I'm not too surprised. I believe you've had significantly more warm weather (with respect to daytime highs, not nighttime lows). It takes a while for daytime high temps to increase near the coast. There have been several days where it was only in the upper 50s near my house and at the same time was in the mid 70s inland. I think the biggest difference will be in the Fall where the growing season on the coast will extend until the end of Oct or early Nov. Whereas the first frost 30 miles inland from the coast will likely be in early or possibly mid Oct.
Last year the first 32F low at the NWS station in Fitchburg was Oct. 17, the first day at or below 32F in Boston was Nov. 6, a three week difference.

The number of Growing Degree Days GDD (Base 50), which is a decent measure of warmth, so far this year are pretty similar inland vs on the coast. However, by the end of the year, Boston could easily have 300 or more GDD for the season than Fitchburg.

GDD (Jan 1 to May 23 2013):
Boston MA: 241
Fitchburg MA: 286

thank you
great info

satsumas and citraquats are slightly smaller than golf balls

kumquats just set fruit!

just picked an unripe satusma, tasted like a lemon/lime, pretty good really

gaining momentum as far as tasting the unripe thomasville, pretty sure they aftertaste wont be so hot

It sounds like Satsuma is a good citrus for our area if the fruit already tastes good this time of year. How many fruit does it have?

likely a hundred or more................

it tastes sour but edible and good
they will ripen around Christmas most years

My tree, which is much smaller than Frank's, has ~30-40 satsumas growing on it. Like Frank, I picked one last week and found the fruit to be a reasonable substitute for a lemon/lime. I'm hoping mine will start to sweeten up in the next 2-2.5 months, we shall see.

Frank, is the white covering in your winter protection pics plastic or frost cloth? And you say you don't remove it all winter? Do you ever use heat lamps too or just barrels of water for heating?

in the winter all citrus are covered with frost cloth, plastic, blankets and tarp and held down with dirt and large rocks

wind w/o snow on the ground is the biggest issue

my "late" satsumas are starting to turn yellow now

the low so far has been 27f

I have a 35 gallon bucket of water with a tiny aquarium thermometer turned all the way down.

the plants get no light for 3-4 months (Mid Nov to March)

the ground never ever freezes

Wow. So they are completely cocooned with no airflow and no watering of root system for three months? They must be really dormant and tough! Thanks for the info.

Why do you keep light from reaching the trees? - Millet

I need better insulation than plastic can provide

so multi layers

I guess it is a trade of electricity and insulation


fwiw picking satsumas now (about 150) and thomassville are starting to ripen

Frank, do you have fruit on any of your other varieties this year?

just the thomasville, satsuma and some kumquats


We picked the second patch of about 30 ripe satsumas yesterday