“The millennial Gardener” is not the only person to succeed at planting Satsumas close to the house, as long as they are on flying dragon root stock, which is what ‘Stan McKenzie’ grafts to, so you should be fine.
Besides being on the south side of the house close to the house, the other really important thing is to make sure that the early morning winter sun does not hit the tree, citrus do not like to warm up too much too fast, especially if it’s cold enough to frost. This is a great time of the year to check where the early morning sun hits.
I never said he is. Do you have any other references of people growing them close to the house that I should be aware of? How far off from the house you recommend? I think millennial Gardener does 36 in or so.
Of the two potential places they both have equal amounts of morning light. They tend not to get direct sun first thing in the morning because I have a tree line east of my house that casts shade first thing in the morning. The one spot by my electrical panel will likely get slightly more sun in the afternoon, but it will also be subject to more winter winds and will likely be a wetter spot near the downspout there while I’m still leaning towards the place by my window.
You don’t need to worry about planting close to the house (citrus doesn’t have invasive feeder roots) nor them getting large. In your climate they will grow slowly whether on dwarfing rootstock or not. Some of mine are planted on my south facing side of my house also, I planted about 36” also but just that’s how it worked out. It’s on a slight mound so I couldn’t plant closer due to that. I have a lemon guava planted like 10” off my house, as I assumed it needed more protection but it’s also doing well.
Our problems against the house were 3 things. Citrus moth and leafminers liked it out of the wind. Part of the fruit remained green when the rest was ready. And the dwarfing was too much at that site.
Are these specialist pests specific to Citrus? If so, I would think them rare in Maryland, as there is no commercial and very little hobby citrus growers compared to areas like Georgia and Florida.
Leaf miners eat all kinds of things, even vegetables. They have attacked the leaves of our citrus several times. Here in North Carolina. I don’t worry much about them, because the leaves do grow back, and it’s only the more tender leaves that they attack, and for a very short time in the early spring.
As far as how close to plant the citrus I’d say almost 2 1/5 feet to almost 3 feet away from the house, I am basing that upon what ‘The Millennial Gardener’ himself says in the following video, he says that the light frost area goes to about 5 to 6 feet away from the house, which would be of course most years, citrus should not grow anymore than 5 to 6 feet away from the house in cold weather, to keep them from the worst of the frost https://youtu.be/KRLBg7fjpeg?si=kbbxofvZZeI4gAnc&t=582
To be honest I don’t remember most of the people who grow citrus close to their house, because they were mainly people leaving video comments on youtube videos, and the occasional forum post, like the ones you have seen in response to your thread.
The fence side looks like a cold pocket to me. Does the slope continue on for a while or flatten out around there?
I personally would put it on the left side, maybe three feet from the house. That would give you room to place some water barrels around it. And it’s a pretty ornamental, might as well put it somewhere you can see it.
Maybe even at or around the corner. That brick facade will probably radiate more heat than the vinyl or the painted brick will.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about morning sun regardless. Any really cold nights it’s going to have frost cloth over it, and that’ll block a decent amount of whatever weak winter sun you get.
I was referring to specilaist citrus leafminers Phyllocnistis citrella. I’ve never seen any major damage from generalist leafminers before but maybe I’m just lucky.
It does continue for another 6 feet or so past the foundation of the house. inside the fence line there is my veggie garden. I grow trailing vines like melons along the fence knowing the vines will grow into the garden from the fence line because of the slope.
My meyer lemon, Satsumas, and even Harvey Lemon were fine. The snow insulates the plant, so they were fine even with all the snow. The only casualty was a Sinton graft tat broke off the host tree…
I’m looking to place some is these more could hardy citrus outside also. The millennial gardener talked about when Brown’s Select and Owari ripen. When do they blossom?
I’m more worried about spring frost than I am winter freeze.
Or average last spring frost is April 15 and average first winter frost is nov 15.
I’m convinced Myer Lemons are indestructible. And I still have to fight the kids for lemons off of it. We will be glad when it adds some size and fruits more.
“The fragrant white blossoms of ‘Owari’ satsuma trees normally appear in early spring, from March to April.” That is also when the ‘Brown’s Select’ bloom as well.
I agree with @a_Vivaldi that the southwest corner, up the hill, looks like the better, i.e. warmer spot to me. But that’s just eyeballing it. You can tell which is warmer by where the frost line is or where the snow melts first. I’d plant the trees in whatever place that is.
Mine are planted about 4 feet from the south wall of my house, maybe five. That helps when I’m putting a plant jacket on them and gives me room to put a water barrel. They also send out long limbs that rest on the wall and that I occasionally have to prune back. I personally wouldn’t want them any closer than four or five feet, but my climate is just slightly warmer than yours.
Most houses in the USA have brick on the north and the south sides of the house, that is one reason that the south side of houses typically release a lot of heat on cold nights, it’s not just that there is more hot sunlight. Odd how yours seems to be the opposite.
I think that I might have come up with a solution for that. If you put a thick layer of dark grey, or of black ‘gravel’ as a mulch for the Satsuma, especially if you wet it well during the morning before the too cold weather would hit. That might be as good, or nearly as good as the brick wall of a house.
Yes, I know, although black plastic barrels, combined with brick work even better, as would dark grey, or black ‘gravel’ and black plastic barrels combined.
I don’t know about most houses in the USA, but every house I see that is new built in Maryland seems to have a brick or stone fascia on the front and more traditional siding on the sides and back. This is typically independent of which way the house is facing. My house faces west.