I'm looking for the hardiest edible citrus hybrids available. I'm located in Zone 7a/b (border) Delaware.

Can they be overwintered like Fig Trees?

Thanks

The key word in your posting is "edible". In my estimation the hardiest edible citrus is a Kumquat. Kumquats are generally hardy to about 15F.

Welcome to the forum turtile. As millet has stated the word "edible" is very subjective. Flying dragon is edible in the sense that it won't kill you if you eat it, but will not be a pleasant experience.

Going with something that is sweet and taste decent, I would try Changsha mandarin in your area. If you protect it on the coldest nights it should do well in your area.

If you want something sour there are many options that should work in your area. Contact Stan or Ned for some very nice trees. They are always very helpful and can give you a list of what will do well in your area.

Hello Turtile,
I would agree with Laaz-I have now tasted the Changsha mandarin and they are good, sweet and juicy-more like an orange in flavor than a mandarin-though a bit seedy.It would be worth the extra trouble to protect it-which will be essential for you.Stan and Ned can help you get some trees to experiment with.Be sure to visit Stan's website-here is a link-
http://mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

Ned and Faye Rahn sell a large variety of citrus trees at Rahn's Plant Connection, Port Royal, South Carolina. E-mail Ned and Faye at plantfolks@yahoo.com.

The only hardy hybrid I've tried was a citromello. I thought the taste was pretty good but plain flying dragon was too bitter.

Can you cover a kumquat or Changsha mandarin with a black tarp in the winter? Its rare for the temperature to stay above 15F during the winter here. Fig trees are rated as hardy to 10F and I know of many fig trees much further north of me that have survived below 0F temperatures with a black tarp for protection.

Thanks for all of the responses!

Hi Turtile,
Brandy at Just Fruits and Exotics uses a covering technique that is pictured on her citrus care sheet that you might want to try.
http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JF%20Citrus.pdf

Hey Turtile,

As previously mentioned, Changsha, Satsuma and Kumquats should do for you, if you are prepared to protect them during severe freezes. Some of the hardy sour citrus are described at plantfolks.com, and Stan's website, which David has provided a link to. For hardy, sour citrus, I like Taichang lemon and the Marmaladequat, to name two. A lot of people seem to like the Ichang Lemon, but I can't remember exactly what it tastes like. There are plenty of others. You might also want to go to http://www.sepalms.org/, where you can find some good citrus links.

Ned

I'd recommend a greenhouse like on my website:
http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/index.html
Hate to be pessimistic but I don't think(just my opinion) cold hardy citrus can stand prolonged periods of temperatures below 15F. You might note that while changsha mandarin tastes good, it has anywhere from 75-100 seeds per small fruit. Cold hardiness depends in large part on how consistently cold it stays. Where I live we have many winter days above 70F and this makes the citrus less than cold hardy, event the cold hardy ones. I'd suggest growin g a great tasting citrus in a pot and pulling it in your garage on freezing days.

Don't believe I have ever seen a Changsha with 100, or even 75 seed! I have to admit, that would be one seedy citrus. lol

Phil is right in that any edible citrus in zones 7a/7b will have to be protected, one way or another.

Ned

Hi Turtile,
Sorry I gave just the email adress earlier-here is a link to the Rahn's site http://plantfolks.com/
Stan and Ned can help you experiment.
Its great to have these growers here in this forum.
Mr.Texas is right that a greenhouse frame that you can cover will be needed.The Changsha fruit that I sampled were indeed seedy-but not 75-100 seed- I would say that it is more like the Fallglo Tangerine (a commercial variety that sometimes has 40 or more seed).

For practical purposes there is not much difference between 40 and a 100 seeds when it comes to eating the fruit. LOL.

Good point Millet, but I still prefer a fruit with 40 seed fruit over one with 100 seed. Besides, I like pomegranates. lol

I have accumulate 5 selections of changsha, in an attempt to find one that does not have the insipid taste that is typical. I have heard the one at Just Fruits tasted pretty good, and there are others that reportly taste good. There are also efforts underway to develope changsha's, and other hardy, but seedy, citrus that have fewer seed. I expect we will hear more about this at the 2008 Citrus Expo.

All of the changsha that I have tasted, or have heard were good, that had satisfactory fruit, seem to come from old established trees. Even more so than other citrus, I think getting some age on them helps the taste a lot.

Ned

It doesn't make any difference if you are using seedless or superseeded fruits when you have a good juicer.

Most often, seeded citruses are used for juicing.

If the condiment type citruses are considered edible, then there's lots of lemon tasting types of cold hardy citruses to consider.

I agree Joe, and I think there are culinary attributes to many of the sour citrus. This, coupled with the fact that they are sometimes the only citrus some folks can grow in the ground, makes them useful and desirable to many of our members.

I ate one of my Changsha’s today. The budwood was sent to me by a friend in Mississippi. I was told that this was a clone originally taken from an old tree at the citrus research station in South Louisiana. The parent was said to have above average fruit. I was told this old tree was killed by salt water intrusion, I think as a result of Katrina, but don't quote me on that.

The fruit had good color and was fully ripe - the tree is still in a nursery pot. It was good and sweet, with just a hint of the insipidness commonly found in Changsha’s. (I might point out that this insipidness is also found in Satsuma on immature trees.) This was a fairly large fruit at our nursery where citrus pollen abounds. It had exactly 30 seed.

Ned