keylimes
persian lime
blood navel orange
ruby red g.fruit
kumquats

all get old cotton sheets over them
keylimes were 'knocked' to the ground, but coming back, no fruit this year

Owari satsuma, kimbrough satsuma, cara cara navel, Texas ten degree tangerine, tawanica lemon, sanbokan grapefruit, ThomasvilleX clementine, citrumelos, changshas,Yuzu and some more Im sure... some protected during the deep freeze of Jan and others not. Most doing ok with some fruit... Round-up residue in a spray tank is my worst enemy. I can deal with the cold...

Wow. Never heard of most of those citrus varieties. What is a Texas Ten degree tangerine like? A tawanica lemon? A sanbokan grapefruit? How hardy? Also, what is your experience with the yuzu? I've heard some say it is a marvelous cooking acoutrement and other say it is insipid with astringency.

I feel so silly putting in my lonely Marsh Grapefruit!!! It's only about 4' tall right now, and was only put in the ground about 2 weeks ago. It did suvive the winter outdoors in a huge black nursery pot though. It had a really bad case of soft scale, but that all clear now. It started putting out little tiny fruit while still in the pot, but the scale set in and all fell off. It put out new growth with 2 days of going in the ground!!! :) Should I cover it or anything this coming winter? I'm new to FL, and all it's gardening quirks, any help would be wonderful.
Thanks and Happy Gardening,
Raven

I don't think you'll ever need to cover "yard" citrus where you live! Make sure to fertilize your new tree with a citrus blend, or a balanced fertilizer like peters`20-20-20

I'm about to plant 2 satsumas (one Owara, one Kimbrough) in my yard which is beside the sound on Topsail Island, near Wilmington NC. (It's officially zone 8B but is effectively 9A.) I'd love advice from you guys -- any special instructions for planting? I also need advice on winter protection.

Allie

Islander? Are you getting your citrus trees locally? Or do you have a reliable mail order nursery?
PB

We have a lemon tree of some kind toward east rear of our yard planted 20 plus years ago. Even with a six feet back fence the kids in the neighborhood love climbing up and down. An excellent fruit producer, the rest of the neighborhood think all the fruit is rightly theirs. We get worried from time to time when it gets almost bare during the winter. Never did any thing special for it thou.

Ankrara's Hobby Corner

Thanks for the tip, I need to pick up more Peter's tomorrow anyway.
Thanks and Happy Gardening,
Raven

Ashef, make sure to plant both of those where they will be out of northwesterly winds. These advective freezes are usually much more damaging than the radiational freezes. For example, I left my 4 foot kumquat tree unprotected during the big Jan Freeze of 2003 ( coldest here in 9 years...actually hit 19 degrees for an hour!) and it died completely. It was situatd where it took the brunt of the winds and got "freeze-dried" My key kime ( the most tender of all citrus) merely got dessicated ( mostly anyway) with no branch damage. It wa located at the Southeast corner of my house, very close to it, and was unprotected as well. For the rest of my citrus, I wrapped a towel around the trunk, and for the smaller ones, put pillowcases around the branches. You can see my first post to see how the rest of the citrus fared. ANd for Peabee, my citrus literally came from a half dozen or so sources, but a couple of note, locally. Tim and Daves nursery in Richmond Hill ( on coastal Hwy 17) has a good selection ( or did) and Secret Gardens on Garrard? had nice specimen kumquats. Hester and Zipperer is a good place for Meyer Lemons and owari Satusmas. Hope this helps!

Thanks, Wilmington Islander for the great advice. I never would have thought about freezes on the basis of wind direction but now that you've told me, it makes perfect sense. I have totally changed my mind about where to plant my satsumas and will put them in much more protected spots.

Allie

Most of these were protected to some extent during the big freeze. The Meyer Lemon had only a blanket covering it while the temps got down in the low teens. It was completely defoliated along with the small Persian Lime, but both have come back strong even getting a few fruits.

Eric D

Here is a link that might be useful: SC Citrus

I have a lonely tangerine. Have no idea of its botanical name. Got it at Home Depot 4 years ago. It lives in a terracotta pot since it will go with me when and if we ever buy the acreage we want. It is about 2.5 ft tall. Has yielded 10 tangeringes per year except this year when the cold got most of the branches.

Hubby put its blanket on it but too late I am afraid. We use old "holey" blankets. Its funny to see the plants sporting all the bedware we covered ourselves with on cold nights once upon a time. Hey, it works! When hubby gets them on the plants ontime that is. ;)

Regards,
Sybelle

Oh love citrus

Ponderosa lemon
Meyer Lemon
Blood oranges
Satsuma tangerine
Calamondin
Nagami Kumquat
Key Lime
Varigated Pink Lemon
Ruby Red Grapefruit

That's what I have in MY yard. I have tons more in pots. lol- I sell citrus!

Citrus is a wonderful, low maintenance food crop for home orchards.

We finally bought the home we always wanted, last summer. In February, we planted 22 citrus.
Owari Satsuma x3
Brown Select Satsuma x2
Valencia x3
Louisiana Sweet x2
Meyer lemon x 2
Lisbon lemon
Ruby Red grapefruit
Washington navel
Dream navel
Sweet Kumquat
Blood orange
Tangelo
Mandarine
Calamondin
Tangerine

I'd love to smell your backyard in the spring.

What citrus could I try in 8b that wouldn't have to be covered? I'm gone a lot in the winter. Local Lowe's is carrying Meyer's Lemon, Improved; Mexican Lime; and Sunquat, but I am always scared to buy. Is there anything I could use? Thanks! Guerry

Hi Guerry, The Meyer Lemon will do really well for you, there are many in the Lowcountry area that have been here for years. I have not had to cover mine and I have had lots of delicious lemons from it - the juice freezes well. I also have Orlando Tangelo,Ponkan Tangerine, Sanbo Sweet Lemon and one of those varigated lemons that are not supposed to be hardy here (but we had such a mild winter). Neighbors have Satsumas and grapefruit bearing well.
I don't know about the other two varieties you mention, perhaps someone else will chime in. Did you see the third post on this thread? Check out Citrusman's web page, he can tell you all about citrus in SC.
Hope Gaston treated you kindly. ali m

Keep the key lime in a pot....but the meyer lemon and the sunquat ought to do fine. . How does sweet lemon taste? How old how big?

This is my first year with the sweet lemon, friends tell me they taste like lemonade. They are huge fruits - already larger than the tangelos, more like a good sized orange.

I have to keep all my citrus in pots; the soil in my sunniest spot is too heavy and does not always drain well. I am building the soil with lots of compost and newspapers; maybe one day I will be able to get these into the ground. In the meantime they are in 18" pots, outdoors, year round.

Thanks for the lists and tips, Islander and Ali.

Ali, we haven't been down your way by land or by sea in ages. Seems like the weather keeps messing us up every weekend, and now we're set for another bad weekend. With your citrus in 18" pots, do you have to water every day? And are they more vulnerable to cold weather if they are not in the ground? Do they reach full height in a pot? I don't know how you have so much cool stuff w/ bad soil; it's an inspiration. Guerry

I've only had the guts to put my Satsuma in the ground here in suburban Charleston. HB Pomelo, Thornless Key Lime, and Minneola Tangelo in whisky barrels. Two Meyer Lemons in 20 gallon containers, Murcott in a 7 gallon, Var. pink lemon in a 7 gallon, Ruby Red grapefruit in a 5 gallon, key Lime in a 5 gallon, Persian Lime in a 7 gallon. Eureka lemon in a 7 gallon.

They spend the winter on a Southeast facing porch under an eave. Any forecast of 26 or below, I carry the mobile ones into the spare bedroom. The others get huddled together under a sheet with a 75 watt light bulb for life support.

I realize that the Meyers could make it planted out with protection, but I don't want worry about losing them WHEN (not if) a major Arctic blast comes. Scott

Guerry, We too have been busy and traveling and are about to go off again, Asheville this time.
Unless it is very windy, I water about every three days. When we have those windy hot days they do need supplimental water, otherwise the irrigation system takes care of them. They are in those pots that are a sort of styrofoam, I find those pots seem to insulate the soil, summer and winter, more so then plastic or even the heavy ceramic containers. They are not my prettiest pots but they work for me.
God bless the folks from Berkeley county who are still cleaning up after Gaston and God bless all of us if Francis continues on it's present path.
Good luck everyone.

Hello All,
Got some flower beds (~120'x 30") on each side of my newely poured driveway. Would like to plant dwarf citrus trees in these beds, but I am not sure of all thats avaialble.
Any suggestions or cautions would be appreciated. I have already made enough dumb mistakes.

In ground citrus:

Meyer lemon
Ambersweet orange
"New" satsuma (lack of a name from the Just Fruits folks)
Orlando tangelo
Page orange
Taiwanica lemon
Seville orange.

Lost a Ponkan and Sunburst tangerine and a Kimbrough satsuma to fireants this year.

Potted citrus:

Two Tahitia limes
Two thornless Key limes
One Lakeland limequat
One Eureka lemon
One Meiwa kumquat.

I'll be putting the Meiwa in the ground this Spring.

.....Alan.

Ahhh..this old thread still has life? I still have all of my above named citrus...with a new addition of a Ponkan to come from Pokey down in Tangerine, Florida. He reports that the ponkan, contrary to many published reports, is cold hardier than even the satsuma. In fact, it was the only cultivar to stay green during the 1983 and 1985 central Florida freezes!! And My Orlando Tangelo had better fruit than any I have ever bought...it has been exquisite!

My Ponkan did not fruit this year, I transplanted it too late last spring and the buds all fell off. The fall of '04 however was a different story, the fruit was wonderful and unlike the Orlando, it ripens very early in the season. I just ordered another Ponkan; you can't have too much of a good thing.

I have since replaced my Sunburst and Ponkan tangerines and will shortly plant the Meiwa kumquat as well.

Not in the ground but I've added a thorny Key lime to the potted citrus collection too.

.....Alan.

Why not in the ground, ALan? I have the thornless variety in the ground, for several years now, many miles north of you, although our "absolute low" winter temps are porbably pretty close. Give it a shot.

I bought several patio citrus plants at Lowes. They seem to be doing very well but the roots are at the top, showing thru the soil. I think the roots are pot bound but they are in full bloom and I don't want to replant them now. The blossoms and subsequent fruit are very fragile and fall off very easily thus loosing the fruit. Any suggestions?
Thanks

I know this is an old thread, but so far, I have 1x variagated pink eureka lemon, 1x meiwa kumquat, 2x sambokan lemons, 3x meyers lemons, 1x duncan grapefruit, 1x ruby red grapefruit, 1x seedling white grapefruit (unknown variety), 1x bitter orange (good for marmalades, teas, and just the aroma when in bloom), 2x hamlin oranges, 1x mineola (honeybell) tangelo, 1x ponderosa lemon, 2x murcott (aka honeybell) tangerine, 1x unknown grafted sweet orange, and I just bought a blood orange and red naval (Cara cara) orange that will be planted in the next week or so. That's 20x citrus trees so far, but I'm not done yet. I still would like to get a pomelo, orlando tangelo, an Ugli tangelo, oro blanco and rio red grapefruit, and who knows what else?

Love this old thread. I have an owari satsuma in the ground for seven years now. Yielded around 70 oranges year before last. It took this past year off--as did almost everyone's satsuma around northeast Florida that I know of.

Just planted this week:

- Ponkan Tangerine (also called a Chinese Honey orange)
- Orlando Tangelo (cross between a Duncan grapefruit and a Dancy tangerine)

Got a few more planted since last time: Marsh White Grapefruit, Flame Grapefruit, and a Hirado Buntan Pomelo.

You're gonna love the orlando tangelo....all of mine are still living and producing copious amounts of fruit...BUT my key lime tree did get defoliated this year...but is already putting off huge amounts of new growth. My favorite after all of these years has to be my "honey murcott"...which was sold to me many years ago as a "lisbon lemon"!!!!!!!!! This tree is now around 15 feet tall, as are all of my others.

I have a brand new backyard that's never had anything planted at all other than grass (new home). I plan on using edible landscaping and would loveeeee to incorporate citrus into it. However, I'm not sure what would be feasible in my locale, plus the fact that my property is pretty much covered in sand!

There is no protection whatsoever from wind since the homes around me are all new as well, but we are inland from the beach by 25 minutes.

Thanks!!

I'm afraid you'll have to pot your citrus unless you semi-espalier the south side of your house with a satsuma or a kumquat...and then only if you have some overhead canopy. If you meet these requirements than I would, if I were you, try a satsuma out!