Mike, we had a nice snowstorm this weekend...but my citrus are all tucked safe indoors.

Josh

Crowded at the Inn....

Hey Josh!

Really, snow like that in your area that lasts for more than a day? Wow
I don't even have snow like that in my yard yet, lucky me..lol

Looks like this is not a winter that you can leave them in the enclosure you made?
Usually, you can get buy for a whole winter without having to bring them indoors?

What a beautiful set up you have there..All nice and warm and cozy! Let's hope the bugs don't think so too after a month or so...That area is amazing pal! Looks like lots of light in that part of your house.
That Hoya is to die for too!
Such beautiful coloring buddy!

Mike

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Sun, Dec 8, 13 at 14:58

Thanks, Mike! We're supposed to warm up a bit after tomorrow. This is what living in northern California in the foothills is all about. Hot summers, cold winters. And here's a pic of the Moro - this tree gets a better window exposure :-)

Josh

Nice trees josh. I never cease to be amazed at how small a citrus tree can be and still produce fruit.

Steve

My hometown of Chico, CA was 16F last night; that will kill a lot of unprotected citrus; they also had snow all around. Most of the few remaining citrus groves that far North have sprinklers, so the trees looked like giant ice monsters. BTW that is the coldest in my lifetime(70 years); must be that GD global warming. Yes, Guatemala was voted a must see by Conde Nast; Antigua (the colonial capital) was also voted in the top ten most romantic places to retire (we actually had two others in that top ten); and Antigua was voted one of the top 5 cities to explore by walking. We are becoming famous; and real estate prices keep going up and up... not good for a lemon grower; but good for most others. Land for houses in Antigua is now above $600 US per sq. yd.; seems the whole world wants to retire there. Our little development of 27 houses now has, I think 10 owned by Americans; we actually have 2 lots there, the second being garden.

John On GDGW if it is real, I at 56 years will have to live to 106 years of age to see any real effects. You on the other will have to wait till you are 120 years of age. Since I am itching to get the last laugh on you I would like to make a luncheon date with you on January 18 2066. Could you set the hour soon so I can get it on the calendar as I am a very busy man. You chose an interesting place.

Steve

Uh...this is pretty common weather here...about every 3 - 5 years we get a nice December dumping of snow. And when we do, all the city folks go out and dump a bunch of money on snow-tires ;-)

John, the citrus damage reports are already rolling in. Thankfully, the local orchards harvested damned near all of the Owari Satsuma before the hard freeze and the snow. Everyone who has a tree has been giving away boxes to friends and family.

Josh

Well, we dodged the freeze bullet here, fortunately. We had some earlier predictions of temps dropping to 32 or below, but it never quite made it that low. I think my lowest temp this week on my weather station was Monday night, and that was I think 38 degrees. Probably will again hit 38 or so tonight. Seedlings are inside for the next few days. So, we dodged a big one. Temps are warming back up slowly with highs climbing back into the high 60's to mid- 70's. This won't be our only cold snap - just unseasonably early for all of us. Ugh.

Patty S.

We had ice on the water buckets around the yard. Guess the next few days will show if our wraps and lights kept them warm enough. Thankfully the frost is over for now.

Bet my friends who manage the avo ranch will be happy to sleep in bed and a few neighbors will be happy to not hear the fan running in the rare fruit orchard down the road.

Not sure about damage but my meyer just put on tons of blooms and my navel is starting to ripen. Im near the coast so it doesnt get to cold on the hill. Pics to follow later

Steve, actually that tree Josh is growing is quite a good size...I call small in my opinion one that is in a 4 inch pot only about less than a foot high..lol

Josh...Looking real good! I would guess to say that you will be able to start using your cold frame soon again or are those their permanent spots until a month or two for now....?
It's staring to sound like the whole rest of the country is becoming more unstable and unreliable for growing citrus without protection and in fact many areas getting as cold as my area in what I thought was a very warm deep south even in winter////.....@@@@!!!

Patty...I am so happy to hear your trees have made it through this round of cold...I wonder if that cold puts a severe dent into your pest population or disease one? That would be a great side benefit if it did..
At least the cold sweetens the fruit and does other good things...But the freezing type is just darn right terrible..
Please keep us updated through your winter, ok?
What do you do to protect your trees if you have too? Do you have a plan?

Kippy...That's a good one..lol Your neighbors must be grateful as well as you..

Jump, I hope that it's the only thing the cold does for you...I hope it encourages blossoms on everyones trees since the blossoms are the reason why I have dozens up here...I would eat them if they were non acidic..
Patty says the Kishu is a good one..I have one but have not tried the fruit yet. This year I am..

John, I'll bet your glad you moved from that cold place? I'll bet you have fond memories of many places, even the cold ones. but just not the cold...
I would love to live at your place for a year or two..It seems so warm about now.

Good luck to all you folks in regions I consider unsafe for citrus and at the mercy of this weather pattern or should I say jet stream which my Dad seems to think is being controlled by the United States...

Please lets us know your ideas to keep your plants safe and warm from sub freezing temps..

Pics ALWAYS welcomed.

Mike

Mike - To my understanding of fruit trees is that a tree needs 40 leaves per fruit in full length sunny days to do well. When you drop down to half days sun there is only enough for survival. Josh's tree does not come close to those standards and yet it looks absolutely great. That is what surprises me. Even my peach trees don't do nearly that well when they are that small. I had one tree that had that level of fruit and I was happy untill it died trying to get its fruit ripe.

Sorry no new pics with citrus changes.

Steve

Steve,
my Moro exceeds that leaf-standard and then some! Bad picture, I guess. So what I did just now was choose a single branch, and I counted the leaves - 33. Then I counted two other branches - both have over 30 leaves. If you do the math, you'll realize my tree has a couple HUNDRED leaves. The sunlight....well, that's a separate issue ;-)

Josh

Either way Your tree looks fantastic.

Steve

Another citrus forum suggest each fruit only needs three leaves to grow. My one Meyer lemon grew from a branch with only three leaves and ripened nicely so i tend to believe this number. Jack

Steve,
Set the time and place; and I will be there. I seriously plan to live to 125, so no problem with that year. I have very good genetics... lots of ancestors that lived beyond 100 without any of the benefits we enjoy.
BTW my experience with California is that the coldest days are normally in January.
Mike,
I a most glad to be in warmer climates; I think that after a million years of evolution, it is probably no accident that my body temperature is 98.6F... one of the many bits of interest in my second book, "A Walkabout of Life"
Sadly, later this month I am going back into the cold... 3 weeks in Madrid and Copenhagen; I do not suffer cold well, but it is a grandchildren thing. We will be in Copenhagen for New Years

All things considered, we did fairly well.

I think we got some damage from the first night when it was supposed to get close to freezing but must have gotten under. My Bearss Lime and Clementine show some damage, oddly their neighboring Hass Avocado looks great. (guess I will wait and see)

My blood oranges all have a damaged leaf or two, same with the Pink Lemonade Lemon and my Seedless Kishu.

The Meyers-both of them, Australian Finger Lime, Nippon Orangequat, and Gold Nugget all look fine.

From NOAA at our airport (warmer-close to the ocean) they have lows:

12/5 33 (think this was lower and caused the most of the damage because we did not think it would drop too much below freezing but did)
12/6 38
12/7 36
12/8 29 (brrrr)
12/9 31 (brrrr both nights were cold enough to freeze water in buckets with a lid of ice that you could remove as a sheet)
12/10 33