A couple years ago, we were hit with some really cold weather for Louisiana. It was in the low 20's and I was worried about our citrus trees. We have navel oranges, tangerines and grapefruit. Prior to the freeze, I heaped mulch around the trunks, hoping to insulate the tree. They are too tall to effectively tarp for protection.
Once it thawed, many of the limbs died. We held out hope, though, as there was green growth above the graft. We pruned all of the dead branches off the trees and waited. Last year the trees were still in stress, recovering, and they did not bloom. We had ZERO fruit off of our trees all last year. This year, however, we saw blooms and smelled the heavenly aroma of orange blossoms. Now it wasn't near the blossoms as in previous years, but the trees are still knocked back.
As the year went on, fruit began to develop. Here are some of the navel oranges on our one orange tree. They won't be ripe until late December or early January. They are just starting to turn to a tinge of orange from the green color.
Here are the tangerines. They are a fluorescent orange color. They are tart and tasty. We have two of these trees remaining. We lost one of them to the freeze. We've begun to pick a few of these. They taste SO good, especially after not having any all of last year.
And here are the grapefruit on our one grapefruit tree. It is a small tree. We only have four grapefruit on it. We'll have to savor each bite!
My intent this spring is to plant more fruit trees. In addition to the citrus, we also have a pear tree, a number of blueberry bushes, muscadine vine, persimmon tree and thornless blackberries. One of the things on my to do list this winter is to compile a list of additional fruit trees I'd like to put in. It would be beneficial to have an orchard of various fruit trees from which to harvest - a food forest, you might say.
You might want to give Satsumas a try. They are more cold hardy than some of the other citrus. I am in south Georgia and have been growing several trees for about six years, and haven't lost any to freezing weather. I have lost blossoms, but not branches due to freezing. There are actually several large citrus orchards near us in south Georgia and north Florida and they are growing Satsumas.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea! I was thinking about getting a few satsuma trees to plant. Our neighbors have three or four and allow us to pick fruit from them every year. We actually picked a 5 gallon bucket of satsumas yesterday. I'd like to have our own trees, though. You are right, they are more tolerant of the cold. I've watched as the neighbors lost a huge lemon tree to the freeze a few years ago, but the satsumas shrug of the freeze and keeps plugging away.
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