We are a week or so past the big freeze which swept the southern US, so I am checking in with the other in ground citrus growers to see how your trees did.

Here in western Louisiana on the 8b/9a line we went about 60 hours with temperatures at or below freezing with a low of 14F early one morning, after a freeze down to 18F just a couple of weeks earlier (all time record low here if 13F). My trees were all covered (tarps, sheets, blankets, whatever I could find) with either C7 christmas lights or 250 watt heat lamps. As of today I am hopeful that all 8 of my in ground citrus trees survived though with some damage. They all still have some healthy looking leaves, though it appears all are going to suffer from significant leaf loss. As of today most of the trees still have 50-70% of their leaves attached, though many leaves are curling and drying out. On one of my smaller 2nd year in the ground Satsumas I counted a total of 4 healthy looking leaves on a branch just above the graft line. My 7 ft tall 2nd year in ground Cara Cara looks to be in the process loosing 50-75% of its leaves, though many are still attached, just with significant curl, but not yet dried out, my Meyers lemon looks to have came through about as well as my Satsumas, with only about 30% of its leaves curling and drying out. One of my mature 9 ft tall x 10 ft wide Satsumas is also looking like it will be hard hit, it is planted in a more exposed location than the others, and has lost at least 50% of its leaves so far (more like 80% on the north half of the tree), though at least a few dozen leaves still look healthy on the south side. I guess we will know more in a couple of months, so hopefully all that effort to cover and heat the trees paid off.