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socalnolympia

Cold hardy citrus update in Washington State

7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

colder winter than usual, 16-18 inches of snow, which is not common here
Olympia, WA
see post below since this site doesn't allow me to post images in the first post

Comments (10)

  • 7 years ago

    By chance do you know what your outdoor temperatures reached on the coldest day of the year?

  • 7 years ago

    Interesting to see Olympia vs. Seattle. Here, on an urban lot, my neighbor threw some canvas over a 1-year old Xie Shan satsuma (on trifoliate and in ground) with no lights and with leaves poking out the bottom, and their tree escaped the winter (the 3rd coldest by average temperatures on record) without even leaf or stem damage.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    The forecast said the coldest it got down to was 12, but the coldest temperature I measured, just four hours before the forecast said it was supposed to drop down to that low point, was 22. I also did measurements before three different times, on cold winter nights, and the yard was 2 degrees above what the forecast said it was. So I can only assume that it probably actually got down to 14.

    Most years it only gets down to 15 at the lowest, and that's usually only 2 nights out of the entire winter.

    Olympia does get just a little colder than Seattle.

    The Satsuma here (on trifoliate rootstock) that was covered did not survive. There were 3 gallon water containers in there to try to keep the temperatures from going below freezing, and it was planted in a warm sunny spot. (but it was the standard Satsuma variety) The water containers never froze, even on the coldest night, and I actually filled them up with hot water a few hours just before it was supposed to drop to 12, just to try to help out in any additional way possible. It wasn't enough, but this was a colder Winter than usual.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Also, it was too difficult to go back and edit it, but that picture labeled "Ten Degree Tangerine" is of a blurry close up of one of the branches where a tiny green sprout is now coming out.

    (The other tree that looks more in-focus in the background is an Ichang papeda that was planted later and was not outside this winter)

    The Citrumelo seems to be the one doing the best so far.

  • 7 years ago

    I had 7 in ground citrus trees (now 9), 3 of which were mature Satsumas, the others were 2-3 years old mix of Satsuma, Meyers, and CaraCara on the 8b/9a line in western Louisiana in the winter of 2017/18 where we had a 50 year record low of 12F and 13F for at least an hour two nights in a row, not getting over freezing on the day in between. All were covered with a mix of poly tarps, blankets, sheets, old table cloths, etc. plus lighted with at least 175 watts worth of Christmas lights (25 x 7 watt C9 ceramic incandescent (not LED) bulbs) on the smaller trees or 250 watt heat lamps on the larger 10-15 ft wide / tall trees. All survived, all had at least partial leaf loss, and with branch dieback of 10-30% on most, and one of the then 2-3 year old Satsumas died back to within inches of the graft line, call it 80-85% dieback, it has since recovered to be with 2/3 of the size of its close cousin that was planted at the same time (one is Louisiana Early, the other is Saint Ann, both were selections from the same cross pollination parents at LSU about 30 years ago) .

  • 7 years ago

    the Yuzu is beginning to put on some more leaf growth now, just tiny little leaves




  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Ichangquat (Ichang papeda x kumquat hybrid)


    Citrumelo


  • 7 years ago

    It is nice to see your trees re-leafing.

    Steve

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    The Yuzu tree is putting on a growth spurt


    Bloomsweet grapefruit