I was lucky enough to obtain a T. ponciforus fruit. I planted the whole thing in the ground about 3 year agos and now I have about 20 plants that I think should be ready for grafting next spring. So, I am looking for some realistic advice of citrus varieties to graft unto the trees.
I already have a Thomasville citrangequat(I know it tastes bad, but, it really does make a good lime substitute) and I have Changsha mandarins.
So, I am looking for any other varities of citrus to graft.
Would like at least another mandarin variety, lemon, lime, grapefruit.
for the mandarin/grapefruit, I would like something that tastes good off the tree. For lemon/lime, anything that you can use for flavoring.
Varieties I am considering are juanita tangerine, 10 degree tangerine, taichang lemon, Ichang lemon, bloomsweet grapefruit, sanbokan grapefruit, citrumelo and sudachi.
I live in Hampton, VA zone 7b, but I have been here for 7 years and it is has never gotten colder than 10 degrees. Also, I already have the T. ponciforus planted on the southern side of my house and I plan on giving all of them at least light protection(covered on coldest nights)

So, please critique my list. Any varieties that will just not survive the cold? Any trees with fruit so bad they are not worth growing on that list? Any varieties that I should consider that are not on the list?
I would love to try a satsuma, but I do not think it is cold hardy enough. Am I wrong?
I realize in zone 7b that you cannot grow alot of good citrus, but I am willing to try.

You can take Bloomsweet and Sanbokan off the list; they are less cold-hardy than a Satsuma.

You could also try a Calamondin (with a little cold protection) for a good lime/lemon substitute.

You can eliminate MOST all of sweet oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Go to Stan McKenzie's site-- see what he is growing / offering and go from there- There is a bit of info on all his varieties on his site

hello my 7b friend,
you can consider what i'm doing here:
link
We can do experiments, at least...
--ivica

if you cover your trees in the winter you can grow most trees

I picked some meyer lemons this week, my trees are outside and get covered

when you say cover, how much protection do you give? Frost cloth? All winter long? Only coldest nights? Anything else you do for protection?

Well I am in New England it gets below zero.....


I think you could get away with plastic and a blue tarp... I also have a barrel of water inbetween my trees with 50 watt heater

I cover with plastic, blankets and blue tarp, I have 12-15 trees outside........this is the 4th winter for most

HI
I have in the past, I can check the link and post it here in a bit

it is ugly but works for me

Frank

link


here is the old link, pretty much the same but my meyer , satsuma and thom grew a lot,,,,,,,,,

I will snap new pics before I button them all up,

Thanks for the link. You are definately pushing zone limits. I look forward to pics from a couple years from now.