Just realized i had an Australian finger lime that survived unprotected in Seatac, WA BUT… i just checked on it and it died down to the graft. It’s only flying dragon now. It got to 4 degrees in Seatac last year and that’s when i was told it died. I have it at a friend’s house and at this point… it’s hers lol. I bought it from furney’s Nursery in Des Moines for 15$ before they closed down. The tree is over 8 years old now.
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Marcus,
What is your opinion on the Grand Frost Lemon? I remembered that you had 1 or 2 if those as well…
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I’m not sure that I have one. One of the trees that I thought was a Grand frost turned out to be one of the Pink Frost currently baring fruit. The other one is the only one of these new trees significantly hurt by that feezed the other year. That’s a much more aggressively growing tree, but it hasn’t made any fruit yet. The leaves look just like Pink Frost and Ruby Red, so I’m not at all convinced that it’s grand frost. The only photo of Ichang Lemon which it comes from I’ve seen implies that its leaves should look quite different from Pink Frost with the wings on the petioles being almost as big as the main leaf. My hunch is that it’s really a mis IDed grapefruit but not Pink Frost. But I don’t know. If it is Grand Frost, then it’s not as cold tolerant as Pink Frost. But it could also be a rootstock issue, because the tree is not behaving like it should if it were on Trifoliate. It’s going through a growth spirt now which is not something that any citrus on trifoliate should be doing right now. That tree is a mystery.
Here is how the mis IDs happened. I got my trees the first year they released them to the public. At the time they were mostly selling trees to commercial growers. I and other hobbiests on the waiting list had to meet an 18 wheeler at a nearby truck stop on I 16 to pick up the trees. The truck was nearly empty from having delivered trees to several farms. Several of the trees had gotten jostled and seperated from their tags. The truck driver tried to figure out what trees were what, but I was never convinced that I didn’t have four grapefruit tees just based on how the leaves looked. In the end, I decided that I like grapefruit better than lemons and that I was fine with all four trees turning out to be Pink Frost. What I suspect that I may have are three Pink Frosts and a Ruby Red. But I don’t know and won’t know until the mystery tree makes fruit if it lives long enough to do so given how cold tender it appears to be. Thanks.
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I had mine the year before they were publicly released from Lindy Savelle. I also had to meet her crew elsewhere. My Ichang lemon died in that 22 frost, but the Sweet frost made it. Now it was under another person’s care, so not sure if I could have done better. But I have a replacement that has around 5 fruit on it. I’m not convinced that I should keep it. The juice is good quality (and a lot), but i wish the zest was better quality…
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I’ve never been a huge lemon person. I occasionally cook with the juice, but that’s about it. I had tasted a Grand Frost from Franklin’s Farm the season I talked to them about Pink Frost. I concluded then that I liked both the Lemon Frost lemon I already had as well as Meyers Lemon much better. If all four of the young citrus trees end up being grapefruit, I won’t be unhappy. But I am hearing from the Franklin’s folks that Grand Frost doesn’t have the cold tolerance that Pink Frost has.
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Lemon Frost is the best lemon I’ve tasted so far. But I like it because it is so much sweeter than the others and has some mandarin in its flavor profile. I make a cream cheese sauce with it for baked bass that’s out of this world. It’s just the right combination of lemony and sweet for that application.
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Ichang does seem not as cold hardy as stated, but I think that all the Ichangensis varieties break dormancy too early in the Southeast. But what was the source of the Pink Frost variety? No information seems to be out there…
Also, where did you order the lemon frost from? Can’t seem to find it currently…
As best as I can tell Lemon Frost was only commercially available for two years. It looks like a satsuma, breaks up into wedges like a satsuma and is sweet, which I guess is the reason why it got discontinued. Like the other Texas Frost varieties it was originally marketed by Greenleaf Nursery. They got out of the citrus business altogether when the feds made the new regulations requiring that citrus be propagated in a USDA approved quarantine facility. Another company has since started selling Orange Frost and Arctic Frost. But I have not seen anyone selling Lemon Frost which is a real shame because it’s so good and so different from anything else. There is no other citrus out there that I know about that’s remotely like it. I’m the only person I know anything about who was lucky enough to get a tree during that brief window of time when they were available.
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Would any of the “frost” series have a chance of surviving 0 degrees F?
This is Lemon Frost.
I very much doubt there are any Frosts from either the Texas A&M or the UGA Series that would take anything colder than about 12F. My understanding is that Arctic Frost has survived 12F in tests under certain conditions. UGA doesn’t try to say that any of theirs can go below 16F.
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Interesting leaves, they are narrow and glossy much like the mandarin/tangerine in its genetics. I would have guessed kumquat before lemon based on the leaves 
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I’m growing hybrids in zone 7a. We do get 0f or close to it every few years. So far these hybrids have survived a low of 1f:
Prague Chimera - makes mandarin/satsuma-like fruit this is the only “pure” citrus you will get without any off flavors
Taitri- taiwanica sour orange x trifoliate- very sour, probably can be used as a lemon
Swingle Citrumelo- grapefruit x trifoliate - can be used like a lemon
Bishop citrandarin- Changsha (one of the hardiest mandarins) x trifoliate- this fruit makes decent juice, orange like
I have a few others but they are not hardy to 0f, 5f:
Morton Citrange- orange x trifoliate- makes large orange like fruit with some off flavors, said to be the best tasting citrange
Thomasville Citrangequat- citrange x kumquat- very edible when ripe but won’t ripen before winter frosts so needs to be sheltered or picked green and used like a lime
Ichange papeda- Said to take single digits, not sure if my graft will produce juicy or dry fruit as there is variation from seed and I don’t know what I have
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Video of those varieties plus some I forgot to mention:
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If I’m understanding properly, the things that make a citrus cold hardy is: going dormant(stops growing) when it gets cold, pulls its sap back to the roots, and is deciduous?
How can you tell it’s Morton? The plant in your video look so similar to carrizo. Is there something about the leaves I’m missing?
my potted Morton where the scions came from is holding a fruit. I have a carizzo as it was a rootstock for my Yuzu which died off, the leaves look more like pure trifoliate compared to Morton’s larger leaves (at least the first years growth, the later leaves will probably be bigger as the roostock grows). also noticed the central leaf in the tri pattern on the carizzo appears rounder than the morton leaf which has a pointed tip
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Nice. Thanks. Are the citrange fully hardy in your zone? If so, could be an excellent source of blossoms for orange blossom honey.
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due to milder winters the citranges haven’t been really tested yet, supposedly the morton is only good to 5f. the real test will be a 0f winter which has not happened yet.
the citrumelo and prague chimera have seen 1f and survived (I think I did the morton grafts after that winter, it was the most recent polar vortex that was on the news whatever year that was which froze parts of Florida) the Carizzo is the first year in ground but that is supposed to be hardier than Morton)
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Trifoliate orange has been strong on my mind lately and with a bit of looking there is evidently improved Trifoliate orange varieties. One that intrigued me is called poncirus plus, and another is called Kinga. I’m curious, has anyone tried any? Are they even available in the US?
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I’m not sure about the other one, but Poncirus Plus has made it into the US. Mine hasn’t fruited yet but it’s a strong grower and roots easily. I should be about to root you a piece next year if you’d like.
It’s similar to other trifoliate oranges in most ways. The major difference is it’s resin free, so it’s much less unpleasant to mess with and doesn’t gum up knives and teeth. The trifoliate resin is also very bitter so Poncirus Plus isn’t as bitter as most trifoliate varieties.
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