Keraji mandarin

Hiya, for my garden I've bought three "hardy" citruses grafted on trifoliate orange: Thomasville citrangequat, citrumelo Swingle F2 5-Star (more compact form of Swingle citrumelo), and a Keraji mandarin. Has anybody experience with the latter? It seems to be relatively hardy. But when do the fruit ripen? How's the hardiness of the leaves? Grateful for any information.

Marc

Hi
The Thomosville C that I have is starting to flower... I beleive that they are late. How cold does it get where you are?

Hi, my Thomasville citrangequat is flowering too - a good sign for the future. Well, when I was a kid we had more frost with temperatures down to -4°F. However, nowadays the temps drop rarely to 14°F! Sometimes there is persistent frost for a few days with temps around 23°F. I think the worst problem - even though the temperatures are not too cold - is the copious rain during the winter months. Usually the temperatures go below freezing when everything is soaking wet. So most of my winter protection is rather against the wet than not the cold. I reckon it has something to do with the changing climate. You see palms, olive trees, figs, oleander and so forth in so many gardens hereabouts. It simply wouldn't have been possible a few years ago without excessive protection. Frank, what citrus is growing best in your zone?

Marc

Marc,

So your low last year was 14 f? Did you cover them? I guess maybe one of those blue tarps would be good if you want to limit the water in the winter....

I am adding 2 more kumquats to my outside collection. I have the holes dug and ordered a more robust heater cable (100 W). My family (including my 2 yo) loved picking ripe kumquats in march and april this year. It did get down to around -3 f at my house last year. Needless to say I cover everything and pray for heavy winter snow, which we had from mid dec to March

Frank