Musings on Citrus Varieties and Moving
I am moving from Beaumont to a new house in Missouri City, TX (southwest Houston area 110 miles from here) in a few months. In order to make my current back yard looklike a back yard I pulled up about half my 25 inground citrus trees, mostly the ones too big to put in pots but too small to bear much fruit. I liked them all except yuzu. The new backyard is not very big compared to my current half an acre but big by Houston standards.The yard will be 20 feet deep on one side and 40 feet on the other.I will have room at our new house for citrus trees and my plan is to plant around 10 all on flying dragon in a space 8 feet wide and 90 feet long along my back fence. I have bought 10 Xie Shan satsumas on flying dragon rootstock to plant. All on flying dragon because I can't drink juice citrus juice anymore due to elevated blood sugar levels. Oh well!
I plan to topwork 9 of them to other varieties in 2 or 3 years. Why? A couple years back there were some ill timed freezes in my backyard two years in a row and some small and one medium banked grapefruit trees were killed back to the rootstock twice. The trees had been banked with dirt and still froze. The satsuma trees including the small one were not damaged. Anyone think of this before?
Multiple selections of a single variety
I've decided that since all selections of a single variety taste the same there is little point in planting so many varieties like I have in the past.
White grapefruits
I v'e found out that white grapefruits like duncan, bloomsweet and marsh taste mostly the same. In April, however duncans really shine and get their legendary flavor.
Multi-grafts
Not the optimum but I'll still have to multi-graft as I have IDed more than 10 varieties for my planned 10 trees!
Pulled up at my old house to make room for a backyard
Orlando tangelo - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Bell mandarin - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Sanguinelli blood orange - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Cara cara navel - One of my best fruit but too big/small
Miho satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree
Seto satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree
Multi graft satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree. One of my oldest trees but still small as it was on flying dragon
Little sweetie satsuma - Tree didn't meet my size criteria. The spy for Brazos River nurseries bought one from me and before I knew it they were propagated by several Houston growers with that name. Funny it is just
a selection of owari made by someone in Bridge City, TX in 1990 and his made up name! Fruit in Bridge City was super super OTW but nothing special in my backyard.
Xie shan satsumna - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Trees I kept for the new owner, most mature and some planted in 2000
Cara car navel - by far the best quality fruit I grow
Golden grapefruit/duncan with star ruby and bloomsweet branches - planted in 2000 as "Republic of Texas Orange." Later topworked to golden grapefruit which I like better and then half topworked to
duncan after eating some killer duncan fruit in Florida in April a couple years ago.
Miho/Seto satsumas - as good as any satsumas out there.
Algerian clementine - very nice fruit. I later budded some branches with de Nules and a couple other varieties
Fairchild mandarin - a favorite
Page mandarn - killer juice but fruit too small
Frost Owari - very late satsuma still not really sweet in March
Dobashi Beni satsuma - bought in 2000 from Bonnie Childers
Sanguinelli/tarocco blood orange/midnight valencia multi-graft - The blood orange I like best is sanguinelli
88-2 Lee x Nova - this year I tasted only one fruit. The medium sized tree is covered in blooms this year
Trees for the new home in Missouri City:
S9 China satsuma - just released
Xie Shan early satsuma - supposedly the sweetest satsuma
de Nules clementine - best of the clementines IMHO
88 x 2 seedless Lee x Nova - newly released USDA early seedless mandarin hybrid
15-150 Lee x Orlando - newly released USDA mandarin hybrid
Midnight valencia - fabulous tasting late season seedless orange
Bream tarocco blood orange - Tarocco didn't color up for me but maybe this selection will
Cocktail grapefruit - had a large tree in a pot but regretted getting rid of it, very tasty, not like the mandola fruit I have tasted although some say it is the same
Pummelo - will have one but haven't decided on the variety yet
Duncan grapefruit - a very late but outstanding tasting grapefruit. I've eaten quite a bit this year from a friend's tree
Valentine pummelo hybrid - I brought this variety to SE Texas thru the budwood bureau and am very curious about it.
Meyer lemon - tons of lemons, what more to say
New Zealand sweet lemon - will multi-graft on the meyer. By far the best tasting "sweet" lemon
Nordman seedless kumquat - probably will multi-graft to include changshou
Seville sour orange - I am growing this out from seed
Golden grapefruit - by far the earliest and sweetest grapefruit for SE Texas. No other variety comes close.
I plan to protect the tree the first couple of years with a temporary greenhouse
Losers IMHO and have gotten rid of them sometimes after spending$40 for budwood
Pomona acidless lemon. Tasteless like all acidless citrus fruit, insipid and tasteless
Dr Brown seedless kumquat. This one never gets orange, nordman is much better
Marsh grapefruit. Never got sweet for me.
Yuzu. Full of seeds and I don't get it about the zest being so good. Pulled up a large tree.
Ujukitsu sweet lemon. Will leave a smallish tree at my old house. I didn't intend to grow it but got on the wrong branch of a multi-tree trying to get Nova budwood
Rio Red Grapefruit. Or any of the red grapefruits. Never got really sweet for me even waiting until April.
Sudachi lemon - low quality lemon
Can citrus be grown in Huntsville,TX?
Satsuma should do OK in Huntsville if on trifoliate but better on flying dragon dwarfing trifoliate to make a smaller tree easier to protect. By protection I mean at the minimum covered or banked for extended freeze events. Citrus hardiness may sound like a simple subject but only saying satsuma will survive 10F on trifoliate does the new uninformed grower a disservice. What should be said is satsumas may survive 20F spells of short duration meaning a few hours to maybe 24 hours if they are dormant. Dormant is difficult to determine until after the freeze. If they survived they probably were dormant. If they froze they probably were not dormant. I'd recommend for protection banking the tree with dirt to above the graft. Then the tree will likely survive an extended freezing event with only the top killed back and the graft surviving. I had mature satsuma and kumquat trees on unknown rootstock killed including the rootstock unprotected in the 1989 freeze in Beaumont that went to as low as 10F for a 4 day freeze event. I then gave up on growing citrus until 2000. Little did I know that there would be no more severe citrus killing freezes from 1989 until today. Since then I had unprotected kumquat and mandarins killed by various freezes before I knew about banking with dirt. I even had banked grapefruit on flying dragon killed to the rootstock 3 years in a row by very slight and short freeze events. We had a March short freeze to 19F that my trees survived. I had most of them covered with a heater under them and left a weekend retreat to check on them. My unprotected kumquat froze. I recommend flying dragon dwarfing rootstock so that protection by covering is easier since the tree won't be much bigger than 8 feet tall rather than 15-20 feet. In short the answer to growing citrus trees in Huntsville is long term they won't survive without protection. They will if protected from severe freeze events. I'd recommend only satsuma because it is the most cold hardy high quality citrus out there. Changsha is supposedly as cold hardy but fruit quality is lower, they are incredibly seedy, and difficult to find a tree. Kumquat is also a candidate but how many of those can you eat? IMHO it is not more cold hardy than satsuma. All bets are off on freeze hardiness if you fertilize in September. The trees need to be dormant and non growing to survive freezes. Never fertilize after 04 July to be cautious on that point.
I plan to topwork 9 of them to other varieties in 2 or 3 years. Why? A couple years back there were some ill timed freezes in my backyard two years in a row and some small and one medium banked grapefruit trees were killed back to the rootstock twice. The trees had been banked with dirt and still froze. The satsuma trees including the small one were not damaged. Anyone think of this before?
Multiple selections of a single variety
I've decided that since all selections of a single variety taste the same there is little point in planting so many varieties like I have in the past.
White grapefruits
I v'e found out that white grapefruits like duncan, bloomsweet and marsh taste mostly the same. In April, however duncans really shine and get their legendary flavor.
Multi-grafts
Not the optimum but I'll still have to multi-graft as I have IDed more than 10 varieties for my planned 10 trees!
Pulled up at my old house to make room for a backyard
Orlando tangelo - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Bell mandarin - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Sanguinelli blood orange - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Cara cara navel - One of my best fruit but too big/small
Miho satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree
Seto satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree
Multi graft satsuma - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria plus I already had a mature tree. One of my oldest trees but still small as it was on flying dragon
Little sweetie satsuma - Tree didn't meet my size criteria. The spy for Brazos River nurseries bought one from me and before I knew it they were propagated by several Houston growers with that name. Funny it is just
a selection of owari made by someone in Bridge City, TX in 1990 and his made up name! Fruit in Bridge City was super super OTW but nothing special in my backyard.
Xie shan satsumna - I like this one a lot but the tree didn't meet my size criteria
Trees I kept for the new owner, most mature and some planted in 2000
Cara car navel - by far the best quality fruit I grow
Golden grapefruit/duncan with star ruby and bloomsweet branches - planted in 2000 as "Republic of Texas Orange." Later topworked to golden grapefruit which I like better and then half topworked to
duncan after eating some killer duncan fruit in Florida in April a couple years ago.
Miho/Seto satsumas - as good as any satsumas out there.
Algerian clementine - very nice fruit. I later budded some branches with de Nules and a couple other varieties
Fairchild mandarin - a favorite
Page mandarn - killer juice but fruit too small
Frost Owari - very late satsuma still not really sweet in March
Dobashi Beni satsuma - bought in 2000 from Bonnie Childers
Sanguinelli/tarocco blood orange/midnight valencia multi-graft - The blood orange I like best is sanguinelli
88-2 Lee x Nova - this year I tasted only one fruit. The medium sized tree is covered in blooms this year
Trees for the new home in Missouri City:
S9 China satsuma - just released
Xie Shan early satsuma - supposedly the sweetest satsuma
de Nules clementine - best of the clementines IMHO
88 x 2 seedless Lee x Nova - newly released USDA early seedless mandarin hybrid
15-150 Lee x Orlando - newly released USDA mandarin hybrid
Midnight valencia - fabulous tasting late season seedless orange
Bream tarocco blood orange - Tarocco didn't color up for me but maybe this selection will
Cocktail grapefruit - had a large tree in a pot but regretted getting rid of it, very tasty, not like the mandola fruit I have tasted although some say it is the same
Pummelo - will have one but haven't decided on the variety yet
Duncan grapefruit - a very late but outstanding tasting grapefruit. I've eaten quite a bit this year from a friend's tree
Valentine pummelo hybrid - I brought this variety to SE Texas thru the budwood bureau and am very curious about it.
Meyer lemon - tons of lemons, what more to say
New Zealand sweet lemon - will multi-graft on the meyer. By far the best tasting "sweet" lemon
Nordman seedless kumquat - probably will multi-graft to include changshou
Seville sour orange - I am growing this out from seed
Golden grapefruit - by far the earliest and sweetest grapefruit for SE Texas. No other variety comes close.
I plan to protect the tree the first couple of years with a temporary greenhouse
Losers IMHO and have gotten rid of them sometimes after spending$40 for budwood
Pomona acidless lemon. Tasteless like all acidless citrus fruit, insipid and tasteless
Dr Brown seedless kumquat. This one never gets orange, nordman is much better
Marsh grapefruit. Never got sweet for me.
Yuzu. Full of seeds and I don't get it about the zest being so good. Pulled up a large tree.
Ujukitsu sweet lemon. Will leave a smallish tree at my old house. I didn't intend to grow it but got on the wrong branch of a multi-tree trying to get Nova budwood
Rio Red Grapefruit. Or any of the red grapefruits. Never got really sweet for me even waiting until April.
Sudachi lemon - low quality lemon
Can citrus be grown in Huntsville,TX?
Satsuma should do OK in Huntsville if on trifoliate but better on flying dragon dwarfing trifoliate to make a smaller tree easier to protect. By protection I mean at the minimum covered or banked for extended freeze events. Citrus hardiness may sound like a simple subject but only saying satsuma will survive 10F on trifoliate does the new uninformed grower a disservice. What should be said is satsumas may survive 20F spells of short duration meaning a few hours to maybe 24 hours if they are dormant. Dormant is difficult to determine until after the freeze. If they survived they probably were dormant. If they froze they probably were not dormant. I'd recommend for protection banking the tree with dirt to above the graft. Then the tree will likely survive an extended freezing event with only the top killed back and the graft surviving. I had mature satsuma and kumquat trees on unknown rootstock killed including the rootstock unprotected in the 1989 freeze in Beaumont that went to as low as 10F for a 4 day freeze event. I then gave up on growing citrus until 2000. Little did I know that there would be no more severe citrus killing freezes from 1989 until today. Since then I had unprotected kumquat and mandarins killed by various freezes before I knew about banking with dirt. I even had banked grapefruit on flying dragon killed to the rootstock 3 years in a row by very slight and short freeze events. We had a March short freeze to 19F that my trees survived. I had most of them covered with a heater under them and left a weekend retreat to check on them. My unprotected kumquat froze. I recommend flying dragon dwarfing rootstock so that protection by covering is easier since the tree won't be much bigger than 8 feet tall rather than 15-20 feet. In short the answer to growing citrus trees in Huntsville is long term they won't survive without protection. They will if protected from severe freeze events. I'd recommend only satsuma because it is the most cold hardy high quality citrus out there. Changsha is supposedly as cold hardy but fruit quality is lower, they are incredibly seedy, and difficult to find a tree. Kumquat is also a candidate but how many of those can you eat? IMHO it is not more cold hardy than satsuma. All bets are off on freeze hardiness if you fertilize in September. The trees need to be dormant and non growing to survive freezes. Never fertilize after 04 July to be cautious on that point.