Citrus indoors during winter time

13 years ago

Hi, I am in Marietta GA (zone 7b), and new to the gardening. I recently bought two citrus plants, clementine and Owari Satsuma. Since they cannot survive outdoors here in7b, I put them inside. I adjust my temperature in doors usually around 66-72. I have heard that citrus plants need periods of dormancy around 50F in order to bear fruit and doing well. I was wondering whether it is too warm for them at 66-72 the whole winter, as they will be keeping growing and be exhausted. How do you experienced gardener a take care of citrus during winter in 7b?

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Comments (3)

ritmatt
13 years ago
Wish I could help you, but I have no experience in this area.

It seems our temps have warmed to 50s at night right now. Any reason you can't put them out now, then move them back inside if we end up having another frost?
User
13 years ago
Not in Georgia, but here (zone 7A, NJ), I move them into a sunny, south facing garage. I just aim to keep temps from falling below freezing, but temps must average 40-60 over Winter. I used to move mine into the house over winter--they always ended up with scale. So, in despair one Autumn, I just decided to leave them in the garage over the winter. I just moved them outside yesterday as March was cold here. If you love Citrus, but can only overwinter in the house, I highly recommend KUMQUATS. They are smallish trees (an advantage in the house...especially as many true Citrus are quite prickly), and cope much better with the house over the winter being much less prone to bugs! Good luck.
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girlgroupgirl
13 years ago
They need some sun as well as the cool dormancy. I keep mine in the lower 50's all winter, but it's hard to provide enough sun because of everything else I keep inside in the winter :) Last year my lime was also attacked by whitefly and aphids indoors. Citrus HATE sprays, even organic sprays so it wasn't very happy...I've tried to keep it a bit more moist this winter and so far, so good!