Ah, ok. Feel free to disregard my post, I was talking about the tetraploid hybrids.
1 Like
No, you answered all my questions, seems I was confused.
I have the wild maypops & knew they are edible.
Thanks for the long answer, it just what I needed.
Ok, still waiting to get above freezing here, hopefully will this afternoon. Officially we had two nights in a row at 12 F. My house being in a pocket, I ended up seeing 10 F on my weather station and 6 F on an exposed thermometer near ground level just above the snow line.
Despite the bitter, bitter cold, Iâm seeing a few good signs so far.
US-802 is hardy. It was completely exposed, benefitting only in being very tall and near a small unheated shed. My guess is it would have experienced something around the official air temperature, so 12 F, two nights in a row.
Despite that, it hasnât even shown signs of cold stress. The leaves are green, glossy, and have no curling or wilting, just a little yellowing from winter soil temperatures. Some Dunstan plants nearby have either very bad looking leaves or have already defoliated. Still early to judge for sure, but itâs looking like US-802 is very hardy.
Dunstan for comparision.
The yellow strawberry guava on the south side of my house was covered with cardboard box and a tarp. Despite that minimal protection, it looks really good. I donât know what temperature it was inside the protection, this weekend Iâll put a thermometer in there and see what kind of gain it sees compared to the weather station which should let me estimate how cold it got the other night.
Anxious to find how how things are looking under there. A number of citrus and other plants remain covered and lit with Christmas lights until the cold finishes.
2 Likes
That guava is amazing how it looks. Mines covered in snow so I wonât know until maybe tomorrow maybe today. It was melting fast yesterday but tonight was said to be 31 but we got 24, equal to our low for the year. Things look to be getting back to normal for us soon
Really thickest frost in a couple years here. Makes sense from all the moisture. We will see how the âArctic frostâ handles it. The Owari and meyer (unprotected but are planted with the deck above them) seem happy enough. So far no defoliation.
3 Likes
Looks like the in ground guava was exposed to something between 14-17 F. Iâm really surprised it looks as good as it does. Iâm guessing the high humidity and low sunlight under the cover helped a lot, as well as it being fully dormant.
All the citrus that we will protected came through well. Clementine and New Zealand Grapefruit are certified hardy to at least 22 F.
CORG similarly was perfectly fine at 22 F, looking better than most of the citrus and guavas to be honest. Iâm going to have to do more tests with that one because itâs hardier than I expected
Pitangatuga is so, so dead, haha
Parana pine was completely exposed and looks just fine. Hardy to single digits at least.
A similarly exposed Mysore raspberry has died to the roots again. Another growing under the shelter of some Kiowa however looks to have kept some stems. Weâll see.
1 Like
I hope they survive this cold and snow. This looks brutal for citrus!
1 Like
They will definitely survive, coldest temps have been 24. I havenât even seen any damage yet. Pintangajambo is happy even, and dragonfruit too
The key is our daytime temps have been above freezing all but one day. That day it was just below freezing (Wednesday)
The last two days in the 40s, I shoveled snow onto the citrus actually to help insulate them.
3 Likes
Maybe its because your temperature bounces back quickly to 70s even in winter and you have high summer heat and the plant has reserves.
Out here 24F is usually a death sentence.
2 Likes
My least cold hardy citrus (CaraCara) is covered but I havenât gotten any damage on citrus in the 20s. Two years ago I had 14* which had a tiny bit of dieback on tender branches. Now itâs to a point I donât worry unless temps fall into the teens or low 20s for an extended period. By 7 itâs above freezing and stays so until midnight.
We got below freezing last night and definitely got some cold damage. Not sure if there was actual frost though, and if there was it wasnât significent.
My inground longevity spinach looks awful. Its not dead, but all of its surface leaves look like they just got out of a stew. Similar situation with most of my tomatoes (and the two volunteer potatoes). Some of them may be dead. My potted longevity spinach were on the outside of my greenhouse, which has probably created a heat pocket in that part of the yard, so they are all fine.
Everything else looks great. I put a 5 gallon next to my banana and covered my inground ice cream beans, but everything else was unprotected. The passionfruits doesnât show signs of defioliating, which it did last year. My needleleaf pawpaw and the pomegranate are finally going dormant. And miracle berries are definitely not ultratropical. I saw somewhere they canât handle below 40, but its been in ground for 5 winters now and never hiccups, and we always dip below freezing for at least 1 night.
1 Like
Thatâs a big part of it, for sure.
This kind of multi day freeze is very uncommon even here much further inland than Gknight. What was wild is his our high here in Greenville were below the average low. That almost never happens.
But yeah, notice the average high is like almost in the 60s? Welcome to the South! 
This January was way, way colder than normal, with very few breaks in between the cold nights, and even so we got some 70s. February is forecast to be much more forgiving, only two frosty nights. I hope itâs true, we deserve a milder February after this January.
1 Like
I would be a bit worried about a multi-day cold where your max is in the low 30s. Once it gets to 60s etc, youâre good to go.
It was miserable.
On the bright side, we got a good bit of snow out of it, so at least it wasnât just murderously cold with no redeeming factors.
1 Like
One of @a_Vivaldi guava seedlings first day I could get a photo because the snow melted enough. It has zero damage
3 Likes
Just got back from taking the baby to rhe aquarium in Manteo (20 minute drive) and hit the park there to check the loquat tree, I donât recall it being so huge. Itâs the biggest one Iâve seen in person. Snagged a scion because itâs flowering now, wanted to extend my loquat season since mine flowered months ago
Photos donât do justice, itâs at least 25ftx25ft
The photo of the trunk is from the boardwalk, so Iâm taking the photo from about 9ft up. Should have taken a photo of the trunk with my hand on it.
The other one some moron cut down but itâs regrowing weird, still holding a few fruit
4 Likes
Went from 2 and half of weeks of no sun to full cloudless days in no time flat. Iâve already seen some sun damage on some outside plants (some cocoplum and elderberry seedlings and my ice cream beans). I am going to be out of town for a week, so everything is just gonna have to bear with it.
The thing Iâm most worried about is that it is too sunny to leave my greenhouse windows closed, which means the tropicals are gonna get some of the cold night air. Its supposed to stay in the 50s though, so hopefully everything will be fine.
I had some delayed cold damage on my largest pigeon pea. It was the only one that has it, even the really small ones are perfectly healthy. It is also the only one that isnât a seedling that I grew, and it has black peas even when they are âgreenâ, so I guess that variety is less cold tolerent.
Avos all cabbaged up, this could be my first year with fruit. They didnât flower last year but did the year prior, I will hand pollinate. Another winter they breeze through but struggle for the summers.
Poncho and Lila
3 Likes
Only one tip damaged in total of my 17 in ground citrus, kinda shocked my Kishu and Clementine completely unprotected didnât get damaged as only a few months old grafts.
Cattley guava isnt happy but is alive. The pink Barbie however is likely dead, but we will see. It was covered by a hoop house with one string of lights, wasnât enough. If it survives Iâll add agfab to it inside the hoophouse
3 Likes