Prior to the Arctic Blast that sent temperatures dipping to 6 degrees, we picked all the navel oranges off of our tree. We've been enjoying them chilled, sprinkling a little Tajin seasoning (Chili, lime & sea salt) on them. So good! As we get down to the bottom of the basket, I worry about our citrus trees. We did the best we could to protect them. We threw the ubiquitous blue tarp over them, staking them down and then running a heat lamp under the tarp, hoping the heat would somehow offset the cold.
Once the freezing weather left, I pulled the tarps off and removed the heat lamps. Here is the navel orange tree. The leaves are curled and burned from the cold, but they haven't fallen off, and they're still green. We'll give it a little time. As bad as it looks, I'm hopeful.
Here is the tangerine tree. Same thing - we tarped it and ran a heat lamp. Once I pulled the tarp off and surveyed the damage, I think this one looks worse than the navel orange. We had two other tangerines besides this one and lost them in the last deep freeze. We miss the fruit. It was so tart and tangy and had a fluorescent orange color.
Here is our satsuma tree. It is the youngest, by far, and the one the I was worried about the most. Due to it's size, I simply turned a garbage can over it and ran the heat lamp underneath. The garbage can is maybe 1/4 thick plastic. Once the freeze passed over, I removed the trash can and turned off the heat lamp. Let's look at what happened:
The tree is absolutely perfect! No burned leaves. It looks absolutely perfect. Like a tropical plant should in the summer. Green leaves and stalk. Why do you figure? I suppose the thick plastic garbage can acted as an insulator, keeping the heat inside the overturned trashcan, warming the air like a sauna. This really worked!
Sadly, it's just not practical for our larger trees. We'll continue to watch to see if they perk up and put on any fresh growth. Will they make it? I just don't know...
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