I think I got lucky, I covered and put C7 christmas lights on all my smaller citrus here in SW Louisiana (8b/9a line), but did not cover my 3 mature Satsuma. The large Satsumas dropped 70-90% of their leaves about 5-6 days post big freeze we had in January, but all appear to be bouncing back. Even with covering and lights I had some limb tip damage on the smaller citrus.

I'm in zone 10 so citrus doesn't get zapped here. Not by the winters anyway. I did lose a mandarin though. It was on ultra dwarfing rootstock and apparently couldn't handle the water stress through the summer.

Let me make you even more jealous and tell you I'm also growing a banana. Outside. The edible type. And not a particularly cold hardy variety either. It still kept its green fronds through the winter. Oh we can grow pomelos too—the most cold vulnerable out of all the citrus types—but the fruit doesn't ripen the best. For that it needs an even longer period of extended heat than we have, since pomelos typically are ready to harvest by late January. If there was some way to get them to blossom in November though (still not that cold here in early November) I think they could indeed be ready to pick by July, and in the heat they would be able to reach their full ripeness. I have noticed that pomelos here don't seem to look quite as good as grapefruit during the winter. They still keep their leaves but the leaves just look a little sickly. It's not quite a tropical climate.

The cold hardiness of different citrus groups go approximately in this order:

mandarin, orange, grapefruit, pomelo

Which isn't surprising since orange is believed to originally resulted from repeated hybridizations between mandarin and pomelo, and grapefruit from a hybridization between orange and pomelo. The original grapefruits didn't survive so well in the U.S. and had to bred for more cold hardiness. Thereafter they were commercially grown in Texas and Florida. Which explains why grapefruit became so popular and most people in America don't know what a pomelo is.

A little jealous, yes, ha. Yesterday I bought a bloomsweet grapefruit as I MUST have that delicious fruit. I bought it from a nursery that has a big tree w/a 6" dia trunk, that I could see. Mine was zapped but theirs was untouched. My very young citruses were covered but I guess I'll have to think harder about how I will protect. I guess I'll have to give up on pomelo, cant take that heartbreak again.

My citrus trees are not near electricity, would need 10+. Extension cords, not practical. I do cover my trees but didn't seem to be enough for the short but brutal cold snap.

Planted my new Bloomsweet today. When I removed the old one, I notice the beginning of a leaf above the graft but too late. I have 10 months to think about how I will better protect this baby.

How cold did it get down there?

I think in the low twenties, night only, for two nights. Extremely unusual.

bossy, sorry to hear of your loss. Low twenties for a few hours will cause damage... but should not be fatal to a 4-6 year old tree. Its is definitely more than just a bit annoying to lose the special cultivars after nurturing them from the little sticks you buy.

You piqued my interest in that NZLemonade... I will be grafting one soon [CCPP budwood].

After a couple of years of fruit production in my yard, there are a few that I would definitely replace if another bad freeze swept through: [in order of fruit quality / likes]

Page orange

Meyer Lemon

Okistu Wase Satsuma (although it took 18F with barely a wimper)

Cara Cara orange

Moro B. orange

Cocktail grapefruit

Santa Teresa Lemon

Gold Nugget mandarin

Persian Lime

those would certainly be worth replacing. ;you must have a large family. As much as I'm lusting after several of your cultivars, I simply couldn't consume all that fruit. I saw a NZ lemonade at the nursery and wanted to replace b/c fruit is so delicious, but then I saw the thorns, 1.5" long, it hurt just to think about it.

I read somewhere that NZ lemonade s/b thornless and it only has the wicked thorns if the rootstock dominates, IOW, the graft isn't successful. I also read that it DOES have the wicked thorns, so I don't know which info is correct.

OT, I found a recipe for grapefruit pound cake. Doesn't that sound like fun? I will have to try it, must be made w/ fresh gf juice, so not till late fall....

Yes, I do have a large family. And, when you have many hobby trees as I, ...you make new friends : - )

We got in the mid 20s two or three nights in SE Texas...9a. I loosely covered a dancy tangerine....some damage but it's going to be fine. Satsumas, kumquats, calamondin, meyer and ponderosa lemons all came through fine uncovered. I covered two blood oranges and they are also going to be fine. The biggest I only shielded the north side from the wind....it had some damage but nothing extensive. Those are the trees I would look for if I wanted to plant more cold-hardy citrus.

i also live in 9a south of houston tx didn't lose any citrus but did think for a while one of my meyers was a goner right now everything except that meyer look better than ever republic of texas orange satsuma and rio redgrapefruit, and meiwa kumquat the meyer lemon in a pot was blooming a week after the freeze and now has lemons about the size of a small marble, the meyer lemon in the ground twelve ft from the potted one had a lot of new growth and i think that's what almost did it in i didn't cover anything..... mine have all been in the ground/pot 2 years or less

Var. eureka lemon also rose from the dead.