I’ve been growing some citrus here in Tennessee for the last couple of years. I currently have Meiwa Kumquat, Brown’s Select and Owari Satsuma, Ponkan, and Eureka lemon. I keep them in pots outside during the warm months, then in my heated greenhouse during the cold months. It’s been a real balancing act trying to keep the temps just right. I nearly burned to death my Owari and nearly froze my Eureka. I’ve actually managed to get fruit from everything except for the Ponkan, but I just purchased it this summer. I have about 100 kumquats ripening now - which everyone seems to love. Looking forward to trying the Ponkan as I’ve heard lots of good things about it.
I’ve even got a couple of banana plants that I’m hoping will produce. So far, so good. We’ll see!
Rob, Ponkan is an outstanding mandarin. And I am really impressed you can grow a banana in Tennessee! I admire anyone that puts in the effort to grow citrus outside the citrus belt. I have an entire tree just covered full of Page mandarins (not truly a mandarin, but actually a tangelo hybrid - cross between a Minneola tangelo and a Clementine mandarin, which makes it 3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit), as well as my very lovely Cocktail grapefruit (which isn’t a grapefruit at all, but a cross between Siamese Sweet pummelo and the Frua mandarin. It “escaped” out of the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection, became commercialized, and is one of the most beloved “grapefruit” trees here in S. California), to name just a few that are loaded and ready to go. They all suffered this year due to me having to dial down the water. I really need to revamp my entire irrigation system to all my fruit trees. So, when I have a spare ten grand laying around, and a lot of time on my hands, it will get done But for now, enjoy a couple of photos:
You’ll notice the distinguishing ring on the apex end of the fruit. Also, it is a very deep, rich orange. Page makes absolutely the best citrus juice of any citrus fruit I own. It is just so rich, complex, sweet, and delicious.
OK, so I’ve been ridiculously busy of late, it’s 2016 and who isn’t fully booked? My kishu has been virtually ignored for mpnths but is still holding strong. They are other worldly good right now! Never have they held this long. Pure punch you in the chops sweet tangerine lifesaver flavor. This is next level remarkable.
citrus trees/bushes are definitely worth every square inch of land they occupy, being generally more nutritious than most temperate fruits, and don’t need pesticides(at least on a backyard scale).
like you, am in a not-so-citrus-friendly region due to our frigid decembers. You might want to look into trifoliates, kumquats, and calamondins to check if will survive being out in the cold. From our experience, the variegated calamondin(peters’) is at least as tolerant as trifoliates of the freeze-drying weather in the mojave desert. It holds on to its dense-growing foliage and fruits just when most others would have been stripped down— or worse, died back. It is unfazed by 16F daytime lows.
not exactly the king of citrus to most floridians/californians , but to us it is, being unable to grow most other citrus outdoors year-round.
I’m trying to grow a Meyer Lemon in a container and haven’t had too much success.I put the plant out in a greenhouse during the Summer and there is some new growth and things are fine.
In 2014,during the cold months,I placed it in a kitchen window,with indirect sunlight and there were flowers and a little growth.
This Fall and Winter,the location is at work,near an office window.There were a lot of flowers,but they fell off,and then all the leaves.There was some Scale on one branch,which I squished.
Now,most of the branches are dying.
I use Foliage Pro fertilizer in maintenance amounts during the slow growth and more when the heat comes. Brady
Brady, you might want to check your roots. Is there a possibility that you let it become too dry at some point? If you did that and then kept it over-watered, you could have some root rot going on. If that’s the case, you’ll need to get a handle on that before you lose too much of your lemon. Meyers can sometimes be outright sulky and temperamental when they’re brought inside, though.
our neighbor had a glorious meyer lemon that lived long enough to become a ~7 ft mini-tree. They had it for years but sadly succumbed to the arctic spell back in jan of 2013. Our young meyers get productive too, and while they luckily survived 2013, many have died back to some degree every winter, even with frost protection. One even ended up being smaller than its original size. Our high elevation relative to mccarran airport may protect from floods, but the trade-off is that we end up being several degrees colder than the posted airport temps…
kumquats do well too without protection, but are laggards compared to the perpetually pretty and productive(and proactive) 'mondins. As for the meyers and 'quats which didn’t die back, they don’t really grow fast, not sure why.
have yet to try installing xmas lights and see if it is worth the trouble.
Also will add that Meyer Lemons are by and large the most problematic variety for people in containers. I don’t know why, as I can’t even get mine to stop flowering and fruiting and it’s in a little 1-2 gallon pot. On the other hand, mandarins tend to do well in containers so maybe look into adding a variety? I just bought a Frost Owari Satsuma.
You are so right, we pulled all our citrus because the truck loads they produced…you couldnt give away. No one wants citrus here because its so common. No joke we have tried, begged for people to take our citrus. Finally we cut them out because we got tired of filling dumpsters with fruit we couldnt use.
People here will pay $2 for a good peach but couldnt give a fiddlers fart about a orange. lol
I’ve said it once; and I’ll say it again. I am SO jealous of you folks that are able to grow good citrus outdoors. It is an impossibility here-- eventually the plants will die from cold or something else. I don’t have a greenhouse and indoor space is at a premium right now. I won’t be growing citrus indoors any time soon.
We are dependent on citrus being shipped to our grocery. Last night I purchased some Minneola tangelos for a premium. They are so juicy and quenching-- an uncommon delicacy here. Probably were shipped up from Florida.
Crazy. We eat a ton of citrus year round… To be able to grow moro blood oranges, ruby red grapefruit, navel oranges…
I’ve been buying Texas and Florida grapefruit… everything else seems to come out of California. Blood oranges sell for a premium compared to everything else…Tx grapefruit sells for $9 for an 18 pound bag. I can buy FL grapefruit 3/$1 … so obviously the grower is getting very little if you think of the costs of packing/shipping.
I see so many citrus trees in my neighborhood in which the fruit never gets picked. Very close to me there is a beautiful tangelo (I think) tree that had at least 100 bright orange fruit on it that never got picked.
I had difficulty with my container Meyer for the first few years as well. I was being too kind to it and ended up doing more harm than good. The first few years, I brought it indoors into a sunroom around November and then moved it back out in the spring. Mine also defoliated and had a bad case of scale. I believe the problem is that the roots aren’t warm/active enough to keep up with the needs of the foliage, especially if it’s receiving any sun indoors. Have you tried wrapping the container with old christmas lights? That helped me somewhat but I still had a tough time fighting the scale. Now, I leave it outdoors unless we’re forecast to have weather below freezing for an extended period of time. Then I move it into an unheated garage with no direct sunlight during that time and move it back out once we’re back over freezing.
The biggest problem I had with citrus in my greenhouse was scale. I just couldn’t squash it for good, it needed more attention than I had.
I was at the local garden center last weekend and a little key lime bush hopped into my cart when I wasn’t looking So, will try again to grow some citrus.
But for now, enjoy a couple of photos:
So, will try again to grow some citrus.