Hi to all my citrus forum friends! I've been MIA, but have thought of you all. I wanted to report on my Prague citsuma, a tree that I got years ago from Stan McKenzie in SC. I've been periodically updating on its growth after planting it in the ground several years ago.

Background - I bought a tiny tree from Stan years ago (don't remember how many - maybe seven?). It was small and I kept it in a pot and brought it inside for the first few years I had it as it seemed too tender to put in the ground. I probably should have put it in the ground sooner, but I did not know...

I planted it in the ground a few years ago. I live in Annapolis, so 7B is my zone. We do get cold winters here. I planted a yuzu in the ground and it died last winter. The first year I had it outside, I covered it and even added a heat lamp on the very cold days. The last couple of winters I let it be and figured it would live or die. Well so far the tree has lived. It is a slow grower and I noticed that only in the last couple of years did it really grow at a faster rate. It is about 5-6 ft tall now and finally I got fruit this year. I think it produced about 13-15 mandarins. I was worried that they would be gross, but THEY ARE EXCELLENT! I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. I think you would be hard-pressed to taste a difference between a regular mandarin and this one. They peel easily and are seedless. I am very happy and wanted to share it with you guys. I did reach out to Stan to let him know and he was very happy to hear about my experience and is grafting more of these trees. He grafts them to FD rootstock. It is not the most beautiful tree, I will admit, and it also takes a beating in the winter, but so far, it has survived.

I hope this helps some of you guys trying to grow citrus in colder climates :)