Maybe They Should Be Contained

     Well, at least it is a sunny, reasonably warm day today. A FAR cry from what many in the country have experienced already this year. I bring this up, not to brag, but to preference that, here in Charleston, we have had a very nasty cold winter so far. Personally, I have had 7 inches of snow and days upon days of sub-freezing temperatures. This is South Carolina, NOT South Dakota, so that kind of weather is rare, not unheard of, but very rare.
     Needless to say, many plants have been hurt badly by this kind of weather, especially tropical and sub-tropical like Citrus. This is, unfortunately, an all too common picture here around the Lowcountry.

These are Calamondins, a kumquat hybrid. Yes, they are in containers, and yes, they stayed outside in the snow. They looked like this with the white stuff on them.

Yes, same tree. It is still alive, there is green under the bark.
There are many, many trees that look like this either in the ground or in containers that were left outside.
     The purpose of this article is not to depress you more or cry over the tree's appearance. I am still an advocate for growing citrus in the ground in Charleston! Mamma said there would be days like this! Or years!
     No, the purpose of this article is to give you an option of how to grow your citrus. In Containers!
Everybody that has been following me or knows me, knows that I grow my plants in containers for among other reasons, emergencies like this.
     Of course, the logical thing to do would be to put them in a greenhouse or garage when this kind of weather is approaching. That is fine and dandy if you have one or two trees. I have dozens. Some of my "special" trees got to go into the greenhouse. Just for the record, even with an electric heater in there, it dropped to 27 degrees a couple of times. The damage?
NONE!
This is what I saw when I opened the door.

     Now, I did have them pretty packed in there and when I did water everything, there were a few missed and those ones look sad, but only because they did not get enough water. They will be fine.
     I know what you are saying, "I don't have a greenhouse or even a garage to use, so what then?"
Glad you asked!
     I posted this picture before the storm hit, wished them luck, and hoped for the best. It looked like hell, but, hey, I was almost in desperation mode because nothing else would fit in the greenhouse.

     What is in that trash pile of, a frost cloth, a tarp, and a crocheted blanket? A dozen citrus trees, ranging in size from 7 gallons to 30 gallons, all laid down on the ground. I watered them really well, laid them down, and stacked a few on top of each other. No other protection. This was on January 2nd that I created this disaster. The snow, ice, and wicked cold temperatures came and went. I was afraid to even peek under there.
     Well, today is January 21st, just 2 days shy of three weeks, I decided I needed to clean this up and face the destruction. I took all of the coverings off and stood everything back up.What I found is absolutely amazing!
LOOK FOR YOURSELF!

     If you look closely at the second picture, on the right-hand side is a bunch of dead looking leaves. That is a Lemon tree that was under there. I have always said that lemons and limes are more cold sensitive.

     This is a Key Lime that was also under there, probably THE most cold sensitive of all of the citrus trees. It is still alive, I saw green under the bark, it is just not happy right now.

     But, as you can see, aside from those two, the trees pretty much came out unscathed. What else was under there? A kumquat, a few tangerines, a lemonquat, a flame grapefruit, and a few other assorted hybrids. I gave each one an attaboy and a good drink of water while they were enjoying the sun again.
     I am not trying to brag here! To be honest, I tell people to use blankets and such on top of the trees that are laid down on the ground all the time, but after the severity of all of the bitterly cold temps and snow/ice, even I had my doubts about how these would look.
     I said above, I will always be an advocate for planting citrus in the ground if you can. This kind of weather is not an every year event. But maybe, just maybe, you might want to consider growing them in big pots and laying them down for a nap when the wicked winter weather does come for a visit!
     If you have any questions about this or any of my other articles, please feel free to send them to TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com.
     There is still time to get signed up for my monthly newsletter of Citrus Growing Tips, slated to come out February 1st, 2018. You can sign up for it HERE
Happy Growing!
Darren

Ice, Ice, Oh, Boy!

Happy Freekin New Year!
     Mother nature apparently is NOT in the holiday spirit!
Charleston is going to get Cold, which means folks to my west and north are going to be even colder!! The Citrus will not be happy.
     The past few days have been okay, lower 30's at night, so I was not worried. I looked at the next week or so and suddenly I was a little concerned. 28 is my "Take Action" forecasted low, I am looking down the barrel of 36-28-24-24-25-22-24-28. The highs will only peak into the upper 30's. The good news is, with the colder nights we have had, the citrus trees have had a chance to go into their semi-dormancy. The bad news is, that is too many nights in a row, NOT to take action. So I did just that this morning.
     I also figured I would throw some tips out there for folks that might also get a little concerned about their Citrus.
     The first thing you should do, while the temps are still decent is, Make Sure They Are Well Watered! A well-watered, hydrated plant can handle the cold much better than a dry one. This goes for in ground and container plants as well.
     If they are in the ground, you might still have time, get some frost cloth. Check the big box stores, hardware stores, etc. My friend Stan McKenzie, up around the Florence SC area, is getting his in-ground trees ready.

I have NEVER said growing citrus is easy!
You can also put some Christmas lights, the ones that get hot, or a couple of 100 watt light bulbs in there to help keep in some heat.
     Now, those of us that grow them in containers have a few more options. I put what I could in my greenhouse, did they all fit, not a chance. My greenhouse stretcher is still in the developmental stage.
What did get put in there got watered to within an inch of its life, shoved together, and my little electric space heater is at the ready. As long as it keeps it at 32 or higher, I am happy. If you only have a couple of trees, I would suggest at least putting them in an unheated garage, storage shed or something along those lines to keep it a little warmer. If your tree is very small, and this can go for in-ground or container, flip a large trash can over it. The ground will help keep it a couple of degrees warmer.
     What did I do with the ones that would not fit in the greenhouse?
There are a few that I gave some encouraging words to and told them they will be fine, which they should be, most of them are pretty cold hardy, down into the 20's type. The rest of them got laid down on the ground, overlapping each other, and covered with a tarp, a blanket, and some frost cloth. It ain't pretty, but it will work.

Again, I watered each one very well, tipped them over and covered.
Hopefully, this will be the worst we get all year and it will be here and done!
     I mentioned it in my book, How To Grow Citrus Practically Anywhere as well as above, I have never said growing citrus is easy, it all depends on how much work you are willing to put into it as to whether you can grow citrus practically anywhere!
     If you have any questions about this or any of my other articles, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com. You can also follow me on Facebook
Happy Growing!
Darren