The southern zone 8’s are infinitely better growing zones than the 8’s of the PNW. Much longer warmth starting earlier. Which is easy to understand since Atlanta is at 33 degrees N, about the same as Los Angeles. I’m at 45 degrees N, so while very mild for the latitude, the growing season is slow to get started here. On the flip side a place like Atlanta gets colder Arctic snaps than places like Portland. Atlanta often drops into the single digits almost every year whereas it just doesn’t like to fall below 20 here in this region of the PNW. Which is why you can have reliable yuzu fruit with a well draining raised bed against a south facing wall. On average once a decade it will drop into the low teens at which point the yuzu would experience some leave loss. But it will rebound in the spring. Though if I hear the forecast is calling for temps below 20 I’ll just go ahead and wrap it. I grew up in an agricultural zone of Southern California and every winter we had two or three weather systems that required smudge pots and fans. Anytime you grow citrus in the mid latitudes you might have to battle the cold. Other than yuzu I keep all the rest of my citrus in a greenhouse at night from November until March. Luckily it is mild enough that the tender citrus is outside during the day almost all winter. There are only a handful of days where the temps don’t climb to near 50, so they get lots of outside time year round. I’d imagine you could grow citrus outside in Atlanta most of the winter too.
swincher: $10 mandarinquats. Ouch. If I could find some $5 quats, I would buy.
They are small enough that I bet it takes quite a few to make a pound, but I didn’t like them much when I tried them last year. Very sour, and the skin isn’t as sweet as a good kumquat.
I don’t mind waiting for seedlings, but if you have suggestions (or better yet scions) of specific trees that do well here, I’d be happy to use these as rootstock instead of waiting.
I’m in Seattle, about a mile from Puget Sound and on a lot with good soil drainage (clay-rich glacial sands), but poor cold-air drainage (whole neighborhood is surrounded by hills or ridges on all sides). I don’t really intend to grow citrus outside my greenhouse other than maybe as a novelty, I have given my best warm spots to hardy avocados (and a feijoa) instead.
Hardiest good eating citrus is the yuzu, both the sudachi and ichandrin varieties. They can be reliably grown in zone 8 with very little accommodation. Drainage is the biggest concern in wet regions. So if you have excellent drainage you are in good shape. You really can grow yuzu outside in Seattle. I’m in the central Willamette Valley and get very good yields of sudachi and ichandrin. I also do
Meyer lemon, but wrap them during the cold snaps. I followed this guy’s instructions and have been successful.
I really love this guy in Virginia. His channel is really good for information about grafting and the best root stocks to use. He has many great videos for people growing citrus in cool regions:
I’m also curious about your hardy avocado. I’m originally from Southern California and would love to grow an avocado up here. I have a greenhouse if that helps. If you don’t mind giving me some info that would be great.
Thanks!
Here’s my thread on my avocado adventures. This winter proved to be a tough test, though, since I wasn’t here to protect anything during that 6-day cold snap with lows of 18°F followed by a few nights in the 20s and a final low of 15°F. I’m cautiously optimistic about the degree to which these small seedlings appear to have survived (which is to say, the fact they have survived at all).
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
I lived in Sonoma County for 20 years in zone 9 about 30 miles from the coast. We grew a Mexican variety of avocado called a Mexicola. It’s a haas hybrid developed by Luther Burbank and handles temps in the high teens for many hours at a time. We had lots and lots of avocados. I’ve heard of them growing as far north as Curry County Oregon inland from Brookings. Which makes sense because they are a cool zone 9 with plenty of meyer lemon trees growing around that area.
“Virgina fruit grower” actually got me my start many years ago when we were on the old “citrusgrower”’ board, when it was that and gardenweb. And actually in Atlanta we haven’t had single digits since the last bad freeze back in 2014. It hasn’t dropped below 11 or 14 since.
All the hardy citrus I have has been unprotected since then (meyer excepted).
Yuzu/citrangequats/ sudachi is easily grown out here in the open after the tree is a few years old.
If you grow oranges, late satsumas, meyer lemon, you may need protection sometimes here, but I try to pick stuff that is hardier than that for the most part.
So short answer, some can be grown in the Southeast and Northwest as long as you don’t get too cold (below 10) and that you pick varieties that don’t need heat to ripen up.
Where do I buy said $15 ready to fruit tree?
I meant 150. This ain’t San Diego! Haaha
Okay, not quite as excited, but where do you get that $150 tree?
OGW used to list large specimens for pickup only, but not sure they’ve ever had them when I was looking.
I think it was on fast growing trees but can’t be completely certain. I’ve noticed that in recent years many trees are sold out when you go to buy them. I think the pandemic got more people into this hobby. I go down to Mendo and Sonoma county quite often. If you want I can see what they have at the nurseries I frequent. I’ve seen yuzu before at the places I go in Ukiah and Philo. I guarantee you it won’t cost 150. I could get it and bring it up for you.
Hey, I may be headed down to the Bay Area, can you give me names of nurseries I should check out if I get the chance?
In what part of the Bay Area are you spending your time? There are so many great nurseries!
In Berkeley I really like the Dry Nursery on the North Oakland/South Berkeley border. I also really enjoy the East Bay nursery on San Pablo Avenue.
In the north bay a place called Harmony Nursery in Sebastopol was not far from my house.
And if you see in SF you should really check out Flora Grubb. Get ready for some serious plant envy. Haha
The trip would be to visit a bakery in San Francisco, but will have a car, coming from the South, and mostly an excuse to do something and get the daughter out of the house. Probably a short trip, hitting a few destinations, one or two nurseries could make the list of destinations.
I’m interested in fruit trees that can survive outside unprotected, and the names of the places you may have seen the Yuzu.
All those places should have good citrus selection. Harmony Nursery in Sebastopol is particularly in line with the things we talk about. But honestly Dry Nursery is to not be missed for amazing rare plants that thrive in our mild west coast climate. And Flora Grubb is a destination worth the trip.
Thanks, I’ve added them to our list. Those are all recommended for edible stuff, yes? That’s what I’m interested in.
All except the Dry Nursery. They specialize in ornamentals from all the dry regions of the world. They have an amazing collection, not focused on edibles. But, man, if you have any interest in cactus, succulents or unusual trees, that’s the place. I had many lazy sunny afternoons wandering around that part of town. Nostalgia washes over me.
I forgot to say I’ve got some yuzu seedlings if you’re interested.
Yes, I’m interested in a couple of yuzu seedlings.