Believed dead or practically dead:
2 Hamlins
3 Orlando Tangelos (only one*)
2 CaraCara (only one*)
1 Meyer
1 Fremont
1 Ponkon
1 Moro*
1 Owari
1 Sunburst*

* these have the tinyest green sprouts at or near the bottom of the trunk

Recovering:
2 Parson Browns
1 Fina Sodea
1 Meyer

Basically unharmed:
3 Owaris
2 Kimbroughs
4 Xie Shan
1 Meiwa

Potted and kept inside:
1 Dekopon
1 Centennial

All trees were watered for eight hours prior to freezing temperatures and all were soil banked at least six inches above the graft union. A very brutal and costly Winter.

All of my poncyrus hybrids died even though were protected with water buckets, buried in leaves, and covered by frost cloth. I also lost small crocston and Bloomsweet that were covered by 4 mil plastic domes with heat lamps and space heaters inside. My star grapefruit and Kimbrough and owari and Meiwa and crocston that had space heaters and 4 mil plastic all winter came out unscathed and two of them are blooming and all putting out growth. I don't think citrus can handle below freezing temps for many hours, dormant or not.

Darkman, any guess why one Owari is dead or 99% dead and three are fine ? Were there micro climate differences or some other protection ? I'm in central Alabama and we had it bad too but I had all my stuff protected pretty good most of the time. Three sats I look after are in a public place and the forecast changed one time for the worse too quick and I got caught at about 20* F unprotected. Lost most leaves and they are very slow putting on leaves but they will probably be ok. Tom

My only loss on our property was Sarawak grafted on Swingle, although I was trying to protect it. I just pulled it a few hours ago... Everything else went through more or less ok with some leave drop and twig die back. I also had a few (actually, 20+) plants scattered outside our property. The only survivors there are Meiwa and Xie Shan.

Darkman, I am also very curious about your dead Owary. Are they on the same roots?

Sorry to hear about your losses Darkman and everyone else. I hope you rebuild your groves without too much hassle.

GT, we need to make a Meiwa x Xie Shan hybrid!

The Owari never really prospered since planting. The three others were 4-6 feet tall and this one was maybe two and a half feet tall. I was going to dig it up and place it somewhere else just to see if it would perk up.

Today I noticed the new growth on my Cara Cara and one limb of my Ponkon has withered. This is not from sunburn or lack of water as the Southern side of the Ponkon has two other limbs that are looking ok. Can a limb be damaged so severely that it would sprout but then be unable to feed the new growth?

I will be replanting the dead but not sure what with. Maybe Dekopon and Page. I will replant the Hamlin and the Cara Cara and hope that it is another 100 years before we experience this again.

Darkman,

It always hurts to lose a tree we care for. This was a brutal winter and even now there is some cool weather. Just yesterday our temperature dropped from near 80 to about 40 due to a windy cold front blowing in. It will be about the same tonight.

I lost two hibiscus this winter, but all my test trees, the citrus stayed outside unprotected. Even my potted ones had to sit in the yard ,and perhaps the one that that surprised me the most was my little lime tree in a pot. It sat in the middle of the yard and never dropped a leaf even when the temp was in the low 20's. Oh, the hibiscus were my wife's, so guess what I bought this weekend?

Be well, and I hope your remaining trees stay strong.

Dave

I have always heard that citrus trees with the least cold hardy fruit usually are the most cold hardy plants (if dormant). I think that means that limes and grapefruit fruit are very susceptible to freezing but with out fruit the trees themselves do relatively well. I would like conformation from others on this because I am far from being an expert. I don't know if it's really true for citrus and I doubt it about other tropical fruit and fruit trees. I guess it's counter intuitive to me. Tom

Here is a new issue that I'm sure stems from the Winter. My 20+ year old seedless grapefruit was completely defoiliated but has put on new growth. My problem is I started noticing frass all over the trunk and deck below. On closer examination I discovered at each frass pile is a very small hole about the size of a straight pin head. I'm now worried the tree is being attacked by some beetle that will kill the tree.

Any toughts?

Sounds exactly Ambrosia beetle. Hole the size of a pencil lead. Big problem in nurseries. Usually too late when you know you have it. You can spray now and later if there are adults hanging around but it's too late for what's inside your tree. I've heard systemic will not help but I think that means will not help right now. Too late. Sorry but I'm afraid that is a pretty good guess. Tom

I was thinking of a triple attack. Spinosad, Imidacloprid and Summer oil.

Will any of that help?

Did the beetle enter to feed or to lay eggs?

To lay eggs. I just talked to a county agent that is a personal friend of mine. They are getting swamped with calls right now. Much worse ambrosia beetle problem than recent years. If I were you I would google ambrosia beetle because I haven't looked it up in a while but I recognized the symptoms. The internet is very slow where I am but I think you are too late for the ones you have. Prevention is the key and I'm afraid it's kind of iffy. Good luck ! Tom

I had two Ruby red trees damaged really bad but had Marsh and several grafted unknown seedling trees that went without any damage.