Cold hardy citrus in WA state update June 2021

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by SoCal2warm, Jun 12, 2021.

  1. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    These are growing outside in the ground in Olympia, WA (climate zone 8a). For the most part they were not covered, and survived through the winter.
    These special rare and hard-to-find varieties have more hardiness than normal citrus varieties, which would not be able to survive here. All pictures taken June 12, 2021.

    The two Ichang papeda plants have begun putting out new leaf growth
    ichangpapeda-a-June12,2021.jpg ichangpapeda-b-June12, 2021.jpg

    Here is the Bloomsweet. It is looking good, leaves are a very healthy green color and it has recently grown out a big new branch, which grew out very rapidly. In the background you can also see a Yuzu plant (also doing well, grafted on rootstock) and the edge of a special hardy Parfianka hardy pomegranate plant.
    bloomsweet, June12,2021.jpg
    The Bloomsweet is not as hardy as the other hardy varieties. It is probably only just slightly hardier than Satsuma mandarin. (I'd say this is more of a zone 8b variety) For this reason it is about 70 cm away in front of a south-facing brick wall, in a warmer spot. (and I did put a paper grocery bag over it with a container of water inside to cover it just during the coldest three days in winter, but otherwise it was uncovered the rest of the winter)
     
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  2. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    The Sudachi put out three little blossoms, and you can see what looks like the beginnings of a little fruit druplet on one of them.
    overall the Sudachi looks a little ragged, like it is not growing the most vigorously or putting out the most growth, but the color of the leaves look reasonably healthy.
    sudachi-June12,2021.jpg

    The Keraji (on grafted rootstock) has put out an abundance of blossoms, despite the plant not being that big, and it looks like it is doing very well.
    keraji-blossom-June12,2021.jpg keraji-blossom-b-June12,2021.jpg
    The flowers right now I would say smell like orange blossoms mixed with Satsuma mandarin blossoms and regular mandarin blossoms.
    I had also smelled the blossoms a week ago, when they were first opening, and at that time I thought they smelled like a mix of the flowers of Satsuma mandarin, combined with the blossoms of a mild sweet lemon, with a little bit of honeysuckle.

    This special Ichangquat seedling (which I suspect might be a hybrid with citrumelo) is also starting to put out a flush of new leaf growth.
    ichangquat, June12,2021.jpg
     
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  3. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    Are you growing all your plants to produce a viable crop of fruit?

    Or as flowers only - a beautiful scent

    There’s someone on here who grows citrus in the farm community north of Victoria BC - I think
    (Approximately west of Anacortes WA)
     
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  4. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor 10 Years

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  5. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here's the Yuzu seedling as of June 29, 2021
    yuzu-June29,2021.jpg
    The trunk looks like it's gaining some thickness. Now maybe just a little bit thicker than pencil-thickness.

    The coloration of the leaves look just okay, not really good and healthy but not too bad either. The older leaves have regained most of their green color back since the winter.
     
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  6. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here is the very tiny Keraji seedling that has survived in the ground for a few years without protection. It lost its leaves earlier in the year (perhaps due to slugs eating the leaves) but it has now regrown some new leaves. The leaves are small and not too big but look decently healthy. This thing is very small, about an inch, less than two inches high. I'm not sure if it will ever eventually be able to put in some size. It seems to suffer a setback after each winter, but then very late into the season, around late July, it starts to recover but then there is not much growing season time left in the year. It looks about the same now as it did the same time of year last year, and the year before that. But it is amazing such a tiny seedling is surviving and not declining.

    keraji-tiny-seedling-Aug10,2021.jpg

    August 10, 2021
     
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  7. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here's the latest update
    October 3, 2021

    4-keraji,papeda,sudachi,ichangquat-Oct3,2021.jpg

    sorry for the low resolution images, was trying to fit 4 images into one picture to help reduce data space

    A - tiny keraji seedling
    B - Ichang papeda
    C - Sudachi
    D - ichangquat seedling (regular seedling)

    The coloration on the tiny keraji seedling looks green and a very healthy color. However, this seedling just overall does not seem to be putting on any growth. It was the exact same size this time last year. The winters seem to set it back and then it recovers, but it does not seem to be able to grow to a size bigger than it was before. Those little leaves are all new. (There are five leaves, two of them very tiny)

    Most of the leaves on the Ichang papeda are still very light in coloration, yellowish-green. I would say more yellow than green though they are still obviously alive. It seems they were never able to green up much since the winter. If you look carefully, there are a small number of newer smaller leaves that are a little bit more green in color but even those leaves do not look a healthy green. There are two of these Ichang papeda plants right next to each other and the leaf coloration on both looks exactly the same. Perhaps this variety begins to put out its new leaf flush too early in the year, when it is still too cold, and so the newer leaves do not develop the most healthy greenish color. When the very small new leaves initially start growing, they are a dark reddish color. I have never observed this growing them inside. It probably is a natural response to growing outside, either to the ultraviolet light of the sun or the cold.

    The color of the leaves on the Sudachi look just okay. Not really the healthiest deepest shade of green, but okay, still definitely green and not yellowish. This little plant has not been able to put on much growth. It is a slow grower.

    I may be mistaken about this but the Ichangquat seedling has not been able to grow any new leaves. All of those little leaves you see on the seedling are all old, from 3 years ago, the leaves that did not fall off (most of them did). But amazingly those leaves look like a healthy deep green color. It seems obvious those leaves have been able to recover. I think this seedling has almost not been able to put on any new branch growth. Yet the recovery of the leaves and the fact they have fully recovered their color since turning very yellowish during the winter is a good sign.

    (This is the normal Ichangquat seedling, not the other one that seems to be hardier that I suspect is a hybrid)

    I would say that all four of these are managing to survive, but almost not putting on much growth. Very slow growing. It seems they are marginal growing in this 8a Pacific Northwest climate. None of them were protected or covered this winter.

    Bear in mind these are not big plants.
    I took some measurements. The tiny keraji seedling is only 2 inches (5 cm), the Ichang papeda is 14 inches (35-36 cm) high, the Sudachi is just a little over 16 inches high (41 cm), and the ichangquat is 13 inches (33 cm) high but very narrow, with only 3 leaves.
     
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  8. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I would suggest not worrying about reducing data space here unless we get told something official about it. Photos get reduced when they're uploaded, and it seems to me if you're going to post something we should see, we should get to see it at reasonable dimensions. Four photos is not an issue, and I think the limit on photos per post was increased not that long ago. And you already know how to position photos near the relevant parts of your text.
     
  9. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    And you’ve done all this in vicinity of Olympia WA

    The blossoms must be beautifully scented

    Yes pls post higher res pictures if your data / internet plan allows

    Thank you
     
  10. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here's the latest update from Christmas morning, December 24, 2021

    Bloomsweet grapefruit
    bloomsweet-Dec24,2021.jpg

    Keraji mandarin
    keraji-Dec24,2021.jpg

    I'd say the leaves on the Bloomsweet and Keraji are both green, with just a little bit of yellow splotches in the Keraji and some light yellow-green color on some areas of the Bloomsweet. Still not an unhealthy color, considering the temperatures and time of year.

    Changsha mandarin (that's an Escallonia bush in the background)
    changsha-mandarin-Dec24,2021.jpg

    Although you can see some snow and ice, temperatures had not really gotten that cold at the time of these pictures. Ambient air temperatures had not actually gone below the freezing point yet. The leaf coloration still looks pretty good in all three pictures. I'd say the leaves on the Changsha look the best, but it is somewhat protected by being half engulfed by that big bush.

    However, temperatures tonight (December 26) are expected to go down to 18 °F, and the temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing for the next 4 days, which is an unusual thing for this climate. (It more often stays just right above the freezing point) Apparently there is Arctic air coming from the interior of Canada. It's actually colder here right now than in Minneapolis or Buffalo (although of course that will not last too long).
    I put some paper grocery bags over both the Bloomsweet and Keraji with containers of water under there as well. They are not too far from the house. Right now there's about 6 inches of snow on the ground.
     
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  11. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    i am familiar with interior Alaska so I looked up Denali and Fairbanks temps —- today hovering around us at the ocean beach near Vanc BC

    hard to imagine

    i hope all your citrus survive
     
  12. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here's a picture of the Yuzu seedling that was taken December 17, 2021
    yuzu-Dec17,2021-big.jpg

    Keep in mind that the plant had not experienced freezing temperatures yet so far in the season at the time of this picture, which explains why the leaves look so good.
    You can see that it's looking pretty healthy and has put on some size.
     
  13. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Some additional (low resolution) pictures, so you can see how some of these look in the winter.
    Pictures taken January 15, 2022

    Here is what the leaves on the Sudachi look like
    sudachi-Jan15,2022.jpg

    Ichang papeda
    ichangpapeda-Jan15,2022.jpg

    I planted a rooted cutting of Changsha right next to a Yuzu seedling to see how they would do. They are right next to each other. Both are less than 10 cm tall, and they are planted not too far away from the house.

    small Changsha (on own roots)
    changsha-cutting-Jan15,2022.jpg

    Yuzu seedling (on own roots)
    yuzu-seedling-Jan15,2022.jpg
     
  14. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    I collected 2 fruit from Poncirus trifoliata in late November. Each contained more than 20 seeds. I just stored them in the fridge and I'm confident a good percentage will germinate.

    I read that some citrus species are grafted on Poncirus trifoliata to increase their resistance to the cold : Poncirus is said to be hardy (-15°C when in the ground).
     
  15. sarahspectacular

    sarahspectacular New Member

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    Hello! New here and new to forums in general. Not incredibly tech savvy. This thread is very informative! I'm located in Tacoma, and planted a yuzu and sudachi in my yard last year. I've protected them through the last cold snap and the upcoming one. Hopefully they'll make it through! Thank you for sharing your experience with cold hardy citrus!
     
  16. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Unfortunately all the plants shown in these pictures so far have died, with the exception of that Yuzu seedling (the bigger one), which is still doing very well. And the smaller Ichangquat seedling is barely clinging to life, only 2 cm of healthy green color at the base of the plant, has not managed to put out any leaves the last two years, expect it may likely slowly decline over another year or two.
    But still have a few other hardy citrus that have survived outside (not shown in these pictures).
     

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