Very nice Cory. When I get home I hope my outdoor in ground citrus trees have not broken bud. If they have I will be able to glass them in now that I have some time.

Steve

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas. Cory your pics are spectacular. Who would have ever have thought cherry tree's in bloom at Christmas . The weather has been warm here 66 degrees yesterday the golf courses were packed I thought it was ski season . My Tangelo's are at there peak in ripeness now they are absolutely delicious . Wishing everyone on the forum warmest wishes and big hugs to Cory Maggy Mikey and Mikey's mom and Steve .

Brian

Hi Brian. Its good to hear from you

Steve

Thx Steve nice hearing from you also . I wish you and your wife and family a Very Merry Christmas.

Brian, how is the new greenhouse working out and the pool cover? Did you leave some space yet to have room for you to sit on a sunny day? The last picture when you just moved everything in looked so nice. I bet the plants are enjoying the extra space.

Cory

Hi Cory I hope you had a great Christmas with your family . Today we are doing absolutely nothing, I can't move after all the food and beverages last night . Cory your GH looks fantastic it looks like you have much more room in there to move compared to last year and your tree's and orchids look so healthy. Have you tried any of the dekapon's yet . Cory I can get two chairs in my GH but it's tight my tree's are just to large . Minneola Tangelo's are delicious this year . I think are beautiful weather is about to turn nasty , snow changing to freezing rain overnight then back to snow tomorrow and they are calling for a major snowstorm Monday night into Tuesday . We new it had to come sooner or later . Wasn't that an incredible run of spring weather we had ,that was something to see your temps in the 70's ours were in the 60's. The cherry tree's are beautiful I wonder how that will effect them when spring really does come . ? I hope you and your family enjoy the rest of the

holidays . Pic of my Minneola fruit and at the very back of the GH my Pages .

Brian

Brian, your trees have such beautiful fruit! They look like they are enjoying the new greenhouse and the spring-like weather. I guess the greenhouse and pool cover will be getting a real test with all that bad weather coming. I don't think we are getting that bad weather yet but I better check the weather report. I haven't sealed up my door yet and there is a lot of heat lose through it until I do. Haven't really needed that extra insulation so far and I like to be able to look out the door when I am in there as long as I can. I haven't tried the Dekapons yet. They normally are not ripe until late February so I am waiting until then although they have colored up nicely for at least a month already. It is hard to wait but I might as well to get their best flavor. Yes, I had a great Christmas with the family and like you stuffed my self as all the food was irrisistable. I need to go out and water the plants in the greenhouse today as I might have neglected them with the Christmas rush. Enjoy the rest of the holidays, and try to get some use of those chairs with your better half in the greenhouse when it gets cold...a mini trip to the tropics.

Cory

Steve, I hope your trees are ok outside while you are away. Glad you have some time now to resurrect the greenhouse for them. Make a door this time so you don't have to climb down from the second floor window this year! Suppose you fall and crush one of your trees or spinach plants! Merry Christmas. Glad your plants under your lights are doing so well.

Cory

Hi Cory . I forgot to talk to you about the pool cover . It's hard to say yet how well the pool cover versus the bubble wrap works we just haven't had that bitting cold yet . Last night it went down to 12 degrees and I had two heaters going, one heater set on medium and the other set at 61 the temp inside of the GH was 57 . What I like about the pool cover is that it keeps the doors from freezing . My old GH the door would have been frozen. Since the door wasn't frozen I was able to pick these gems , Minneola's , Pages , Lemon and limes . This is proof that citrus can be grown way

up north given the right growing environment. Oh we are expected to get up to 16 inches of snow starting tonight .

Brian

Brian, What a beautiful bowl of Canafian fruit! I hope the storm is not too bad. 16" sounds bad to me. So does 12°. I am hoping it misses me. I am right on the edge. That is a big help if the door doesn't freeze. Worth it just for that. All my seed catalogs are started coming this week so that will keep me busy for a while.

Cory

Hi Cory thx . Your sure lucky that your going to miss this storm . They are calling for very high winds out of the east causing white out conditions tomorrow . Cory we have guest's that just left before leaving we ate 3 of the Minneola's and the guests mentioned that they were the best citrus they have ever eaten and they were totally seedless , made it all worth while. They were so easy to peel and very juicy the juice went everywhere. 3 of the Minneola's left with our guests . I still have at least 2 dozen on the tree . It's hard to believe soon you will be planting seeds , the daylight is getting longer now Ya Hooo.

Brian

Brian, I don 't have a Minneola but from what you say it makes me want to get one. I'm glad you still have some left. I tried a Xie-Shan yesterday. That was very good too. Very juicy and deep orange red inside and out. I will have to ration them as they are the type you can just keep eating them all at one sitting non-stop. My Dekapons look ready but I am waiting until the end of February. We made lemonade out of my Meyer Lemons. Very flavorful. My Key Lime that my nephew grew from seed and gave me as a Christmas present about 3 years ago is just loaded with flowers. It had a few blooms this summer but did not fruit. I would think the fruit will develop this time as there are so many flowers. I have a lot of Fukushu Kumquats that look like they may be ripe. Posters on this sight say they get sweeter the longer they hang on the tree so I have been waiting. I hope you don't have to go to work tomorrow.

Cory

Hi Cory unfortunately I have to go to work tomorrow ouch . Cory the Minneola's are amazing I cannot believe that they taste so good grown this far north I highly recommend them to northern Citrus growers . Cory I think there are growers that sell variegated Minneola's that would be cool . Cory another two weeks and the Minneola's will be finished there was one on the tree that was starting to dry out it was extremely puffy . I find the larger fruit's taste like a very sweet navel and the smaller ones have a very slight tartness to them so good . Cory squeeze your fruit's if they feel full of juice then they are most likely ready . Your Dekapon's might be ready you might want to try one just don't give me heck if not lol. I have key lime fruits to I might go and pick one for the seeds. Glad you enjoyed your Xie-Shan it's an awesome feeling when you know it came out of your own garden. Take care my friend and try not to laugh at us up here getting all that snow .

Brian

Hi Cory please promise you won't laugh lol . Christmas eve 68 degrees the grass was green and people were walking around in shorts . Yesterday 14 inches of snow and a couple more tonight and we had thunder snow around 4.00 am yesterday morning very cool . Pics say a 1000 words . Have a great night my friend .

Brian

Cory the black tarp near my GH is our snow blower which had to be dug out lol. Pic of fruit I picked Monday getting washed .

Brian

Well Brian, I never promised not laugh. In Philadelphia were I was We had temps in the mid 70's. Cincinnati was even luckier. It was cooler and total rain and clouds so my outdoor Sweetlee tangerine trees didn't soften any and will continue out side with out protection.

Very nice fruit. Keep up the great work

Hi Steve thx . That's incredible weather you and Cory are having. Amazing Steve that you have some tree's still outside, I wish . I have been looking around here and Steve all of your citrus look great , good for you. Have a very Happy New Year my friend.

Brian