Question 1.?

Yes and let me tell you, as long as you plan on using the right mix and fertilizer, in your area you should have the best of luck whether in a pot or in the ground)

Question 2.?

Not familiar with them for obvious reasons living in Ma. I will suggest you try the 'Romeo' fertilizer that Four Winds sells since it's very good stuff! If I could afford to have them ship it, I would.

Question 3.?

What John said..If you can afford it, go for it. I would much rather have a tree form than a bush one. Living up here where they come inside I would have to consider the bush since I would be afraid that they would get to tall for any sunny window and I would have to cut back anyway.

Please let us know what you decide)

John, what about their ripening requirements? I saw this question sheba, but did not comment till now since I don't know the answer myself. I have a kishu and several other mandarins and need to figure out when they will ripen...someday when they bear fruit...my trees are still young.

Mike, we must have been typing at the same time...;-). I also prefer bushes for wintering. Makes it easier to get through doorways also...

Laura, I thin we are..lol Either you are slow at work like me or need an escape from every day junk..lol

Exactly...If I kept mine in a greenhouse, then all of my trees would be tall for sure) I have always loved the tree look rather than bush type, but then we certainly get a heck of a lot of fruit and flowers anyways)

Laura,

I don't know about ripening requirements for the kishu; most everyone here knows I am a one trick pony.... I know a lot about Meyer lemons; but not so much about other things.

Hi Laura the mandarins I have usually become ripe very late December till April . My Satsuma is the earliest and followed right behind is my Minneola which ripens in late January and last a couple of weeks they past peek very quickly so don't leave them on the tree to long . My Page is ripe late January right through February . My Tango and Shasta ripen the latest March to April I still have fruit on both tree's from last winter and both still have a nice flavor but definitely not as good as in March and April. I love having the different varieties there is always one tree in peek ripeness and flavor. My Kishu seems to always flower in March in the GH in April all the immature fruit fall so haven't tried any of those darn .

Brian

Laura I learned very quickly you can't always tell how ripe the fruit is by the color of the peel. Before I waited for the fruit to turn that nice orange color only to find out that they were past peak and were starting to dry out . I go by feel now the fruit are usually ripe when they still are firm but they have a little give you almost can feel the juice inside and a lot of those times the fruit was still green just turning color . Laura I have my GH set at 55 degrees all winter but most nights the temp gets down to the low to mid 40's , it's the low temp or cool temp that gives the fruit their color . Then in the daytime when the sun comes out the temperature reaches the low to mid 70's the perfect environment I think for ripening .

Brian

That's great to know Brian! The room I will need to have them in this year winter - my sunroom can get pretty cool - especially if I close the door. It has its own heat pump, but if I leave it off, it may end up like your greenhouse temps. During the day, the heat from the house will warm it up. This is, of course, academic because they are too young to bear fruit ;-)

John and Mike--thank you for your great advice. Well, I went to the nursery today and I bought my Kishu! I think I did OK and had assistance at the nursery in choosing it--they had many to choose from. This place has a lot of large citrus trees, and I was in heaven standing over the Bouquet de Fleurs and the Oroblanco trees, inhaling the amazing perfume from their huge blossoms--YUM! I envy those of you with the space and climate to grow those large varieties.

Pictures and more to come soon of Tree #3!

Sheba

My kishu mandarin seems to have one of the lowest heat requirements of any of the mandarins. I have also found that the tree is one of the most sensitive mandarins to frost damage, but that will only effect you if the tree is exposed to temperatures below 28-30 degrees or so.

talking about citrus purchase . came across this kaffir lime in the nursery today - sale price of $50 regular $550 n its a fourwind

it's humungous around 8 ft tall , I usually like big specimens but I already have a kaffir lime n I don't see much of point for such a huge kaffir lime where all I will use are the leaves . still tempted . what do u guys think.

Wow that is a crazy deal!!! I know I would grab it, such a mature tree would never be found near me. I bet you could even sell it on kijiji or something for way more money if you ever got tired of it.

Brettay,

Much appreciate hearing your experience with the Kishu. As for freezing temps, well, that's one thing I don't have to worry about here! Very, very rare for us to hit 32F and we'd have plenty of warning so as to protect anything tender.

As for heat requirements, yes--the nursery worker who helped me yesterday confirmed that the Kishu, like Gold Nugget (and maybe most? other mandarins?) doesn't need heat to ripen. That's great news for me. I was uncertain because I'd checked the chart on the Four Winds site and while Gold Nugget gets a check mark indicated "heat not needed to ripen," the check box is empty on the Kishu. Probably just a typo.

Pix to come soon, or once I get the tree in its new pot.

Sheba

I don't even want a kaffir lime, but I would have bought that tree in a second!

Devsense--wow, that's some tree! If you have the real estate for it, why not, I guess. But you'd better plan on cooking up boatloads of Thai curries to make use of those leaves!

yeah if I already had a greenhouse I wouldn't have any doubts. let's see, tmrw will pay another visit n most likely buy it. I would certainly have to prune it . it's too tall for my winter setup.

shebasheba - lol . it certainly would make a tonne of curry . maybe I will make a curry paste n freeze it.

Hobby - this is the only nursery in our area that I have seen trees from fourwind but they are ridiculously expensive .this is the first time I have seen them markdown this much .mostly likely they don't want to tie up their greenhouse space.

I have had a bag of frozen kafir lime leaves from the Asian market for like 3 years in my freezer... Of course I wouldn't cook with them but I noticed they actually act as an air freshener in the freezer so I have kept them- still going strong now! Nothing like a multi purpose plant lol.

You better go for it or you will kick yourself later! If you ever get sick of it I will buy it from you :). With a few bonus bottles of everclear for your trouble ;).

Sheba everyone raves about the kishu, nice choice. I have one too but it is nowhere near fruit.

I would snap that tree up in a sec!

Hi John. you said

John's rule of trees: buy the biggest and best tree you can find/afford.

I alway said. buy a $5 tree and put it in a $50 hole.

so finally I got the makrut lime today . just have to figure out where I will keep it in winter.

Congratulations!! Beautiful tree!

I would be happy to keep it here at my house in California for the winter. I'm just not sure you would get it back. :)

Amazing tree dev! So jealous. Are you going to pot up soon?

Brettay-I wonder how much would it take to ship a tree that size not that I am sending it to u for a winter break :)

hobby- thanks. planning to get a half barrel n repot.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Very nice tree. You will probably need to add light this winter. The bottom half of the sun will fail to clear the horizon on winter solstice.

steve - it was $50 so not really too many $ dollar signs. lol . here up north that's a steal :). I have 600w HID lights but way too many plants. Maybe add one of those IKEA floor lamps with side lights

dev

Hey Steve, what type of CFL bulb do you recommend again for citrus in doors?

flood lamps, shop around

Use 3 bulb floor lap to hold bulbs.

What I used in the past

What I currently use.

Hobby, he recommended the ones I bought as a supplemental light source to be used with the ikea floor lamps. I can take a pic bc I can't find his link.

Thanks Laura and Steve yes I ordered some of the ikea lamps you bought but I have no idea about cfls, did you get the same as Steve's 23 watt spirals?

I didn't know if there were different colour spectrums to choose from? These lamps will be for the corners of my grow room to supplement the HO T5s which are the main light source.

I will take a pic of the lightbulb box. Steve provided the link in some thread about supplemental lighting or winter setups...I don't remember.

Here it is...

Thank you! I have now taken a pic of your pic so I won't lose it. ;) Not impressed that I am already having to think about my grow room... I will put it out of my mind... August is long and hopefully Sept will be amazing too!

Yes Hobby. I was moving my trees around today and I am wondering if I will be able to fit mine in my greenhouse they are getting so big. Maybe I need to start pruning them back now.

Cory

Yes it's true what you say Cory, get a BIG greenhouse right? Seeing Brian's trees really puts it into perspective how big they can get.

Agreed, but you do not need to let them get as tall as Brian's (although we all would ;-). I plan to keep mine trimmed down to no more than 7 ft...otherwise, they will not fit easily in my house! I have seen beautiful specimens of short bushy trees.

I wanted to lift my greenhouse up so bad this year per Brian's idea and just stick my trees in there instead of heating up the porch besides and paying a humungus electric bill this coming winter. Then I could let mine grow tall too)

But, ever year I have to cut them back down at least a couple of feet to the point where I am growing big Bonsai trees..lol If I had let mine grow as tall as they would like, most of mine would be at least ten feet tall after all these years..I wish(

I hear you mike. I have now cleared out the area for my greenhouse and worked out the details. I plan to start setting the footings this week. I am looking to build a 35 foot by 7 foot greenhouse standing about 6 feet tall. Al my trees are true dwarfs that are/will-be planted in ground and will max out at 6 feet.