all growth. This one has recovered from the past two serious freezes and regrown from the roots, which I expect will happen again. 

[thyerr01]

Mystery citrus and Calamondin looking rough. Starting to get branch dieback on the Calamondin.