On my trip to New Orleans I had to make the trek out to Mississippi to see a fellow SFF member, Lee Sharp. He is a true citruholic and is glad to share his expertise in growing fruit and grafting. As a matter of fact he gave me a copy of his grafting technique video. What a treat! His orchard contains many varieties of oranges, satsumas, and of course his Lee Sharp 7 degree kumquat. This kumquat has been known to have survived 7 degrees and survive total neglect as the original tree was discovered as feral tree in the forest. If you enjoy kumquats and live in a borderline area this one may be a good one to try growing in addition to the Nameiwa aka 10degree kumquat and the very hardy OP Nagami kumquat. The OP so far has proven the hardiest for me but I am curious to see how the other two will do in the long run. On his tour of the orchard he also pointed out his Biloxi orange tree that is estimated to have withstood some extreme cold and may be worthy of trials in even colder zones. Lee employs a passive system of dealing with the colder winter temps with frames built around each tree that he uses to enclose w/ greenhouse plastic. The plastic only covers half of his trees during the day and each night or on very cold nights he pulls it over to close it entirely and secures the bottom from drafts. Like Stan he keeps barrels of water next to each tree to collect and store heat for the nights.



In his collection of plants he also has many muscadine varieties and persimmons which we were lucky enough to sample.



During Katrina he lost a good number of his other fruit trees and many were tipped over but amazingly the citrus where left mostly unharmed.

Thanks for the photos eyeckr.I enjoy seeing how others along the gulf coast are growing citrus. That looks like one of the Fuyu type persimmons that you can eat while firm.

Interesting protection system.

It is surprising how well citrus stand up to high winds. When I toured the Fairhope research station the other day, he said the satsumas are so well attached that even when the eye of hurricane Ivan crossed right over Fairhope, that most of the satsumas stayed on the tree. He said oranges and grapefruit were mostly knocked off, but none of the trees were uprooted.

Excellent to see thanks!

My Lee Sharp (rooted cutting) 5 years in the ground finally has about 80+ fruit on it this year. The plant bloomed extremely late and I doubt if the fruit will become sweet before the cold weather arrives.

Keith

I just joined the citrus grower's forum, and it was worth it just for this!

I met Lee ~5 or 6 years ago at Becnel's Citrus stand in Belle Chasse Louisiana. We were both eye-ing up the citrus trees for sale (I live 5 minutes away from Becnel's) when we struck up a conversation. We communicated several years via email, but unfortunately after Katrina I lost contact with him.

Couldn't ask for a friendlier gentleman. Is he a member here?

David

Welcome to the forum!. I don't know of anyone on the forum for So LA besides karpes (Karl).

I don't know which one of the Becnel family stands it is that I frequent when I am over there, but it is about 30 min south of Belle Chasse in Myrtle Grove. I love their fruit and wish I could buy their trees (can't bring them into FL). Their naval oranges are the best I have ever eaten and their mandarins are so sweet!

Thanks for the welcome Skeeter-

As you probably know, Becnel in Belle Chasse is like Smith in most parts of the country. There are several Becnels that have fruit stands and orchards. The Becnel stand that I used to buy most of my trees from unfortunately was a victim of Katrina, and where it stands (it was the first Fruit Stand going into Belle Chasse on Hwy 23) there is now a restaurant. Really a shame, as they carried a much more wide variety of trees-that's where I purchased my Chandler Pumelo, Lemonquat, and a bunch of others.

Thankfully, a friend of mine has a small Orchard (8 acres or so) in Jesuit Bend, and has been kind enough to track trees down for me. through his contacts.

I'm planning to start playing around with grafting, which is what led me to this forum. Great source of info!

David

I visited New Orleans and drove out to see Lee Sharp about one month ago. I really enjoyed meeting him- he was a gracious host and very informative about grafting and citrus on the Gulf coast. I found his Biloxi orange, 7* kumquat and seedless Nagami very impressive. His Page mandarin was one of the best I have tasted. The Biloxi orange tree was large with very attractive leaves. It is not known exactly what type of orange it is- but Lee speculates that it is a variety of valencia. All of his trees looked healthy and robust. I look forward to visiting again- Lee is one of the nicest plant people I have met.

Would it be possible for someone to PM me Lee's email? I'd love to make contact with him again and say hello.

Thanks-
David

You have e-mail David.

Stan and I went by to see Lee on a citrus hunting trip in February. He is an exceptionally nice person, a great host, and is very knowledgeable about all types of fruit trees that will grow in the area.

Ned