I have several varieties planted in the ground, Meyer, Moro, Naval, Calamondin, Owari Satsuma, Mineola and Ponderosa. Most have been in the ground 7 plus years. I have never covered them with anything other than some pine straw at the bases. Lowest temps one year were lower teens. 2 of the Moros were first year in the ground and the new growth at the top froze and died off. Both have since came back. Mine are all planted on the northeast side of the house...not the south but thats the way my yard is so there wasn't any other choice. I am thinking about a cold frame on a couple this year just to see if I can keep the fruit on longer for more ripeness. Rob

All OTR microwaves are super noisy. There is no point comparing noise ratings for them, which is why you are not finding any comparisons. I am sorry to say that they will all sound like jet engines in your kitchen. They just are not designed to be quiet. They are designed to be microwaves that have an extra feature of an exhaust. The exhaust area is very narrow, which increases noise. You would do best to choose your OTR MW for other features, and capacity, appearance and price. Almost all MW's are made by Panasonic and Sharp, with many brands just being rebadges of those two. So don't buy e.g. a Viking or Dacor OTR MW thinking you'll have a better machine--they'll cost double what the Sharp would cost which is the same machine. Most OTR MW's have 300 cfms. The Panasonics are more attractive, if that matters. However, I learned on this forum that Samsung has a new line of OTR MW's that have 400 cfms. I don't anything about them, but it may be worth checking out as there are no other OTR MW's I know of that have 400 cfms. However, I'd expect the 400 cfms to be even noisier than the standard 300 cfms.

Hi Aaron, I didn't find "Constitution", it is stunning, but I did find a source for rare and unique varieties - at least to me! Check them here.

Sometimes it's just up to mother nature........ Has anyone had any luck when doing selective pruning in the hope that plant energy is directed in a specific manner. For me, one of my Limelight standards got uprooted by a storm, and one of the framework branches snapped off due to the impact. What was left was a 6 inch stub off the graft. I put glue on the tip and wished for the best. The remainder of the season, the stub looked healthy - no discoloration, bark was still the same going into winter. Fast forward this year, I for sure thought it was a goner. The bark appeared to have peeled open during the offseason, and I could see the - guts under the bark per-se. I was thinking this stub, while hopeful it was still alive, it surely must be dead now, with the exposed bark that seemed to unravel itself. Come mid-late spring, I noticed a bud/branch emerging so all smiles !I trimmed -most of the existing branching- a bit lower for this year -----THINKING---- more energy could potentially be focused to this 6 inch stub. I was wrong. The tree still branched out like a Limelight, sending 3-4" new wood and the 2 branches that came out of this stub, was about as thick as a toothpick.. Honestly, in full leaf out and bloom, I don't even see this framework branching is amiss, as it's pretty full and round. In my -mind- , I know it's missing of the 5 primary branching points that are on it, but that's just a mental thing...... Anyhow, just curious. Has anyone done any selective pruning for a particular function and actually had sucess. Ha, I know once can prune for height, shape or just straight culling out. Wishful thinking I suppose.