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  • From: Kevin Topek <ktopek@att.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Citrus and cold
  • Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 16:21:53 -0600

Steve,

I just finished covering several citrus orchards with frost cloth since it is supposed to be in the 20's F for 60 hours over the next few days in the Houston, Texas metroplex. Normally we have luck with citrus' grafted onto Trifoliata and Flying Dragon rootstock. Citrus varieties that do well here are: Improved Meyer Lemon, Satsumas, Honey Mandarin, Kumquats, Grapefruits, Pomelo, Hand of the Buddha, some Oranges (esp Republic of Texas), Calamondin (Phillppine Orange) and Mexican Thornless Lime. The Limes have suffered greatly under a snowfall a month ago that stuck around for 48 hrs. It has been a brutal year with droughts, floods and freezes ever since hurricane Ike here in south Texas. Once the temperature dips below 28 F citrus gets a bit cranky. Ask the old timers in your area and see what has survived through the generations. I also recommend buying larger trees. The increased expense is offset by the faster fruiting and survivability of the specimens.

Kevin Topek

On Jan 7, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Dieter Brand wrote:

Steve,

We usually get a couple of weeks of light night frost during the winter. I don’t grow citrus on a commercial basis, so I simply plant the types of citrus trees I can get locally. The vendors mostly don’t even know the cultivar names. Over the years, about a third of my citrus trees died because of frost. Mostly, we don’t get more than about -3 C, but I remember one year when the thermometer went down to -10 C for a few hours only, but that was enough to kill off many trees. The citrus trees that die usually grow back from the root. Once they are big enough, I use them for grafting with those that have proven to be frost-hardy in my place. It is best to protect young trees against the frost. Once they are bigger they are less vulnerable, even though, young leafs and branches will always die back during frost. In Japan, I have seen orange orchards covered with snow. It would be nice to have a list of frost hardy citrus trees.

Dieter


--- On Thu, 1/7/10, Steve Read <steveread@free.fr> wrote:

From: Steve Read <steveread@free.fr>
Subject: [permaculture] Citrus and cold
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Thursday, January 7, 2010, 8:17 AM
Does anyone live and cultivate citrus
crops in an area where winter temperatures drop to 0 and
where there is occassional air frost?

If so I'd love to hear any hints and tips that you might
have, apart from buffering with thermal mass! Is it better
to buy older trees for planting, any particular cultivars or
types of citrus recomended?

Many thanks

SteveR
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