That DB is grafted on Dr. Huey. I don't recommend amending the hole except for adding the superphosphate (put it in the hole then cover with soil, then the plant). I usually amend the entire bed in the fall, but you don't say if your soil is sandy and needs the amendments. You want to avoid what we call the "bathtub effect" where the hole retains too much water and it doesn't drain out properly. Here we may or may not have that problem because of the sandy soil (in some cases). Make sure the union is 2" below the soil. Don't "tamp". Backfill and use water to fill in the holes. Use your hands to press in the soil to make sure there are no air pockets. But you don't want to compress the soil around the roots. Mulch the soil, but keep the mulch away from the canes. Water after you plant, then monitor the soil. You shouldn't have to water daily, especially since we are due for more rain this week (thu - sat). You'll probably get in two applications of Rose-tone, July and August, then stop (no fertilizing after August). Once you see new growth after planting, you can try a weak (1/4 - 1/2 strength) solution of fish emulsion once a week until you start the Rose-tone. You're going to need a regular fungicide treatment for DB.

A statement from the NWS regarding this summer in central NJ: ...WARMEST METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER ON RECORD AT TRENTON... ...FIFTH DRIEST METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER ON RECORD AT TRENTON... ...EIGHTH WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD AT TRENTON... ...THIRD DRIEST AUGUST ON RECORD AT TRENTON... ...MOST DAYS IN A YEAR THAT REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES ON RECORD AT TRENTON... METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER (JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST), 2010 IS THE WARMEST SUMMER ON RECORD WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 77.67 DEGREES. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST SUMMER ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1898, WHEN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 76.47 DEGREES. ALSO, METEOROLOGICAL SUMMER, 2010 IS THE FIFTH DRIEST SUMMER ON RECORD WITH 5.90 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THE DRIEST SUMMER ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1966, WHEN 2.66 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION FELL. AUGUST, 2010 TIES AUGUST, 1900 FOR THE EIGHTH WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 77.1 DEGREES. THE WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1895, WHEN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 78.7 DEGREES. ALSO, AUGUST, 2010 IS THE THIRD DRIEST AUGUST ON RECORD WITH 0.80 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THE DRIEST AUGUST ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1964, WHEN 0.47 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION FELL. FINALLY, THE TEMPERATURE THIS YEAR AT TRENTON HAS REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES ON 47 DAYS THROUGH AUGUST. THAT TIES 2010 WITH 1983 AS THE YEARS WITH THE MOST DAYS THAT HAVE REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES. THAT TIE WILL NOT LAST, BECAUSE THE TEMPERATURE AT TRENTON WILL EXCEED 90 DEGREES AGAIN TODAY. TEMPERATURE RECORDS DATE BACK TO 1893. PRECIPITATION RECORDS DATE BACK TO 1866. $$ THE TEN WARMEST METEOROLOGICAL SUMMERS AT TRENTON DATING BACK TO 1893: RANK TEMPERATURE YEAR (DEGREES F) 1 77.67 2010 2 76.47 1898 3 76.27 1983 4 76.07 2005 5 75.97 1895 6 75.93 1896 6 75.93 1973 8 75.90 1966 9 75.83 1899 10 75.80 1893 THE TEN DRIEST METEOROLOGICAL SUMMERS AT TRENTON DATING BACK TO 1866: RANK PRECIPITATION YEAR (INCHES) 1 2.66 1966 2 3.80 1957 3 5.48 1913 4 5.53 1874 5 5.90 2010 6 6.80 1929 7 7.02 1925 8 7.09 1976 9 7.11 1949 10 7.22 1912 THE TEN WARMEST AUGUSTS AT TRENTON DATING BACK TO 1893: RANK TEMPERATURE YEAR (DEGREES F) 1 78.7 1895 2 78.2 ...

Hi, first post on Gardenweb... TL;DR summary: You can absolutely grow outdoor in ground citrus in southern NJ, or almost any other part of the USA, even upstate MI. It just depends on how much effort you want to invest. Here's my full 2 cents: Citrus are quite content being dormant for several months of the year. They can tolerate prolonged periods (several days) at or slightly below freezing and short periods of a few hours (depending on the variety) down into the teens without much damage except for possible defoliation. The key is that the tree is healthy and fully dormant, active growing trees are much more sensitive to cold. One alternate approach to outdoor growing (as detailed by Poncirusguy) is to bring containerized citrus indoors for winter. Doing this you can either keep them growing actively (not dormant) by supplying sufficient heat and warmth. Or if you have a cool spot inside (temps in the 50's, for example) that receives filtered (not direct) sun you can overwinter them indoors in their dormant state. For outdoor growing, you also need to consider the fruit. In general the fruit will be damaged by temps below ~28F for more than a few hours. So you can either make sure to protect the trees so temps do not get that low or select varieties, such as early Satsumas, that are able to ripen their fruit before cold weather sets in. Depending on the degree of protection, you could grow pretty much any variety of citrus in ground. Alternatively, in zone 7B you should be able to grow some of the more hardy Poncirus hybrids in ground with minimal or possibly no winter protection. But, depending on your personal taste preferences, you may (or may not) like the fruit you get from the Poncirus hybrids. I know someone who has been growing Satsumas, Kumquats, Meyer Lemons, and some other Poncirus hybrids in ground in zone 5B for several years. Some of his trees are 6+ ft tall and many produce fruit. He uses extensive winter protection and supplemental winter heating. I have seen one of his Kumquats with well over 50 ripening fruit that he overwintered! Personally, I have one Satsuma in ground in my yard (zone 6B Massachusetts) and have overwintered it without using any supplemental heat. Instead I used several water barrels (taking advantage of the large heat capacity of water) to protect my tree. My tree saw a low temp of ~28F this past winter (the outside low temp was ~4F). During one stretch, the outside air temp did not get above freezing for 8-9 continuous days. Here are some pictures that might be helpful. Satsuma last Fall: Bundled up for winter (Early November). The tree is surrounded by 6-7 filled 35 gal water barrels wrapped in plastic sheeting to keep the wind out and is topped with an old full glass patio door for a roof. There are many different setups for protection that would also work... you just need to experiment a little and find what works best for your specific area. After 25" of snow in late Janurary: Uncovered this spring: ...and putting on new growth: Whether you choose outdoor (in ground), indoor active, or indoor dormant overwintering is really your personal preference. All methods will likely require some level of trial and error to determine what works best for you. Personally, I have found that maintaining my outdoor tree during the winter was much less work than my indoor trees. Once I set-up the enclosure, I just left the outdoor tree on it's own all winter. (In full disclosure, I did keep an eye on the interior air and soil temps with some remote temp probes and had an emergency heat source that was set to turn on automatically if the interior temp went below 27F) In contrast, my indoor citrus require frequent checks to see if they need water and I typically need to spray them with Horticultural oil a couple times during the winter to keep the insects (scale, white flies, mealy bugs, red citrus mites, etc...) in check. Cheers, Scott

Yep, a "Greenish Ratsnake". That's the most common form of Ratsnake in eastern North and South Carolina. I sometimes find black ones, but most show the Yellow Rat influence to some degree. They can be pretty stinky, though, can't they? Most reptile books don't mention this intergrade, and they are highly variable as the amount of green tint and pattern. Some have the striped Yellow Rat pattern, while others are blotched, like a Black Ratsnake, and some have both. Some are more yellowish and other more green. Sharon McKenzie