Citrus

Tender citrus varieties will have to be protected from frost and cold temperatures.  Fertilize citrus beginning in March and ending in July.  Do not fertilize outdoor citrus after July.  Tender growth caused by fertilizing later will probably be frozen off, even on the cold tolerant citrus varieities. 

Be sure to keep the rootstock from growing a top.  The rootstock is the portion of the tree below the graft.  If the rootstock is allowed to grow a top, the more desirable portion of the tree is likely to not grow and fade away over time.  Citrus trees appear to have the most aggressive rootstocks out of all fruit trees.

Calamondins are very tart with some sweetness.   The tree is a very attractive with its orange fruits that are very similar to kumquats.  As with most citrus, the fragrant blooms alone make the tree worth having.  They are hardy to around twenty degrees. The fruit ripens in November and some will still be on the tree until February if they are not picked earlier.  No pollinator is required with Calamondins.

Orange Early Gold is one of the best oranges for this area.  As the name implies, the fruit ripens in November which is earlier than other orange varieties.  All oranges will have to be protected from the cold, but at least the fruit will not be subject to most of the worst cold spells that occur later in the fall and winter.  Early Gold fruit is medium sized and is very sweet.

Satsumas:  Owari, Okitsu Wase & Miyagawa

Satsumas are very cold tolerant and are the best citrus for this area other than Kumquats.  They are reliably hardy to fifteen degrees.  Satsuma trees should bear very heavy crops after the third year.  No pollinators are required for Satsumas.  Most of the fruit is seedless.  Fruit size can vary widely on the same tree depending upon how much fruit is on the tree.   With an extremely light fruit load, the size can be as large as a grapefruit.  With heavy fruit loads, the size of the Satsuma fruits are much smaller, like a small tangerine.  The taste is not affected by the size of the fruit.  It is best to remove all fruit if freezing temperatures are coming. Fruit that has been frozen on the tree is not likely to taste as good as fruit that has not been frozen.

Owari Satsumas are very sweet.  A few fruit will usually be ripe in October, but the bulk of the fruit is ready in November.

Miyagawa Satsuma fruit ripens earlier than Owari.  Most of the fruit is ripe by the end of October.

New Arrivals (please note that many of the following are young plants, but many are also rare in our area)

 Okitsu Wase Satsuma early variety

Gold Nugget Satsuma late variety

Shasta Gold Satsuma late variety

Sudachi lime/lemon like green fruit

Newhall Navel Orange

Fukumoto Navel Orange

Torocco Blood Orange

Cara Cara Orange

Trovita Orange

Australian Fingered Lime

Eustis Limequat half lime and half kumquat and more cold hardy than a normal lime

Seedless Lemon

Meyer Lemon sweeter than a regular lemon,

Variegated Pink Eureka Lemon

Allen Eureka Lemon

Indiomandarinquat

Variegated Calamondin

Yuzu reported to be cold hardy to 5 F!, lemon/lime substitute use juice and rinds