here is the catch. A lot of citrus will survive at those temps but the fruit ripens in winter and fruit is damaged below 28F. Orange frost satsuma, Arctic frost satsuma,Kimbrough satsuma, Owari satsuma will make it, Meyer lemon will die. Kumquats Nagami and Meiwa will not be ripe in time. If you like limes get a Thomasville Citrangequat. Perfect substitute to 0F. Check out.

http://mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

https://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product-category/fruit-trees/citrus/

6b Steve Cincinnati, Oh

If you want more variety, you may have to resign yourself to some in containers...but...think of it this way, they will be outdoors almost the whole year and only sometimes will you need to bring them in for protection...not so bad if you ask me! You'll also be able to grow much better tasting varieties. Good luck!!

I live along the 9a / 8b line in SW Louisiana (based on current USDA map), Most varieties of Satsumas are fairly safe, but do require some freeze protection the first couple of years. It is also best to plant them in a sheltered location near a south facing wall that will radiate heat. Even with such precautions they are prone to being killed by severe hard freezes that occur about ever 25-30 years on average if left unprotected. Some varieties of Satsuma are more cold hardy than others, Owari is an older variety that is known to be relatively cold hardy, Miho is one of the newer extremely cold hardy varieties. In my area most varieties of Satsuma are safe from freeze damage, as we rarely have a hard freeze until after new years and very brief dips below freezing does not seem to hurt the Satsuma fruit. Everything else that is edible needs some level of active freeze protection, although I do know of some mature Meyers lemons and other similar citrus that has been successfully grown in this area with no active freeze protection. I suspect these are in micro climates that are more protected from freezing, one that comes to mind is planted in a fenced yard near a house (10-15 feet) and next to a swimming pool. (bodies of water absorb massive amounts of heat before freezing this is why micro spinklers are used to protect citrus groves)

I agree with everything stated above but wanted to add two more plants for consideration: Yuzu and Gold Nugget Mandarin. There is some evidence the Gold Nugget is as hardy (or possibly more hardy) than many Satsuma varieties and the fruit holds well on the tree. As for Yuzu, they are allegedly hardy to about 10-15F although I will protect mine any time the temperature dips below about 25. I purchased my Yuzu from McKenzie farms (linked above by Poncirusguy) and found Mr. McKenzie to be extremely helpful, easy to communicate with, and the tree itself was in fantastic shape and huge (3 years old).

Thank you all for the replies I will defenitely plant a few satsumas(in april) and I will try the gold nugget mandarin. But I have seen giant kumquats and medium sized meyer lemons around my town.(the meyers get some freeze damage but they recover),also does anyone have experience with the limequat is it suitable for my zone.

Oh and is it true that a red lime can survive 15 degrees Fahrenheit?

I am curious about the gold nugget. How does it taste compared to other popular mandarins - re kishu, xie Shan, page...that is a variety I do not have and have been wondering about for a while. Stan McKenzie is a great guy. I highly recommend his trees...and they are on flying dragon.

Thomasville Citrangequat is a near if not perfect substitute for the lime when you pick them just before they change color. People are growing them in zone 6a with success. The limequat will also work but take the time to find out which of the 3 is best. It makes a big difference.

6b Steve

I will try them all if I manage to find them.

How does the thomasville citrangequat taste when ripe also how big does it get.

thomasville-citrangequat-zone-6b-success

sources-for-bearing-age-thomasville-citrangequat?

For the record, I love my lakeland limequat. It produces constantly and they taste just like a key lime...and very juicy!

Woah thats great I tought it was going to be a small tree so I dont need to protect it at all in my zone.

That's great to hear I will get an eustis limequat since that is the only variety available to me.

What about the blood lime tho is it really that hardy.

1. Citrus greening is likely to kill/reduce most citrus in that zone. Just a heads up before long term in-ground planting. I live well outside the confirmed greening areas but have recently been hit hard by that asian bug. One infected bite starts the decline.

2. People have lists of what grows.

• Calamondin 16 degrees F
• Chinotto Orange 16 degrees F
• Changsha Tangerine 8 degrees F
• Meiwa Kumquat 16 degrees F
• Nagami Kumquat 16 degrees F
• Nippon Orangequat 15 degrees F
• Ichang Lemon 10 degrees F
• Tiwanica Lemon 10 degrees F
• Rangpur Lime 15 degrees F
• Red Lime 10 degrees F
• Yuzu Lemon 12 degrees F

There are others like Satsuma but you still need to protect them in hard frosts. You can grow non-grafted citrus so even if it freezes back to the roots, you will get new growth. I've had limequats bounce back from 19F and 3" of ice.

Any satsuma will do fine for you.my favorite is owari.meiwa kumquat does fine.don't bother with the mayers lemon it you don't want to bring it in when it gets cold.I tasted limequat for the first time this year I wouldn't grow it didn't like it.flying Dragon root stock is great but it is a dwarf root stock so if you're looking for small tree it's great but if you want a big tree you will want a different type of root stock

I think the reason you get so many answers for this question is that it depends on how you define "can grow"

If you mean stick it in the ground walk away and come back in 40-50 years, the answer is nothing reliably, even things like kumquats can be killed off by a sudden hard spring freeze. ( I have been it happen back in the 1980's).

If you can they make it to maturity with no active thermal protection, then it is a dice roll on satsumas and kumquat. I know of many mature Satsumas in the area that receive no active protection, however sight selection is important, such as being planted along a south facing brick wall. At the same time I know of die off during harsh winters on these same plants. Growing up my grandparents in southern zone 8b had such a row of 4 or 5 satsumas planted along the south wall of their brick house , the Satsumas were planted the spring after they moved into the house, the year before I was born. They also had a sweet kumquat tree planted in a less sheltered spot on the west side of their house. As I grew up the row of Satsumas got shorter and shorter, being killed off one by one during harsh winters, until one particularly cold winter when I was in my late teens they lost the last 2 Satsumas and the kumquat all at once.

Now if you mean you are willing to go out and cover the plants, add freeze protection with old style large christmas lights, etc. then it is a different matter and one of how many times per year you need to go out and cover. With Satsuma this may be the first couple of years then only once every 5 or so winters. With other oranges it may be 5-10 times per year or more.

Thank you all for the answers.

Citrus greening doesn't worry me since where I live its very rare.I will deffo consider all those plant on the list.

Anyway I dont know about you but I live on the coast of the adriatic sea one hour south from me people grow lemons limes and oranges (hard to believe I know.) We have extremely predictable weather and spring frosts are barely a thing here if they occur they are 29-32 degree frosts. So I am not really worried about that kumquats are fighters and I saw them survive snow same goes for mandarins.I am sure u have a lot of knowledge but it seems that u are almost pessimistic. And yes I plan on protecting them.Thank u for helping Ike I will update u guys when I plant the trees.

I am in a comparable zone in Japan where freezes, if at all, come well after New Years Day and are like yours - only slightly below freezing. And like yours, my neighborhood is seaside, which may moderate the variability of temps. We have tons of mature yuzu, satsuma, orange and lemon trees growing to great heights and laden with fruit. Like Silica says, limes are harvested early (I just harvested my limes this week) so fruit damage would not be a problem if you select limes, and just a matter of selecting the right micro climate and root stock for the others.

You've certainly gotten some excellent suggestions here and you appear to have the right climate for citrus. I don't think people here are pessimistic-- they just want to be totally honest with you and others reading here about potential risk. As we are in similar climates, I think it will be more a matter of offering some protection to young trees during those infrequent frosts and taking advantage of sunny locations in your yard. Good luck to you. We're certainly cheering you on and look forward to further posts about your selections and plantings down the road!

Thank you suzuchan but I think u might be a zone warmer than me.(since u can grow limes)

Thank u very much for looking forward to my planting success,and just another lil question can I plant my citrus in the middle of april.

And when I plant them how close to a wall do they need to be,also we have two winds here jugo and bura jugo doesnt worry me at all its an african wind.

But bura is a continental wind so It can be very cold.

My question is will these winds affect the location I'll be planting the trees at.

Yes, you have to look at your average first hard frost date. Then find citrus that will mature before that date, unless you want to protect.

My house is 30 feet tall with a roof over hang. I planted next to the south wall and have noticed that I do not get the morning sun until the sun crosses over my latitude., then I loose sun again later as the sun passes back over my latitude. Don't plant too close to the wall or you may loose a lot of sun.

North of the equator.

6b Steve Cincinnati, Oh

The first hard freezes come in the middle of december I think.

Which varieties mature before that?

Steve I will plant them 2-4 meters away from the house is that ok?

2 meters for every 3 meters of house's roof's drip edge. 4 meters is better.

in my 6b climate I have no choice but 1 Meter from my roofs dripo edge for a 10 meter tall house.

Alright I will plant 4 meters from the house.

Do u grow citrus too?

I tought ur zone was way too cold.

Most Satsuma varieties should mature before mid December, at least that is the case with all the varieties grown in my part of the US (Louisiana). There may be other varieties that mature later. The latest Satsuma that is grown around here is Owari Satsuma which typically ripens in November, it is also often regarded as one of the best tasting Satsumas. The same is true for Washington Navel and CaraCara Navel oranges, although neither of those are as cold hardy as Satsumas.

p.s. you may find this write up on Satsuma helpful as it includes some information on their Japanese names http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/satsumas.html  I do question the accuracy of some of the trait information though

My zone is way to cold but I cover with glass in November and uncover in April.

Thank you Ike I will get the owari and Arctic frost.

Do you think the washington navel or cara cara would have a chance in my climate if I protect them heavily.

By heavily I mean mulch all around the trunk,frost cloth,plastic wrap.

And I would plant it in the middle of two houses they should radiate heat in the winter.

I am trying cara cara myself on the 8b/9a line, this will be its second winter, it survived the first with covering and old large style christmas lights with only minor leaf damage (lost about a dozen leaves) one night we had a power outage during a hard freeze. I also have a meyers lemon that I planted at about the same time, which suffered a major leaf drop from events that same night, loosing most of its leaves, but they quickly grew back.

That's very encouraging, I will try it then.

I live in Jacksonville zone 9A, only a few miles southeast of the 8b border. I have an orange tree and a ruby red grapefruit tree that have both survived 9 degree nights (I checked the weather records, the trees are at least 25 years old, so I was able to look up the lowest temps they'd been exposed to.) Most winters we will drop into the mid 20's to upper 20's for at least a week at night, with an occasional drop into the teens that happens once every few years. My neighbor has a tree of a similar age, it is a swingle citrumelo now because the scion froze and only the rootstock survived. The reason why my trees are alive is because they are on their own roots. They are not grafted, someone grew them from a seed. When the tree is ungrafted, unless the earth the roots are in freezes solid, they will come back from the roots even if everything above ground is killed off. I would recommend experimenting with rooted cuttings of anything you'd like. Seeds may be better, I think you'll be more likely to find something that can live on its own, but they will not fruit for 5-10 years, so it depends on your patience. I think just fruits and exotics sells certain types of citrus ungrafted, they sold me a variegated eureka lemon and said those worked better with no rootstock. Many of your plants will die due to the soil conditions on your property. Those that can tolerate your soil should be planted on the south side of your house, and frame protected when young. When they get too big for that, just watering them well before a freeze should save them 95% of the time. The difficult part will be finding something that can grow in your soil with no graft. Once you do, the cold is much less of a problem than for a grafted tree. One warning-- most citrus is dwarfed by the rootstock, my ungrafted grapefruit is 25 feet tall and about 15 feet wide. Think about space considerations and the eventual spread of the canopy and roots when planting close to your house, as citrus roots can be invasive.