Hi Barrie, Most of the field grass around here is Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and browns during the winter. Often there is a little green all winter from various winter grasses like rye but the drought has kept them down. The citrus itself was kept well watered. The dry hardiness myth is far over rated and unproved in my opinion. The only case I have personally seen where plant dehydration builds cold hardiness is with some succulents like agave. Otherwise I think very much dehydration would weaken a plant making it less hardy and dry ground freezes much deeper killing roots. Being totally dormant is the key to hardiness in my opinion and that comes from regular cold nights near freezing. However being slightly dry could help induce a drought dormancy helping with cold hardiness in warmer winter areas like the Gulf Coast. Thank's for your reply.

trying to grow pure Changsha in zone 7a would be a stretch, most likely it's not going to work out, but you may have a chance in zone 7b (especially the warmer half of zone 7b) if you live in the South. I have tasted the fruit of what I believe was a Morton citrange. The fruit entirely looked like a delicious orange, very inviting, but biting into it it had an awful flavor that I can only describe as putrid, and it made me want to immediately spit it out. I was told there was one other person who tasted it that found it to taste acceptably edible and could eat it. From what I have researched, I think many other Poncirus hybrids don't taste as bad as this Morton citrange, though they usually do tend to have a similar flavor. As for the US 852 hybrid, I have seen a video where a guy said he was even able to manage to enjoy eating them. Though I suspect he probably had more "adventurous" tastes that many people.

Hey Paul...you might go the route I did. I am having major sucess. I live down the road from Dallas...a bit Sotuh of you but still cold as Heck. We were down to 19 the other night. Ice everywhere. Anyway, I planted Owari Satumas' (a fantastic flavored Tangerine) right up against a South wall. I mean right on it- the trunks are perhaps 6 inches from the wall.. the trees grow pretty much flat. The wall serves as a heat radiator at night. It(the wall) heats during the day, when the sun is low in the South(winter) horizon. This has worked amazingly well for me. I do no additional protection..none! I picked buckets of the best Owaris' the other day and am handing them out to friends(and eating tons of them myself). They are amazed at the flavor and color. In their 3rd season, the Owaris' are now going up over the roof line so this should be intersting to see how they handel the cold "up there". I am not suprised that the Owaris' are doing so well, Satsumas(as a group) are super cold tolerant. The most amazing thing however is that I also planted a Meyer Lemon and a Morrow Blood Orange (very tender) and both have thrived under the same treatment. The Morrow does get some burn on the branches that tend to grow away from the house wall. I just call this natural pruning! Now, I would never tell you to plant a Morrow or a lemon BUT...give the Satsumas a shot. They will reward you. You will be able to get them this spring at Lowes. I work for the nursery that grows them for Lowes and I know we ship to your stores. Also, consider a Kumquat...such neat little trees. Even more cold tolerant too! Yes, you should find them at Lowes too. Oh, the first year, when the tress were very small, I "pinned" the branches to the wall with those coffee cup screws. I screwd them into the wall and slipped the flexable branches into the "hook" part. It held them flat against the wall. I wanted to give them the best chance at making it thru their first winter. It might not have been needed but I figured why not? For you, I think if your walls are wood, I would for sure do something like that. Anyway, give it a shot. The tree should cost you around 13-15 bucks. You MIGHT find some on clearance right now. A few stores (Lowes) still have them laying around.

Herman, thanks for the update. It’s great to see fruit already. How large are the Conestoga 026 Segentrange and Poncirus Plus fruit? They look similar to PT…….or are they larger…….photos can be hard to judge. Great to hear 5* Citrumelo has some sweetness. Fruit ripens around Thanksgiving……but the size is clearly larger than PT…….a nice selection. Getting fruit in 3 years is very fast. I gave my brother who lives in Fairfax, VA a seed grown Citrumelo 12 years ago and it still hasn’t bloomed! Keep the updates coming.