10 degree tangerine

Well I have my citrus covered in transparent plastic. 2-3 layers and blankets at night. The roots are burried in heater cables and in styrofoam. I also have black buckets filled with water around the trees. Mine are small 2-3 feet, but so far so good. It has been around 8 f at night and 30 f during the day for the last week and the coldest this set up has seen (so far) is 35 f. As it gets colder I will put heaters in the water if needed.............

hope this helps
Frank

Hi Frank,

I see: growing citrus outdoors is a real challange in Your climate. We never have -13°C (8F) in December. 27F was the lowest till now. What do they charge for electric energy in Your region?
Greetings from Vienna
Robert

Well so far I use 150 Watts per 2 trees. I have a large salt water aquarium which uses much more electricity, so I am not sure

Frank

Hi, I was wondering if the hardy varieties of citrus will tolerate not being exposed to sun and if so for how long? They would be at 35-40 f.

thanks Frank

Hi Frank,

There will not be any problem because there is no root-activity below 10°C. It is even possible to store (at least foliage-dropping varieties) cold and in complete darkness. Sun would be dangerous, because it dries out and burns all exposed parts. Inactive root will not sufficiently suply the plants with water. This is a well known wintersun-problem.
Keep Your plants shaded till March. I hope there will be no deep froststs in March in Your aera.
Merry Chrismas and aHappy New Year
Robert

Hi
Thanks for the info and happy holidays. I am sure I will be covering in March in my area. I did take a peak at all my outdoor trees and they all look great.

I do expose them to sun on occasion, although I dont know if this is optimal, yesterday the enclosures got to 85f, with a low of 33f.

Frank

Hi Frank,
I whish You the best for 2008. I just found a Celsius - Fahrenheit - calculator on the net: [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]
You wrote: "yesterday the enclosures got to 85f" That is a lot. The problem could be, that the rootstock stays in dormancy -root activity starts at 10 or 12°C (Poncirus) and 15°C (C. aurantium), but the leaves will loose water at 85°F. So this may cause leaf-drop. But this is just a theory. You are now going to see if it is true. The theory says that leafdrop is caused by an imbalance of soil-temperature and air-temperature. I wish You good luck!
Robert

Thanks, not leaf drop as of yet, the roots are actually heated and the radiating heat warms the enclosure....

Frank

well I added a Meyer to my outside collection, my kumquat is about done giving fruit, I got a surprising large amount.... 10-15 marble sized fruits on my satsuma.

Frank

Hi,

I was lucky to get a "Juanita"-Tangerine (which is, as far as I know, just another name for the 10° T.). It is tiny now, but in 2 years it will have to show its capability to resist low temperatures. In case we have low temperatures until then....)
The second plant I got is a Citrus taiwanica (Nansho Daidai) which is said to resist temperatures down to 0°F. For me this is almost unbelievable. But let's see.
Greetings from Vienna
Robert