What to do now that my citrus trees froze?
I have been getting emails and private messages like the following recently: "Hi Phil..I am writing to inquire about replacing some of our beloved citrus trees. We lost so many in the freeze. I hope can help us. Please let me know if you can help us restore our orchard "
I followed my own advice below (How to protect citrus trees from freezes below) and banked my 20 citrus trees with 3 pickup loads of pine bark mulch to above the graft before the February 2021 freeze. As of the end of May all but one of my grafts are showing signs of life. So 100% of rootstock survived a 14F freeze and 90% of grafts survived. Hopefully no citrus killing freezes in the near future. Last one was in 1989 until 2021. In 1989 I didn't know about citrus tree banking and lost a large satsuma and kumquat trees including the rootstock. Didn't replant until 2000 what with freezes in 1983 and 1989, you know global cooling and all!
All is not lost. Cut back dead branches until you get green bark. If the graft survived you most likely will miss only one season of fruit. With the large root system, the stump will grow back to as large of a tree as before by next fall in the next 6 months if provided plenty of water and fertilizer! The tree will skip one year of fruit but next year will have plenty again. Hopefully the graft survived so you get a tree with edible fruit. If the graft froze you can let the rootstock grow back and graft with an edible scion at the latest in the Fall.
Here are some of my best survivors, most 7 years old
I have been getting emails and private messages like the following recently: "Hi Phil..I am writing to inquire about replacing some of our beloved citrus trees. We lost so many in the freeze. I hope can help us. Please let me know if you can help us restore our orchard "
I followed my own advice below (How to protect citrus trees from freezes below) and banked my 20 citrus trees with 3 pickup loads of pine bark mulch to above the graft before the February 2021 freeze. As of the end of May all but one of my grafts are showing signs of life. So 100% of rootstock survived a 14F freeze and 90% of grafts survived. Hopefully no citrus killing freezes in the near future. Last one was in 1989 until 2021. In 1989 I didn't know about citrus tree banking and lost a large satsuma and kumquat trees including the rootstock. Didn't replant until 2000 what with freezes in 1983 and 1989, you know global cooling and all!
All is not lost. Cut back dead branches until you get green bark. If the graft survived you most likely will miss only one season of fruit. With the large root system, the stump will grow back to as large of a tree as before by next fall in the next 6 months if provided plenty of water and fertilizer! The tree will skip one year of fruit but next year will have plenty again. Hopefully the graft survived so you get a tree with edible fruit. If the graft froze you can let the rootstock grow back and graft with an edible scion at the latest in the Fall.
Here are some of my best survivors, most 7 years old
Some of my not so fortunate stumps.
What to do now if the graft froze or you changed your mind about the variety?
Why graft one of the suckers! This is valentine on swingle rootstock. This is a 7 year old valentine pummelo hybrid. Never did get an edible fruit out of it, so graft a sucker to something better, in this case shiranui. I'll also let one of the valentine suckers grow just in case. You do however need good budwood. Happily I got the budwood from a friend who protected his tree. The budwood I saved last February wasn't any good anymore. Happily this tree had a mature enough shoot to graft on this spring.
Why graft one of the suckers! This is valentine on swingle rootstock. This is a 7 year old valentine pummelo hybrid. Never did get an edible fruit out of it, so graft a sucker to something better, in this case shiranui. I'll also let one of the valentine suckers grow just in case. You do however need good budwood. Happily I got the budwood from a friend who protected his tree. The budwood I saved last February wasn't any good anymore. Happily this tree had a mature enough shoot to graft on this spring.
Budwood on xie shan satsuma branch. Don't usually have good budwood this
time of year but sometimes you do.
time of year but sometimes you do.
How to protect citrus trees from freezes
Bank dirt around the trunk of your tree. I split a nursery pot and fill it up with dirt. The ground won't freeze. The top might freeze but the dirt will save the rootstock and the graft. The tree will grow back in only one year!
Before the freeze
Just after the freeze
Leafing out in the spring
Fully recovered in July
Bank dirt around the trunk of your tree. I split a nursery pot and fill it up with dirt. The ground won't freeze. The top might freeze but the dirt will save the rootstock and the graft. The tree will grow back in only one year!
Before the freeze
Just after the freeze
Leafing out in the spring
Fully recovered in July